If you were to apply again......

Apply EARLY, and send secondaries back ASAP. Otherwise you end up interviewing for mostly waitlist spots, if you get interviews at all.

 

I applied a second time.... and made it this year. I had to improve my MCAT score - went from a 26P to a 31O..... I'd suggest that you look at your gpa, MCAT, EC's, letters of recs, etc. and figure out what needs improvement and then improve it....

 

I think that I would choose my schools more carefully and not apply to so many reach schools--application fees add up really quickly!

 

You know, I honestly would have applied to less schools- I knew I wanted to stay in-state and my chances were best here anyway, so I probably wouldn't have spent $100 a pop to apply to schools that I really would not pick over my state school.

 

I would have applied to a few more schools and not accepted my recommender's statements of "Oh, I'll get that letter out this week" over and over again.

 

I had the opportunity to apply a second time ( <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> ) and the only thing that I changed was that I applied earlier. It makes me a little sick to think of what I went through just because of this one mistake.

 

i totally agree!!! i can't say that loudly enough! i sent my amcas in in october, and i sent in my last secondary the last week of january. at the time i thought those extra few weeks wouldn't make any difference. WRONG. not only do i think it hurt my chances at some places, but the whole process was so much more painful because of it. when your friends already know where they're going next year, every extra day of waiting totally blows. on top of that, i was interviewing until may...and bleh...it was just tiring.

it worked out in the end ok, but i just want to make sure that other people who are natural procrastinators like me don't make the same mistake. it really does make your life more difficult.

 

Nothing. That's why I created a thread that listed everything I did.

 

If I had to apply again, I would definitely verify EVERYTHING even remotely having to do with AMCAS. Transcripts, apps, fees---they messed me up twice that I know of. Very important when you're talking about interview dates, especially. The other thing I regret was applying to DO schools. I ended up withdrawing all my apps., when I saw the requirements the secondaries had for DO recs and shadowing, explanations of commitment to osteopathy, etc. Couldn't do it without fudging, so I withdrew. Wasted a lot of money. If you apply to any DO schools, make sure you can provide those things.

 

I would have applied to a few more schools, I only completed apps at ~10 schools and only got into one. It would have been nice to have multiple acceptances to compare financial aid offers though. I also would have been more relaxed during my interviews. It's so difficult to impress those people, it's probably better just to come off positive and interested in the school then to try to impress them.

 

i would apply to less schools and more reach schools. i would get my letters of rec earlier. do some shadowing with a physician and maybe retake the MCAT. apply earlier and send in secondaries earlier.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Jalbrekt:
<strong>Nothing. That's why I created a thread that listed everything I did.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You the man Jalbrekt . . .

 

Ladybug--
Checking on when the schools receive your AMCAS app. is something you can do yourself on the web site. You can look up the schools you applied to, and there will be a date next to it stating when they were sent your primary app.

 

1. Apply early.
2. Research schools better and apply to more of them (since if I had applied earlier I wouldn't have missed so many deadlines)
3. Verify that AMCAS hasn't screwed anything up.
4. Ask for letters of recommendation early (preferably before you were born)