Late Application?

[DrHumdinger]

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I just had a question for everyone on this board. I have all of my stuff done and am waiting for one letter of rec, which I can't physically get until next Tuesday most likely. I am planning on overnighting the application as soon as I get that last letter. Is this really bad? I am going to end up like 12 days past the "suggested deadline" date on the SF Match website. How much is this going to hurt overall?

 

[MedEye]

Of course, the earlier you turn in your application the better but you should still be ok. I sent my application on sep 26 last year.
The key thing is to keep calling the programs because they get overwhelmed with the number of applications. For example, they have 1 or 2 persons dealing with 300+ applications (mail, email, phone calls,...) in addition to their regular duties so expect that you will not hear anything from many programs (not even a note to tell you that we received your application or one line to tell you "no interview for you").

Good luck in the match

 

[abu barney]

Stop the harrassment of overwhelmed underpaid secretaries!

 

[Heavenly2008]

Does anyone know if programs look at apps as they come or wait until the deadline to make sure that everyone is in and then review all the applications. I am in a similar situation; I am waiting on one LOR to send out my app, will this hurt me?

 

[DiveMD]

Does anyone know if programs look at apps as they come or wait until the deadline to make sure that everyone is in and then review all the applications. I am in a similar situation; I am waiting on one LOR to send out my app, will this hurt me?

It could potentially hurt you. There is a lot of “first come, first served” out there; and you might be wait-listed even if you are a stronger candidate than the early applicants. I would send my application ASAP with or without all my letters. Good luck señorita!

 

[MedEye]

Stop the harrassment of overwhelmed underpaid secretaries!

I'm not quite sure what rheumatology fellows are doing here on this thread. Don't you have a 'Rheum Thread' to hang out at?

 

[ophthogirl]

Does anyone know if programs look at apps as they come or wait until the deadline to make sure that everyone is in and then review all the applications. I am in a similar situation; I am waiting on one LOR to send out my app, will this hurt me?

hey so i've heard from one program director that they wait until a certain date and review a large batch of applications at that time (not necessarily the deadline date). i've also seen another program director who seems to be reading them as they come in and deciding yes/no/maybe right then. and third i just got a "thanks, but no thanks" from a program and its definitely not past their deadline yet. take what you want from my shared info, but in my "expert" opinion i think it depends on each program. obviously you want to get it in before the program deadline. sf match took less than a week to process and distribute my application (not the 2-3 weeks that they claim). so there's definitely time. just do your best it's all you can do.

good luck to you
i'm personally crossing my fingers and wiping away my rejection tears.
cheers

j

 

[ophthoapplicant]

I agree- it really depends.

First it is good to focus on the fact that most programs have an October 1 deadline or later. A handful fall in September (under 10 by my count, but some programs have not said what their deadline is or whether they even have one). On top of that, SFMatch says it takes 2-3 weeks for material to be sent out once reaching them, but for me it was 6 days, and that seems to have been consistent with what other people have said. I guess it is possible that that might take a little longer now if more applications are reaching SFMatch now (I have no idea), but even so. You still have plenty of time to reach most programs' deadlines.

If I knew of a program I really wanted to go to I'd apply to it even if I thought it might reach past "deadline". To me the worst they can say is "no", which is essentially what you get if you don't apply at all. And not that I'm a program director, but if I had a great applicant wanting to come to my program I'm not sure an arbitrary date would matter to me, especially since I'd know that a lot of it is out of the applicant's hands and depends on how fast SFMatch is.

Good luck!

 

[Heavenly2008]

Thanks everyone for your input. I sent in my app my LOR finally came in 🙂 Best of luck to everyone!!!