Is mid to late July too late to submit the medical school application?

[JustTooLit]

I have to retake a pre-req course that I did Pass/Fail on all those years ago. I was thinking about submitting my application after I get back the grade from that class (class ends on July 16...and give or take a week for grades to come in and for the school to send in the transcripts). I would be submitting around July 25ish and I was wondering if that is too late? My GPA/BCPM is 3.6/3.5 (With an upward trend) and my MCAT is also solid. I have solid research and volunteering hours. I plan on applying to both MD and DO schools. Thank you.

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[Goro]

No, absolutely not.

Labor Day will be late for MD
T-giving for DO

 

[KnightDoc]

I have to retake a pre-req course that I did Pass/Fail on all those years ago. I was thinking about submitting my application after I get back the grade from that class (class ends on July 16...and give or take a week for grades to come in and for the school to send in the transcripts). I would be submitting around July 25ish and I was wondering if that is too late? My GPA/BCPM is 3.6/3.5 (With an upward trend) and my MCAT is also solid. I have solid research and volunteering hours. I plan on applying to both MD and DO schools. Thank you.

You don't need to wait for one course, which isn't going to move the needle on your GPA anyway! You just need the prereq before you enroll. Why not apply early without it? Yes, anything before Labor Day is "on time," but earlier is always better than later. Why wait literally 2 months for one grade in one class??????

 

[Go2Mars]

As long as you have all your secondary essays submitted by mid-August, I think you are in a strong position. if you can pre-write some of those secondaries, it will help a lot with the turnaround time on your secondaries

 

[LittleBrother]

Idk my experience this cycle was that submitting late hurt me. I submitted in mid-July but wasn't out out AMCAS gate till September. Ended up really backed up w/ secondaries during the school semester.

The lateness definitely hurt. I got interviews but some programs were for sure full up before my name got to committee and I was WL. I have pretty good reason to believe this because my roommate is a stellar applicant (good enough to get into NYU) and we applied at the same time. We ended up with very late IIs and some WLs at schools we applied to together.

That said, I did get into some great programs out-right and I'm sure the WL will shake out in the long run. However, if you want peace of mind applying late will complicate that.

 

[JustTooLit]

No, absolutely not.

Labor Day will be late for MD
T-giving for DO

Thank you Goro! Do you think I should wait til my grade comes back and then apply ? I was told by my adviser that a CR in a pre-req that doesn't have to do with the covid semesters can be a deal breaker for many schools.

 

[JustTooLit]

You don't need to wait for one course, which isn't going to move the needle on your GPA anyway! You just need the prereq before you enroll. Why not apply early without it? Yes, anything before Labor Day is "on time," but earlier is always better than later. Why wait literally 2 months for one grade in one class??????

For my situation, I was told that many schools would sort of dismiss me if they saw that CR from a pre req on my transcript from 2018. I'm not sure how much of a deal breaker it is but I have also heard that many MD schools do not take any updates, so even if I do end up doing well on the retake, they'll see it as a CR. Not sure how much of a big deal it will be.

 

[JustTooLit]

As long as you have all your secondary essays submitted by mid-August, I think you are in a strong position. if you can pre-write some of those secondaries, it will help a lot with the turnaround time on your secondaries

Thank you! I plan on getting the secondaries written soon (hopefully I can start next month)

 

[JustTooLit]

Idk my experience this cycle was that submitting late hurt me. I submitted in mid-July but wasn't out out AMCAS gate till September. Ended up really backed up w/ secondaries during the school semester.

The lateness definitely hurt. I got interviews but some programs were for sure full up before my name got to committee and I was WL. I have pretty good reason to believe this because my roommate is a stellar applicant (good enough to get into NYU) and we applied at the same time. We ended up with very late IIs and some WLs at schools we applied to together.

That said, I did get into some great programs out-right and I'm sure the WL will shake out in the long run. However, if you want peace of mind applying late will complicate that.

Oh damn :/ that sounds troubling. Hmmm would it make a difference if I was targeting mid and low tier US MD schools and DO schools ? Were you shooting high with your school list? How long did verification take for you approximately?

 

[KnightDoc]

For my situation, I was told that many schools would sort of dismiss me if they saw that CR from a pre req on my transcript from 2018. I'm not sure how much of a deal breaker it is but I have also heard that many MD schools do not take any updates, so even if I do end up doing well on the retake, they'll see it as a CR. Not sure how much of a big deal it will be.

I don't know what to tell you. I'm not an adcom, but I certainly wouldn't wait 2 months for one class. What if you hadn't taken it at all yet? You'd be fine, right up until matriculation. You could let them know you are retaking it in the "anything else to add" section to address any possible concerns, but the whole world is going to have a boatload of P/F prereqs from last spring, so I just don't see how one class knocks you out of the running.

On the other hand, yeah, submitting before Labor Day also shouldn't be the end of the world, but lots of people didn't receive the COVID love they were expecting last year after submitting later than usual due to what was going on. The very same adcoms who advise that we are all neurotic worry warts had nothing to say other than the usual "seller's market" when that happened, so, believe me, they don't have all the answers, and every utterance from them is not the gospel.

It's your application, so it's your call. If it were me, I'd submit early and explain I have a single prereq P/F from before I knew I would be applying, and I am presently retaking the class for a grade. If the 3.6/3.5 with an upward trend doesn't knock you out, a single P/F prereq that you are retaking for a grade won't. No matter what your grade turns out to be, A, B or C, it won't make a difference in your GPA or in your outcome, whereas being complete around Labor Day versus mid July very well might.

 

[JustTooLit]

I don't know what to tell you. I'm not an adcom, but I certainly wouldn't wait 2 months for one class. What if you hadn't taken it all yet? You'd be fine, right up until matriculation. You could let them know you are retaking it in the "anything else to add" section to address any possible concerns, but the whole world is going to have a boatload of P/F prereqs from last spring, so I just don't see how one class knocks you out of the running.

On the other hand, yeah, submitting before Labor Day also shouldn't be the end of the world, but lots of people didn't receive the COVID love they were expecting last year after submitting later than usual due to what was going on. The very same adcoms who advise that we are all neurotic worry warts had nothing to say other than the usual "seller's market," so, believe me, they don't have all the answers, and every utterance from them is not the gospel.

It's your application, so it's your call. If it were me, I'd submit early and explain I have a single prereq P/F from before I knew I would be applying, and I am presently retaking the class for a grade. If the 3.6/3.5 with an upward trend doesn't knock you out, a single P/F prereq that you are retaking for a grade won't. No matter what your grade turns out to be, A, B or C, it won't make a difference in your GPA or in your outcome, whereas being complete around Labor Day versus mid July very well might.

Thank you for your great advice! That def makes sense. Looks like I have a lot to think about with this situation.

 

[LittleBrother]

Oh damn :/ that sounds troubling. Hmmm would it make a difference if I was targeting mid and low tier US MD schools and DO schools ? Were you shooting high with your school list? How long did verification take for you approximately?

Verification took like six weeks. That was the major hold up. I found myself more disadvantaged at lower tier schools than at high tier ones. In fact I did atrocious at lower tier MD programs and the only attention I got was from the high tier programs.

 

[Goro]

Thank you Goro! Do you think I should wait til my grade comes back and then apply ? I was told by my adviser that a CR in a pre-req that doesn't have to do with the covid semesters can be a deal breaker for many schools.

I'm a firm believer in applying when you have the best possible app. So yes, get the grade and then apply.

 

[JustTooLit]

Verification took like six weeks. That was the major hold up. I found myself more disadvantaged at lower tier schools than at high tier ones. In fact I did atrocious at lower tier MD programs and the only attention I got was from the high tier programs.

Jeez. 6 weeks verification...wow. I been hearing so much conflicting info on that. Some people say its 3-4 weeks others say its 5-6 weeks.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Jeez. 6 weeks verification...wow. I been hearing so much conflicting info on that. Some people say its 3-4 weeks others say its 5-6 weeks.

The pandemic made this past cycle wacky. I submitted in august and was verified a week later. If possible have all transcripts sent early and/or electronically. Primary app in July is not late and the importance of getting things in in June is largely overhyped on SDN. Often times folks try to find reasons why a cycle isn’t panning out the way they imagined and settle on their app being too late. That might be the case for completed apps in October and November, but certainly not august and september. In July and early august most admissions offices are focused on on boarding their current class.

 

[Banco]

While July may not be late, why delay your application for one course that will have what, a 0.05 difference for your GPA? Not worth it and makes literally no difference. Submit as early as possible and do your secondaries in a timely manner.

If it was a whole semester's worth of courses or multiple science courses that really up'd your GPA, I'd say wait, but in this case it really makes no sense.

 

[Stride]

Waiting that long for a single grade seems excessive. I sent my app in early June with outstanding grades. I could have waited until July for the updated transcript, but I realized that would put me at a significant disadvantage in more ways than one.

If you submit in July, it most likely would take 5 or 6 weeks for verification. That means you wouldn't even have access to the secondary portals until early September. Most successful MD applicants seem to have their secondaries sent in during July/August.

If you do decide to wait to send your app in, make sure you look at the SDN threads during July/August for the current prompts and have your essays pre-written and ready to go as soon as you get verified.

 

[KnightDoc]

Jeez. 6 weeks verification...wow. I been hearing so much conflicting info on that. Some people say its 3-4 weeks others say its 5-6 weeks.

It totally depends on how backed up they are when you submit. 3-4 weeks is typical. It can and does get longer. It think it went as long as around 8 weeks last year, which was very atypical due to the pandemic. Believe me, if you go this route, 2 weeks one way or the other isn't going to determine your fate.

 

[YCAGA]

It’s not worth the risk in my opinion. If your cycle doesn’t go as well as you hoped, submitting late will be something that nags at you even if it wasn’t what actually hurt you. As others have said the delay in verification will mean that you’re getting secondaries in September which is very late considering some people interview the last few weeks of August.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

While I generally think Goro is on the mark, I have to agree with the hive here and say it’s not worth it. Just apply. You can always update schools when you get the grade.

 

[JustTooLit]

While I generally think Goro is on the mark, I have to agree with the hive here and say it’s not worth it. Just apply. You can always update schools when you get the grade.

I was told that schools don't usually take updated grades :/ not sure if its true tho.

 

[JustTooLit]

Thank you everyone! I'm hoping perhaps that CR from all those years ago in Gen Chem II won't hinder my application if I submit before the retake.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I was told that schools don't usually take updated grades :/ not sure if its true tho.

Every school that I applied to but one took updates