Late Applicant

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prince0fpersia94

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Hi everyone,

I already know that I will be applying late August-September. I was wondering if anyone know of any stories of late applicants good/bad.

Any advice/stories will be much appreciated!

Thank you!!
 
Submitted late july 2013-2014 cycle. three interviews, one acceptance
 
If you do that don't expect to hear back from anyone until January or later.
 
I know many solid applicants who would've most likely been accepted had they applied in July but instead they are suffering the consequences of applying later. If you're "applying later" because you're taking the MCAT in July or whatever, please consider what you are doing. No shame in taking a gap year.
 
Interview 3 places, 1 acceptance 2 I haven't heard back from. Average stats. Submitted Sept 1.
Edit: But I definitely wouldn't recommend it. I was scrambling.
 
Appreciate all the advice so far. The reason why I am planning on applying late is because I didnt do too well on my first MCAT and do not feel comfortable with that score, so I am taking the new one. I need to do very well on this one and do not want to be rushed in my studying schedule. Also, I won't be able to seriously study until mid May since my course load is crazy this semester. I was planning on giving myself two months to study = Take MCAT late July, early August. What do you all think?
 
prince0fpersia94 said:
Appreciate all the advice so far. The reason why I am planning on applying late is because I didnt do too well on my first MCAT and do not feel comfortable with that score, so I am taking the new one. I need to do very well on this one and do not want to be rushed in my studying schedule. Also, I won't be able to seriously study until mid May since my course load is crazy this semester. I was planning on giving myself two months to study = Take MCAT late July, early August. What do you all think?
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In my experience, two months is not enough time to improve an MCAT score. You're better off taking a gap year and giving yourself more time to study.
 
IMO, I think August is still not late though September would be for verification. But one thing to consider is that you may not get your secondaries right away and by the time you get them, it will take time to submit those. If you submit them close to their deadlines it may be bad. I mean I do not know, but I would imagine tons of interview slots would be taken up then and you would be left scrambling to get interviews.
 
TREDWISE said:
In my experience, two months is not enough time to improve an MCAT score. You're better off taking a gap year and giving yourself more time to study.
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OP needs more than improving. He needs to improve the old stuff, learn the new stuff. No way this is getting done in 2 months.

Wait a year. You'll live.
 
wowsers said:
OP needs more than improving. He needs to improve the old stuff, learn the new stuff. No way this is getting done in 2 months.

Wait a year. You'll live.
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And do something else while you study for and take the new MCAT.

NonTradJp said:
IMO, I think August is still not late though September would be for verification. But one thing to consider is that you may not get your secondaries right away and by the time you get them, it will take time to submit those. If you submit them close to their deadlines it may be bad. I mean I do not know, but I would imagine tons of interview slots would be taken up then and you would be left scrambling to get interviews.
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You don't think late august is late for the primary application? Have you applied before?
 
TREDWISE said:
You don't think late august is late for the primary application? Have you applied before?
Click to expand...

I just think that SDN tends to over dramatize things. And its better to get it in earlier. But late has the definition of being after the deadline or towards the end of a period, which August is not for the majority of schools. There are those that do not have much of a choice because their committee letters or LoRs cannot come any earlier. You work with what you have.
 
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I got my secondaries in mid-late august with a couple in early sept.

I got interviews, but they were far later than I had hoped and I don't think I heard from some schools I would have heard from otherwise. If your stats are great, then mid aug is fine, but if you're on the cusp of stuff then earlier will help.
 
I submitted my primary in mid July, was verified in early August, and was complete at most schools by early September. I have good but not stellar stats. I got 8 IIs, went to 6 of them, have 3 acceptances, 1 WL, and haven't heard back from 2 of them yet.
 
NonTradJp said:
I just think that SDN tends to over dramatize things. And its better to get it in earlier. But late has the definition of being after the deadline or towards the end of a period, which August is not for the majority of schools. There are those that do not have much of a choice because their committee letters or LoRs cannot come any earlier. You work with what you have.
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If you haven't applied then you wouldn't know. It's better to take a gap year than to apply late.
 
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I applied late (primary submitted in September), got 4 interviews, which turned into 4 waitlists, and then eventually 1 acceptance. I had good stats, but didn't know how important it was to apply early. So yeah, take a gap year if you can.
 
My personal advice: take the gap year.

There is a graph somewhere on SDN but I forget who posted it. It plots the number of interviews available and the number of applicants being considered against time in the cycle, can someone help me find it?
 
TREDWISE said:
If you haven't applied then you wouldn't know. It's better to take a gap year then to apply late.
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Okay, I still have to think about it all. One more thing that was bothering me: If I do take the Mcat in early August, and send in my application before my score comes out, will the committee see my ****ty previous score and that my August Mcat score is not released yet? I feel like applying that late and just that score alone will just put me on the no thanks list. Will they give me a chance before rejecting me to wait for the new score?
 
NonTradJp said:
I just think that SDN tends to over dramatize things. And its better to get it in earlier. But late has the definition of being after the deadline or towards the end of a period, which August is not for the majority of schools. There are those that do not have much of a choice because their committee letters or LoRs cannot come any earlier. You work with what you have.
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In general I believe this as well. I had an MCAT retake that was not released until late September and I still landed interviews at every school in my home state (Ohio) with below average stats. I have a good friend that applied super late against my advice and he just got into Ohio State and is interviewing at Case. He sent his secondaries the last week that they were available. So it is possible, however, your chanes are dramatically cut and you will have a harder chance getting in. I do second a gap year but it is not impossible like it's made out to be.
 
I second (third? fifth?) the advice given here. I submitted my primary September 3rd (also had to take mcat twice). I was very fortunate to receive 4 IIs and one acceptance. While I am happy with what I have gotten, I know that my stats/ECs were (theoretically) good enough to get me into many schools that either rejected me right off the bat or put me on pre-interview holds. So its definitely possible to get an acceptance (or more) if you apply late, but why not set yourself up for the best outcome from the start rather than playing catch-up. As an added bonus you can use the gap year to boost any EC areas you may need work on, get more clinical experience and pre-write your PS and secondaries when you are not trying to study for the MCAT.
 
Even if it means skipping an app cycle, apply as early as possible.


prince0fpersia94 said:
Hi everyone,

I already know that I will be applying late August-September. I was wondering if anyone know of any stories of late applicants good/bad.

Any advice/stories will be much appreciated!

Thank you!!
Click to expand...
 
I submitted in June and took a late July MCAT. My scores didn't get to schools until late August so I effectively wasn't complete until then. I was also told to apply early, but I didn't want to take another gap year and wasn't ready to take the MCAT earlier. Managed to get accepted to an MD school in the states (which was my goal). While I think ideally we would all apply with all our cards ready in June, it's not the end of the world to apply a bit late, and its MUCH better than rushing to take the MCAT and doing poorly. That being said, if you don't mind waiting a year, you will probably have better results applying in June.
 
emraldragon said:
I second (third? fifth?) the advice given here. I submitted my primary September 3rd (also had to take mcat twice). I was very fortunate to receive 4 IIs and one acceptance. While I am happy with what I have gotten, I know that my stats/ECs were (theoretically) good enough to get me into many schools that either rejected me right off the bat or put me on pre-interview holds. So its definitely possible to get an acceptance (or more) if you apply late, but why not set yourself up for the best outcome from the start rather than playing catch-up. As an added bonus you can use the gap year to boost any EC areas you may need work on, get more clinical experience and pre-write your PS and secondaries when you are not trying to study for the MCAT.
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Awesome advice! I have a lot to think about. All the advice given to me in this thread was much appreciated! Thank you all.
 
Just be careful of a drop in your retest. I've had friends who were blindsided by it in the middle of the application cycle. Also, you want to give yourself a buffer to push back your test in case you don't feel ready without the pressure of an even later application. Good luck on your test! The MCAT is a beast!
 
Apply when you're ready, 1 year is not that big of a deal and to be honest gap years are super fun. However, if you're really committed to applying this coming cycle I think your plan is fine. I'll give you my experience (which seems to go against the general SDN advice) but hopefully it will help. I graduated undergrad last year as an engineer with 3.51 cGPA. I took the MCAT for the second time this past July and got a 36. Since I took it in July the scores weren't released to my schools until August. I submitted my primary in early June, right around when we were able to submit and all secondaries within 4 weeks of receiving them. This cycle I got 22 II, attended 13 and am accepted to 7. I applied to ~30 schools so I was fortunate to have the ability to do that but still I technically was not complete late but still had a great cycle. I think my story is just meant to show that while its definitely better to complete things early (of course it is lol) having a hold on your app because of the MCAT is not a big deal in my opinion.
 
All of the previous advice about applying early, taking a gap year and not rushing the MCAT is spot on.

My 2 gap years have been 2 of the most fun years of my life so far and I have accomplished so much. Not only has my research excelled, but I've matured greatly as a person.

Just another reason you should apply early: my first application cycle (just after I graduated) I was complete at 14 schools and did not get a single interview (complete ~September). On my second cycle I was complete at all 20 schools I applied to by the end of July. I received interviews at every school, attended 11 of them and am sitting on 5 acceptances. Just saying...
 
referee3 said:
All of the previous advice about applying early, taking a gap year and not rushing the MCAT is spot on.

My 2 gap years have been 2 of the most fun years of my life so far and I have accomplished so much. Not only has my research excelled, but I've matured greatly as a person.

Just another reason you should apply early: my first application cycle (just after I graduated) I was complete at 14 schools and did not get a single interview (complete ~September). On my second cycle I was complete at all 20 schools I applied to by the end of July. I received interviews at every school, attended 11 of them and am sitting on 5 acceptances. Just saying...
Click to expand...

Congrats on all the acceptances!! I'm very happy for you!
 
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