how time-consuming is the application process?

[stat3113]

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studying for mcat, filling out secondaries, interviewing

how is it possible to do any of these while attending school full-time, and taking 15-18 credits?

The most annoying would seem to be interviewing. Say you apply to 30-40 schools and get 5-10 interviews, I assume they are all during the week? Flying out to all these places and having to miss class? Grades obviously matter b/c if you're not accepted that year, you'll have to start over next year, so you can't blow off your courses for interviews.

Folks who have been through all this successfully: how do you manage?

 

[swifteagle43]

studying for mcat, filling out secondaries, interviewing

how is it possible to do any of these while attending school full-time, and taking 15-18 credits?

The most annoying would seem to be interviewing. Say you apply to 30-40 schools and get 5-10 interviews, I assume they are all during the week? Flying out to all these places and having to miss class? Grades obviously matter b/c if you're not accepted that year, you'll have to start over next year, so you can't blow off your courses for interviews.

Folks who have been through all this successfully: how do you manage?

more importantly HOW DO YOU GUYS WALK AND CHEW BUBBLE GUM AT THE SAME TIME?!

 

[voirlesetoiles]

You get your peeps to take notes for you in classes... and pray that your friends don't miss anything important haha

My friend went through the app process last year... he tried his best to group that semester's lectures together MWF or Tues/Thurs in clusters (morning/evening)... so as to minimize the amount of classes missed. And his professors were very helpful and understanding. It was tough for him to catch up when he got back from each trip but he managed. His grades turned out just fine... better than mine actually And I had nothing even half as important to do with my free time.... My friend took 15 hours, retook the August MCAT, and attended 5-6 interviews if I recall correctly. Lucky duck.

 

[Fiddlergirl]

I think the hard part is the MCAT. Interviews don't seem to be too bad, most of my friends interviewed last year and no one had big problems. Studying for the MCAT is incredibly time-consuming, though, and you haven't applied yet so you can't afford to let your grades slip. If you want to take a full course load, I recommend the January MCAT because then you have all Winter Break to study.

 

[nabs86]

I studied for the MCAT during the summer while taking 2 classes and working part-time. Then I took 18 credits both semesters while I was applying. How do you manage? Talk to your professors on the first day of class and let them know you may be missing some classes for interviews. Most professors are very accommodating and will bend the attendance policy for you. Organize your time, plan ahead, and you will be fine! Good luck

 

[EBI831]

mine was kinda easy and i got luckyish. i studied for the mcat over the summer nonstop (that was the time consuming part) while working a 7-5 job but luckily my PI was great and since she wasn't the one paying me but another supervisor i got to study all day and just do experiments for like 2.5 to 3 hours and still get paid to study the mcat; she was all about women's rights and women scientists so she was encouraging me. i also did my secondaries over the summer using SDN for the questions; I did one or two a weekend and alot of them are repetitive so you can just copy and paste. so when i took the mcat in august, i was all set. i submitted my amcas in september (late i know) but luckily got verified only a week after mcat scores were released so i got all my secondaries, returned them the same day i got them (because i'd saved up the fees) and also b/c i already had my school send in dean's letters, recs, etc to the schools during the august to october stretch (which gave them lots of time to get it done). so i got 6 interviews that worked out b/c they were all but one b/w Dec 15th and Jan 10th (my winterbreak) so i didn't miss school. the only other one was my dream school UChicago 2 weeks into second semester so it was during the semester but by then i had already gotten my admission to my state school and WashU so i was secure and lucky. now, i know i got extremely lucky about not missing class etc and i needed it after a sucky second semester junior year so i was able to rock a 4.0 carrying 17 credits (first 4.0 in college) even while taking biochem. so what i'm saying is if you get lucky, it can happen but then you'll have to chance being late in the process, relying on luck, do your work ahead of time in the summer, etc. Oh and I also made my schedule so i didn't have class on Tuesdays which was helpful for make-up work if necessary...turned out my Uchicago interview was on a tuesday so it was perfect. sorry for the volume but i think it had some useful info in it.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Folks who have been through all this successfully: how do you manage?

This is going to sound sarcastic, but I mean to be serious.

Preparing for the MCAT and completing the application process is extremely time-consuming. Me, I was working a professional job 40+ hours per week, taking 9-12 hours per semester at night, and did Kaplan review on top of it. I was also quite old (over 40) and pretty tired most of the time.

Truth is: you suck it up and find a way to do it. Usually, this means giving up most of your social life and very often learning to get by on a little less sleep than what you might be used to. Your life will become very hectic, but that's *exactly* what medical school is going to be like. At my school, your first semester MS-1 is the equivalent of 27 hours - 27 graduate school hours, by the way.

You might as well get used to making schoolwork and administrative work the center focus of your life - and not having very much free time - the more you can improve your organization and time management skills now, the less of a shock MS-1 will be. Good luck.

 

[JRockdown]

How to manage? Probably the same way everyone is going to manage the work load once in school. Time management and a little discipline. Oh and a lot less grey's and house, 🙁.

 

[twick121]

30-40 applications?

THAT will be the most time consuming part. Secondaries take up a LOT of time, some essays will overlap between schools, but not many will. Expect to write between 3-7 essays for each secondary, and they are thoughtful ones. The only exception is Mayo, they have the easiest secondary. You just send them a check for $75 and they continue to look at your application.

Also, expect to spend between $50-100 on each secondary. Between that and the time, 30-40 schools is a lot. However, if your stats aren't great and you need to apply broadly, I guess go for it. But you'll be busy and flat broke.

 

[gary5]

30-40 applications?

THAT will be the most time consuming part. Secondaries take up a LOT of time, some essays will overlap between schools, but not many will. Expect to write between 3-7 essays for each secondary, and they are thoughtful ones. The only exception is Mayo, they have the easiest secondary. You just send them a check for $75 and they continue to look at your application.

Also, expect to spend between $50-100 on each secondary. Between that and the time, 30-40 schools is a lot. However, if your stats aren't great and you need to apply broadly, I guess go for it. But you'll be busy and flat broke.

I'd aim for 15 applications. You need time to do quality work for each.

 

[63768]

do secondaries before you start school up in the fall semester. once you get back into classes, it's hard to find time and motivation to write essays.

beyond that, you just gotta do it. get it all done ASAP and you can breathe easy later. well, relatively easier.