How much does June 2nd really mater?

[15brosam]

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So I recently decided against joining the Peace Corps, and now I am going to apply to medical school this cycle instead of three years from now. I missed the June 2nd date, obviously, for submitting my AMCAS. My question is: how imperative is it that I send in my AMCAS ASAP to the schools I'd like to apply to? Would it make more sense for me to take the rest of the month to really fine-tune and comb over every single part of my AMCAS? Or should I go ahead and get it sent in within the next week or so?

Thanks.

 

[DrDorianTurkleton]

That's a tough one. While applying early is definitely a positive, it would be quite unfortunate if you threw together an applications that was potentially not your best work. On the other hand, if you take the time to get it all in order and submit in July, the verification may take anywhere from 4-5 weeks meaning you wouldn't get secondaries until August delaying your application and lowering your chances of acceptance. While I know plenty of people that do get in applying the first day and applying later in the cycle, it all comes down to the strength of your application.

 

[The Real SVB]

On the other hand, if you take the time to get it all in order and submit in July, the verification may take anywhere from 4-5 weeks meaning you wouldn't get secondaries until August delaying your application and lowering your chances of acceptance.

nonononononononononononono. Getting secondaries in August is not that big of a deal. Just grab the secondary questions from the SDN threads here and prewrite them all in July so that as soon a secondary is received, it can be submitted within a day or two. It's easy to think by being on SDN that finishing anything in August is late...but if you submit first week of July, you will be 100% fine if you get to writing secondaries ASAP. Don't submit a ****ty AMCAS...it's called the primary for a reason; you really need to work on it and make sure it's the best product you can submit.

 

[The Real SVB]

That being said...you don't need a month to fill out AMCAS. If you need to take that long, something's wrong with your writing abilities tbh. Two weeks is more than enough to get it close to perfect for submission.

Your timeline would make it seem like you haven't asked for any LORs, though. That could be a problem if they're not submitted until like August or September.

 

[Hospitalized]

So I recently decided against joining the Peace Corps, and now I am going to apply to medical school this cycle instead of three years from now. I missed the June 2nd date, obviously, for submitting my AMCAS. My question is: how imperative is it that I send in my AMCAS ASAP to the schools I'd like to apply to? Would it make more sense for me to take the rest of the month to really fine-tune and comb over every single part of my AMCAS? Or should I go ahead and get it sent in within the next week or so?

Thanks.

I think the question you should be asking yourself is: "Am I ready to submit my AMCAS with where I am at right now in life?" Deciding against Peace Corps is a pretty huge decision. Applying/going to medical school is an even larger decision. What I'm getting at is, there must have been a reason you wanted to do Peace Corps. Albeit I have no background on you, these kinds of things show up in interviews and secondaries, adcoms are trained to pick up on it. I'm not saying this is your case, but you should have a very good explanation for why you want to go into medicine instead of Peace Corps.

With that said, if you are ready, buckle down and complete it. Don't rush it, put your best work in, and send it as soon as possible. Should be reasonable to complete components on your end in under two weeks. As long as you can get everything verified and completed before July 1st, you are still considered early.

 

[DrDorianTurkleton]

nonononononononononononono. Getting secondaries in August is not that big of a deal. Just grab the secondary questions from the SDN threads here and prewrite them all in July so that as soon a secondary is received, it can be submitted within a day or two. It's easy to think by being on SDN that finishing anything in August is late...but if you submit first week of July, you will be 100% fine if you get to writing secondaries ASAP. Don't submit a ****ty AMCAS...it's called the primary for a reason; you really need to work on it and make sure it's the best product you can submit.

Sorry, I guess SDN has gone to my head haha. SVB is right in saying if you prewrite, you should be able to have a solid turnaround on secondaries. Also consider what @Hospitalized said because he makes a valid point as well.

 

[Long Way to Go]

That being said...you don't need a month to fill out AMCAS. If you need to take that long, something's wrong with your writing abilities tbh. Two weeks is more than enough to get it close to perfect for submission.

The personal statement takes time to write though. I took two months to slowly finalize it. I could have done it in a month if pressed, but two weeks would have really been stretching it.

 

[Banco]

If you get secondaries in before August you are still "early". Mid-August is average I'd say.

 

[The Real SVB]

The personal statement takes time to write though. I took two months to slowly finalize it. I could have done it in a month if pressed, but two weeks would have really been stretching it.

It took you 2 months to write a one-page reflective essay? Is this a case of premeds being neurotic or having poor writing skills???? 😕 We know that the PS isn't even important for most applicants.

 

[NeuResurgens]

I think you'll be ok if you know you're ready now and get working on it right away. As has been said, you can get the secondary prompts on SDN and start writing them before you receive any from schools. Just make sure to give your application the diligence it deserves. You can likely get it done in a couple weeks at most, but you'll probably want to drop most other activities during that timespan and focus solely on your AAMCAS, LORs and PS.

 

[The Cheat]

How far are you an your AMCAS now? If your school(s) can send electronic transcripts, then that can expedite the process as well.

 

[Long Way to Go]

It took you 2 months to write a one-page reflective essay? Is this a case of premeds being neurotic or having poor writing skills???? 😕 We know that the PS isn't even important for most applicants.

I worked on it for less than an hour maybe every five days, thought about it maybe every three. I shopped it around to a bunch of mentors who all took time to get back to me. I also threw out most of what I wrote except in the last two weeks. The writing itself was fine, it was the structure and presentation that took work.

It's not that doing it faster is impossible. And certainly if your goal is to produce something passable it doesn't take that long. But to write something good? Even if it doesn't end up mattering all that much I would like to know that I put in an honest effort.

 

[butternutsquash]

Submitting anytime within the month of June is considered pretty early. If you feel that your current essays do not reflect your best work, then go ahead and fine-tune them. If you wrote the personal statement and activities sections to the best of your abilities already, I would go ahead and submit.

 

[The Real SVB]

I worked on it for less than an hour maybe every five days, thought about it maybe every three. I shopped it around to a bunch of mentors who all took time to get back to me. I also threw out most of what I wrote except in the last two weeks. The writing itself was fine, it was the structure and presentation that took work.

It's not that doing it faster is impossible. And certainly if your goal is to produce something passable it doesn't take that long. But to write something good? Even if it doesn't end up mattering all that much I would like to know that I put in an honest effort.

I'm submitting mine next week and it's 2 weeks of work. I worked seriously on it, too. I was a humanities/social sciences major, though, so that definitely helps.

 

[ASD2019]

It took you 2 months to write a one-page reflective essay? Is this a case of premeds being neurotic or having poor writing skills???? 😕 We know that the PS isn't even important for most applicants.

Dude you are doing a good job of trolling. Maybe spend some more time on your application and less on giving misleading advice.

 

[ASD2019]

Definitely spend the time putting together a good application. Submitting early is good, but doesn't compensate for a poor application. I submitted my primary app middle of july last year, and was able to receive interview invites towards the end of august. Also there is no point of submitting your application before your transcript is received my amcas. It will just be sitting there. Request your transcripts to be sent first thing Monday, and beef up your application in the meantime. Good luck!

 

[panda16]

It took you 2 months to write a one-page reflective essay? Is this a case of premeds being neurotic or having poor writing skills???? 😕 We know that the PS isn't even important for most applicants.

I don't get where you're coming with this, because the advising team at my undergrad (sends dozens of kids to top tier med schools every year) emphasized consistently the importance of drafting a quality piece of work. If that takes you two weeks, great. But if it takes you months to formulate precisely and clearly the reasons why you want to go into medicine, which is a momentous life decision, I wouldn't think there is anything wrong with that whatsoever.

All these premed students have the same activities, grades, academics, tests, etc. the personal statement truly is the face of your application.

 

[The Real SVB]

We know that the PS isn't even important for most applicants.

Dude you are doing a good job of trolling. Maybe spend some more time on your application and less on giving misleading advice.

Some admissions committee members disagree with you.

You don't need a great PS, just an honest, well-worded one that is true for you. Trying for "great" often results in overwrought. These are painful to read.

Personal rule, 10% helps, 10% hurts, 80% does nothing.

~66% (i.e. 2/3) have a pretty generic bland PS

Every other active, trustworthy adcom has said something similar, including @Goro @LizzyM @Catalystik. I just can't find the quotes right now.

 

[The Real SVB]

I don't get where you're coming with this, because the advising team at my undergrad (sends dozens of kids to top tier med schools every year) emphasized consistently the importance of drafting a quality piece of work. If that takes you two weeks, great. But if it takes you months to formulate precisely and clearly the reasons why you want to go into medicine, which is a momentous life decision, I wouldn't think there is anything wrong with that whatsoever.

All these premed students have the same activities, grades, academics, tests, etc. the personal statement truly is the face of your application.

I think it's all about writing ability. Some people find it hard to put thoughts into coherent words that another human being can read. If it actually takes you months to really think about why you want to go to medicine...I would say that's a bit problematic. Either that or you're just making **** up for rhetoric in the end. Should've figured that stuff out before pouring all the time into doing premed reqs, the MCAT, etc. But then again maybe everyone is just making **** up anyway, and it sounds like adcoms know this already.

 

[panda16]

^ ^ but do you see kinda the circular logic that results from this? Saying that people's personal statements are usually bad or boring or unimportant doesn't really influence the fact that if you take the time and write a truly good PS, you will land in the percentage that actually make an impact on the readers.

Yes, if spending two months on it makes you sound like a try hard, that's two months too long. But if two months gives you the space and time to really, really think about the most precise, meaningful reasons why you want to dedicate yourself to a life of service as a physician, I say go for it.

 

[The Real SVB]

All these premed students have the same activities, grades, academics, tests, etc. the personal statement truly is the face of your application.

Plus the secondary questions, activities descriptions, most meaningful blurbs, and interviews. But other than that, yes, it's the entire face of an application.

 

[The Real SVB]

^ ^ but do you see kinda the circular logic that results from this? Saying that people's personal statements are usually bad or boring or unimportant doesn't really influence the fact that if you take the time and write a truly good PS, you will land in the percentage that actually make an impact on the readers.

Yes, if spending two months on it makes you sound like a try hard, that's two months too long. But if two months gives you the space and time to really, really think about the most precise, meaningful reasons why you want to dedicate yourself to a life of service as a physician, I say go for it.

I think premeds have all been patted on the head a little too much and thus think they're all special little snowflakes with captivating stories, when in reality, the vast majority of PSes just say the same **** in different ways.
Again, I think that if you really need 2 months to think about "why medicine," that's a problem. If you need 2 months to write a coherent reflection, you're just a bit below average in terms of writing ability, maybe average among premeds.

 

[panda16]

Plus the secondary questions

Remember, not everyone gets these (Vandy, CA schools, etc).

activities descriptions, most meaningful blurbs

The descriptions tend to be more explanatory; and if the 1300 characters of the blurbs can give valuable insight into your personality all the power to ya.

and interviews

Showing off your personality in an interview won't help you that much if you can't get there in the first place, i.e. with a good application to start with.

I mean I guess we're just fundamentally at odds here so I don't want to really beat a dead horse. I've talked to a lot of successful alumnae from my uni currently at, again, top notch med programs, who said that their PS was often a topic of conversation in interviews and an important part of their app!

Point is, if you can afford to spend the time on it, you should. If it's less cut-and-dry, as the OP's situation suggests, then you need to consider if you're ready to proceed at present.

 

[Long Way to Go]

I think premeds have all been patted on the head a little too much and thus think they're all special little snowflakes with captivating stories, when in reality, the vast majority of PSes just say the same **** in different ways.
Again, I think that if you really need 2 months to think about "why medicine," that's a problem. If you need 2 months to write a coherent reflection, you're just a bit below average in terms of writing ability, maybe average among premeds.

That's nice of you. I was a social science major too buddy, and I write every day for a living.

You're not wrong that personal statements don't need a lot of writing. But if you have the background to write a good one, is there anything wrong with shopping it around to mentors and really taking the time to make sure that it's good?

I mean I guess we're just fundamentally at odds here so I don't want to really beat a dead horse. I've talked to a lot of successful alumnae from my uni currently at, again, top notch med programs, who said that their PS was often a topic of conversation in interviews and an important part of their app!

OP, you might not necessarily be in the 5-20% who will actually will write worthwhile personal statements, but the fact that you had intended to go to the Peace Corps tells me that you don't just have a cookie cutter background and actually have something intelligent to write about. Take your time and make sure you don't blow this opportunity just to get it in a few days early.

 

[The Real SVB]

I mean I guess we're just fundamentally at odds here so I don't want to really beat a dead horse. I've talked to a lot of successful alumnae from my uni currently at, again, top notch med programs, who said that their PS was often a topic of conversation in interviews and an important part of their app!

Sure. To each their own.

 

[The Real SVB]

That's nice of you. I was a social science major too buddy, and I write every day for a living.

You're not wrong that personal statements don't need a lot of writing. But if you have the background to write a good one, is there anything wrong with shopping it around to mentors and really taking the time to make sure that it's good?

lol sorry I didn't mean "you" as in you personally. I meant people in general. I'm a big fan of editing (did lots of editing in college) but not when it comes to a PS. Maybe there's 2-3 people who know you well enough to really add substantially to what you wrote. A PS should be personal, so I think there's little reason to throw it around to a bunch of "mentors." Again, few of us are special little snowflakes. But hey, that's just me. OP gets a wide variety of viewpoints to read, which means the forum's functioning.

 

[ASD2019]

Some admissions committee members disagree with you.



Every other active, trustworthy adcom has said something similar, including @Goro @LizzyM @Catalystik. I just can't find the quotes right now.

You have greatly misunderstood what these people are trying to convey. Trying to quantify how important a specific part of the process is relative to others isn't easy. So as an applicant you should consider every part of the process extremely important. Most people put tremendous amount of time into writing their PS, but a small percentage of these people are able to make themselves stand out. For the rest it is a just another "good part" of their application. Ending up in this category isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is certain though is that if you don't put in the time, you will end up in the category of people who will be hurt by their PS. This is similar to a class where only 10% can get As. You don't just give up because your chance a low. You put your best effort forth, and see where it takes you.

Btw you seem to think a lot of things, but most premeds don't give a rats a** about what you think.

 

[The Real SVB]

You have greatly misunderstood what these people are trying to convey. Trying to quantify how important a specific part of the process is relative to others isn't easy. So as an applicant you should consider every part of the process extremely important. Most people put tremendous amount of time into writing their PS, but a small percentage of these people are able to make themselves stand out. For the rest it is a just another "good part" of their application. Ending up in this category isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is certain though is that if you don't put in the time, you will end up in the category of people who will be hurt by their PS. This is similar to a class where only 10% can get As. You don't just give up because your chance a low. You put your best effort forth, and see where it takes you.

Btw you seem to think a lot of things, but most premeds don't give a rats a** about what you think.

I already said to each his own. That means we agree to disagree and are unlikely to change each other's viewpoints.
Isn't this a forum? I thought that was a place where you say what you think. I didn't give you any **** for what you said (besides bringing up contrary evidence), so I'd appreciate it if you don't give me any just because we disagree.

 

[Long Way to Go]

lol sorry I didn't mean "you" as in you personally. I meant people in general. I'm a big fan of editing (did lots of editing in college) but not when it comes to a PS. Maybe there's 2-3 people who know you well enough to really add substantially to what you wrote. A PS should be personal, so I think there's little reason to throw it around to a bunch of "mentors." Again, few of us are special little snowflakes. But hey, that's just me. OP gets a wide variety of viewpoints to read, which means the forum's functioning.

Three faculty members, some of whom are members of admissions committees at their various schools and all people I've worked with for >1 year. Maybe not everyone needs it, but it definitely improved my essay a lot. Whether that will mean anything for my overall application, who can say.