how fast SHOULD we be sending these secondaries out?

[Sonya]

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.. i know, ASAP... but, what is the typical time periord people take, when the school puts very little limit. (ie, most schools say by december)...

I knew i'd pay besides just dollar for applying to that many schools.... damn, all the schools looked good based on MSAR.. lol.

 

[themann]

I told myself that I would get them out two weeks from when I got them. I know this is tough, especially if you have a lot of them, but I would make a goal and then try hard to make it. I few of the schools I applied to required that I send back the secondary withing 3 weeks, so maybe that would be a good goal too. In the end the earlier you get them in the better.

 

[dmitrinyr]

themann,

Did the schools specifically tell you that they wanted you to submit the secondary within 3 weeks? If so, was this done in an email to you? Letter?

The reason why I am asking is because I am taking the mcat next week and I am wondering if the schools require the same from people like me who don't really have time to do secondaries while preparing for the mcat. I just figure I will send out about 4-5 the week following the mcat. It still doesn't matter, from what I know, the schools will not make a final decision on your application (or at least some schools) until they see your august mcat scores.

dmitri

 

[dara678]

I usually take a week from the time I get them to send them in ... but I thought my turnaround time was kind of long. Does anyone do it quicker than that?

 

[themann]

Yeah the schools did specifically request that the secondary was submitted within three weeks, for example Wake Forest requested this. I am not sure what they expect if you are taking the MCAT, you could call them and ask. I don't really think that it is a big problem since most schools give you until December.

 

[KirsteenB]

Hi there,

Initially it took me a wee bit to get into the groove of submitting secondaries. I had a pile of them to do and a major bout of procrastination attached to that pile, so the first bunch sat for a week or so. However, now that I've gotten into the supplementary groove and have my letters lined up to send, I'm trying to get each secondary turned around within the day that I receive it. Except Harvard's of course, since they don't recognize Canadian Social Insurance Numbers!

Cheers,
Kirsteen🙄

 

[JM.]

I tried to turn mine around that week, sometimes the day of receiving them.

 

[ice_23]

Yea, I try to do them in a week. However, some...cough 2000 word vandy...cough...take a wee bit longer than that...🙂🙂

-Ice

 

[Eraserhead]

I've been sending them out within a week, sometimes right away depending on the school. If I think the questions are already answered on my AMCAS app, I spend less time on them.

 

[calebho501]

I applied to 24 schools, and most don't require you to send the secondaries back very soon, except:

Stanford: Recommends you to send it back within 10 days
Northwestern: Gives you an exact deadline (For me, it was August 4th)
Wake Forest: 3 weeks from the date they sent out the secondary invitation email
Vanderbilt: Send it back before the date of your interview (Hint: Schedule the interview so that you have enough time to finish the secondary. Vanderbilt has an UNusually long, 2000 word limit essay)

None of the other schools I applied to have these deadlines, but I'd say send them back within 1-2 days if they don't have any essay, and try to send them back within 1-2 weeks if they have essays

 

[Cantal]

so the posts here make a lot of sense, getting your secondary out after a week of getting them is great. A system that I've been following is this..

If the secondary is easy (ie no essays or 1 essay under 500 characters), send out immediately. This will take you like 1 hr to fill out max, just go to a computer lab and its one less worry on your mind

All other secondaries fall under two categories...
For schools that have rolling admissions, these definitely need to be filled out within a week or two of receiving them. You'll be a lot happier, since you'll interview earlier, get accepted earlier, and then you can save a ton of $$$ by not even attending other interviws if you get into your university of choice

For schools that don't have rolling admissions (which tend to be a lot of the ivy league ones as far as I've noticed), I say take your time filling them out.. there's no real hurry to interview early. Plus, this gives you the added benefit of being able to reuse essays from other secondaries since you're writing these last and you can pick and choose the best ones.


However you decide to do it, just realize that secondaries should not be making you stay up until 3:30 AM writing essays. Take your time, write good stuff, and don't let them stack up on you.


-Cantal

 

[AverageMan]

I use a system of doing one essay a day (except on weekends, when I do two a day). This ensures that I spend a decent amount of time on every essay, while not getting frustrated at having to do essay after essay after essay until the wee hours in the morning. Of course if I'm feeling creative and motivated then I'll go at it all night, but that's more the exception than the rule 😉 It has worked well for me, I've had a turnaround time of less than a week for all my secondaries so far.

 

[noy]

I already have 8 or so secondaries emailed/snail mailed to me, but AMCAS still has not verified my transcript (maybe they will be december...)

Is there any point in rushing with these?

Will the schools even take a look at my package before AMCAS sends them the 'transcript has been verified' signal?

 

[superk0725]

damn.... you guys have some work ethic

I finished my whole AMCAS application early june but then it took me 6-7 weeks to write my personal statement. and now i have gotten 4 secondaries back and have been sitting on them for the last week or too.

Maybe after reading all this I will get some motivation to get my ass in gear

 

[Paws]

I gave myself 2 weeks in the begining when I suddenly had a pile of about 5 sitting on my desk (kitchen Table). Now that I've gotten 9 done and in the mail I think I could cut the time down but it was way hard at first to write the essays, make sure there were no weird typos or factual errors, and then get the freakin' thinkg in the mail. I was really surprised how hard it was to actualy push the envelopes thru the mail slot. 🙄

Also, I found that I WAS making stupid mistakes like I mispelled the name of my highschool's town (???) and the name of a book that I liked. I mean really, I felt like a complete idiot ... so I do still spend alot of time rechecking my facts.

But then I also noticed that Jeff's secondary didn't have a time limit, until I decided to do the paper version - which DID say 2 weeks ... also, some other secondaries has some weird typos too, so that's made me feel alot better. They're not so purfect either ...

It's wick-ed re-tahded, like we used to say in Boston ...

 

[dEEpEyEs]

Hey Guys,
I just posted in the "Four weeks and still not verified" thread..so I am in pretty bad shape...schools haven't even recieved my Primary. But I've recieved 4 secondaries from schools that don't screen: Yale, Dartmouth, Univ. Chicago, and NYMC. So, I was wondering whether I really need to be prompt with my secondaries since school don't even have my secondaries...or may be I am just looking for excuses to procrastinate😉

Is anyone else in my situation? If so, what ya doin'?

-DE

 

[voltron77]

Deepeyes,

If I were you, i would just get my secondaries in as soon as possible. Your AMCAS application will be processed soon and having your completed file in early and complete can make a huge difference in getting an earlier interview.

🙂

 

[dEEpEyEs]

Thanx Voltron...will do!

-DE

 

[qwerty one]

I'm trying to do them within 7-10 days if I can.

 

[futuredrswife]

i'm waiting on letters of rec to come in. can i send a secondary without the letters, and send the letters once they have all been received?

 

[SMW]

Yes, you definitely send the secondary without the LOR's, since you should not be sending any LOR's yourself. Since it's best to have waived your right to see the letters, either have your recommenders send them, or use a letter-sending service (preferable so you don't have to keep bugging your recommenders to send to different schools). Hmmm....maybe you meant you were waiting for the letters to come into a service?

And I agree that it's best to turn those secondaries around ASAP, under a week if possible (that way they won't pile up 😀 which can get somewhat daunting). Good luck, all! 🙂

 

[Robz]

Hey Futuredrswife,
I'm a bit in the same boat. I have gone ahead and sent in all of my secondary applications in. My premed committee lost (don't ask me how) one of my last letters and it was not realized until I tried to mail out my forms. I am having my professor resend it in which he is happy to do but it does end up a good block on finishing up my applications. Send them all in to get the ball rolling and get those letters in! 🙂