How soon do I have to send in secondaries? I don't have my MCAT score and haven't been verified...

[Laurenxxxx]

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I got secondaries for a couple of schools already, but haven't been verified and just took my MCAT. I would prefer to wait until my MCAT score comes in to decide if I even have a chance at some of these schools, but would that be considered lazy and late of me? What about if I at least wait until I'm verified (which should be soon, I submitted June 27)?

 

[Lifeman]

I submitted that day too, looks like we should be verified really soon according to the verification thread.

 

[claduva94]

No matter what shoot for <2 weeks

 

[lmn]

When do your scores come in? And honestly what do you have to gain realistically by not turning them in? Possibly saving a few $100 bucks if your score comes back poorly? But then you are still already a reapplicant for next year, and if it does come back good enough to apply you have already wasted time getting your secondary in and "possibly" have shown schools you aren't interested since you are taking so long to turn it around.

Personally, I would say just do them now, you are already going for it, might as well give yourself the best shot as possible. I personally had success turning in some of those instant secondaries really late compared to when I got them, but it isn't something I would do again if I could possibly have done it earlier, and it isn't something I would recommend others to do.

 

[Lifeman]

When do your scores come in? And honestly what do you have to gain realistically by not turning them in? Possibly saving a few $100 bucks if your score comes back poorly? But then you are still already a reapplicant for next year, and if it does come back good enough to apply you have already wasted time getting your secondary in and "possibly" have shown schools you aren't interested since you are taking so long to turn it around.

Personally, I would say just do them now, you are already going for it, might as well give yourself the best shot as possible. I personally had success turning in some of those instant secondaries really late compared to when I got them, but it isn't something I would do again if I could possibly have done it earlier, and it isn't something I would recommend others to do.

Were you also getting secondaries before you were verified? How long are we talking? Thanks.

 

[lmn]

Were you also getting secondaries before you were verified? How long are we talking? Thanks.

I think I got a few within the first few days after submitting, I wasn't verified for a good while afterwards - AMCAS was really behind/delayed last year. I don't know the exact dates when I submitted secondaries, but my guess for some of those would be like like 1-2 months-ish after receiving them (at least for the the two schools that sent instantly after submitting). I was lucky enough to receive ii's for them despite the long turn around, but again this is something I DO NOT recommend. If you are at all able to do them in a faster fashion, do it! If you are on here, you know you can find the prompts from early on (or last year), use those to pre-write those secondaries if you know you aren't going to be able to do it once they send you them.

 

[MagicSkittles]

<2 weeks is the rule of thumb

 

[RTC19]

No matter what shoot for <2 weeks

This is exactly what I was going to say! 🙂

I am sending you my good wishes and positive energy for a successful application cycle, OP! 🙂

 

[looncat]

So the <2 weeks rule still applies if you haven't been verified? Won't the schools still put you at the bottom of the pile until after you're verified?

 

[NickNaylor]

So the <2 weeks rule still applies if you haven't been verified? Won't the schools still put you at the bottom of the pile until after you're verified?

The 2-week rule is not a rule. It's an arbitrary guideline that is propagated from year to year.

Regardless of your application status, it's a good idea to get the secondaries back to the schools as soon as possible without sacrificing quality. In other words, don't turn in a crappy app in pursuit of following an arbitrary rule. Even if you're not verified (and thus won't be reviewed for a while), it's still a good idea to go ahead and get them in. Why wait? Some schools supposedly use return time as a gauge of interest, which is obviously always a good thing to express. How strong this is I'm not sure, but it's something to keep in mind.