Is it okay to delay sending in secondaries (say taking 3 weeks or 4 weeks) due to moving?

[Gauss44]

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I have to move and I am applying this year. So, I'm wondering what the consequences will be for getting secondaries in after 2 weeks, should I choose to, or have to, let that go in order to complete the move?

To help me get an idea of the expected time frame:

Are secondaries expected to arrive, or be sent, within 2 weeks?

What if it takes 2.5 weeks?

3 weeks?

4 weeks?

At what point, do you think a medical school will really have trouble with an applicant for taking too long on secondaries? Is there a remedy for that like including a letter explaining?

 

[gyngyn]

Send them in when they are ready.
Do not send an explanatory letter.

 

[Gauss44]

How important is it to get secondaries in within 2 weeks? I'm stuck in a really bad housing situation (ex. drug dealing/manufacturing landlord in building polluting our air making me sick) and have to weigh that against getting secondaries in quickly.

 

[gyngyn]

How important is it to get secondaries in within 2 weeks? I'm stuck in a really bad housing situation and have to weigh that against getting these in quickly.

This is not important unless the school requires or recommends a time frame.

 

[Goro]

How important is it to get secondaries in within 2 weeks? I'm stuck in a really bad housing situation (ex. drug dealing/manufacturing landlord in building polluting our air making me sick) and have to weigh that against getting secondaries in quickly.

It is a pre-med delusion that secondaries have to be turned around right away and that the Admissions Dean has a stopwatch going to see how dedicated you are.

 

[kb1900]

Just be aware of exactly what each school expects. Wake Forest emailed me after my 2 week period passed

 

[DBC03]

Just here to say I am feeling for you! I just finished moving last weekend, then turned around to drive to a wedding over 16 hours away. It's tough to get settled again.

 

[aldol16]

From what I remember, some schools will request that you get the secondaries back to them within some time frame. For those schools, you obviously don't want to go outside of the specified time frame. For other schools, you generally want to return them ASAP so try to get it done in 2-3 weeks. I returned a few in 3-4 weeks and still got interviews so there's no real hard deadline - you just want to work efficiently.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

I returned a few in 3-4 weeks and still got interviews so there's no real hard deadline - you just want to work efficiently.

Yeah, if everyone crushed the MCAT like you did @aldol16 they could also return secondaries in 3-4 weeks and still get interviews..

 

[aafiaa]

Yeah, if everyone crushed the MCAT like you did @aldol16 they could also return secondaries in 3-4 weeks and still get interviews..

what did @aldol16 get on the mcat?

 

[wysdoc]

what did @aldol16 get on the mcat?

This is a thread from 2017, closing to further comment