"Late Bloomers"-A thread for us late applicants

[DancerDoc777]

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Hey guys! Looking through recent posts, it seems like there are quite a few of us who have just applied in the past few weeks, are still applying, or are still debating. Unfortunately, we missed out on most of the SDN support/camaraderie during the bulk of applicants this summer. We may be somewhat "late bloomers" but keep your head up because we're still in the game, baby 👍! I was thinking we could all use a little encouragement, especially since it seems like everyone on this site has already interviewed or is accepted. Feel free to post any questions from starting the primary aacomas application to getting your Letter's of Rec. It would be great to get some advice from the one's who have just finished this process, as well as hear success stories of late/late-ish applicants from previous years. I'm excited to hear from the rest of you that are in the same boat, so let's track each other's progress!

AACOMAS: submitted 10/27, transcripts received 10/28, awaiting GPA calculation and verification.

 

[LauraDO]

Let's talk about the fact that all though I submitted 10/30, transcripts complete 11/1 I still check the site like 5 times a day to see if I am processed yet. I know I won't be but I have this morbid curiosity about it. As the days clip by I get more anxious. By goal is to have everything in and ready by the Dec 14th date where people have to turn down acceptances

 

[normocarbia]

first hi everyone, new member and a late bloomer 🙂

just finished primary app, havent sent it out yet (waiting on some $$)
applying to 11 schools, 3.3 gpa (progressive improvement), 29M mcat and just graduated this may
i have very little patient care experience (only like 40 hours volunteering in the emergency room) but i have a ton of undergraduate research experience and im working as a microbiology lab tech now. am i screwed?

neeeed some reassurance :O

 

[superfan56]

you're not screwed, but I think DO schools care more about clinical exposure than lab research. Your stats are good w/ mcat above average of most schools. Not sure if it's that much ahead though.....

Why did you guys/girls wait so long to apply?

 

[oden]

you're not screwed, but I think DO schools care more about clinical exposure than lab research. Your stats are good w/ mcat above average of most schools. Not sure if it's that much ahead though.....

Why did you guys/girls wait so long to apply?

for me superfan56, it was mostly money. submitted 10/19. transcript received 10/22. i dont know why, but, everyday i check for gpa verificaton.lol.
after reading about the dec 14 ordeal i kinda feel better that i may not be too too late.

 

[superfan56]

for me superfan56, it was mostly money. submitted 10/19. transcript received 10/22. i dont know why, but, everyday i check for gpa verificaton.lol.
after reading about the dec 14 ordeal i kinda feel better that i may not be too too late.

I was in your shoes a few months ago. The waiting is excruciating. Just start working on the secondaries and stop checking. They only update the site once a week.

 

[oden]

I was in your shoes a few months ago. The waiting is excruciating. Just start working on the secondaries and stop checking. They only update the site once a week.

most schools send u a link after they've received your primary. i know kcom and soma have a website for secondaries. how do i go about starting other secondaries if i don't know what they are?

 

[Tiretrauma]

I was in your shoes a few months ago. The waiting is excruciating. Just start working on the secondaries and stop checking. They only update the site once a week.

Im there right now too. I keep checking and still nothing. I read on the site that after they recieve everything it still takes 4-6weeks to process it???? So that means the schools wont even receive my apps until late December??!! UGH!

 

[Tanner82]

most schools send u a link after they've received your primary. i know kcom and soma have a website for secondaries. how do i go about starting other secondaries if i don't know what they are?

I think there is a thread for the secondary essay prompts, so you can have all the essays done before you even get the secondary... I'll try to find it for you and post the link

 

[Tanner82]

Here it is http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=417296

 

[DancerDoc777]

just finished primary app, havent sent it out yet (waiting on some $$)
applying to 11 schools, 3.3 gpa (progressive improvement), 29M mcat and just graduated this may
i have very little patient care experience (only like 40 hours volunteering in the emergency room) but i have a ton of undergraduate research experience and im working as a microbiology lab tech now. am i screwed?

neeeed some reassurance :O

Hey! Your stats look good. I definitely think there's hope! Since it sounds like you're busy working, I would try to get some additional clinical experience in somehow, a couple hours here and there. It is so crucial to DO schools that they see you have clinical experience, and you need to prove it to them that you understand what being a doctor is, especially what DOs do. I would try to contact as many DO's around your area that you can find and try to schedule in some shadowing. Even if it's not on your primary aacomas, you may be able to fit it in on your secondaries, and if not then you can talk about it in your interviews. I'm in the same boat now trying to get some DO experience. Good luck!

To the rest of you guys, I totally know how you feel. I keep checking the aacomas website to see if my gpa is calculated yet, even though it's only been like 10 days. I'm hoping that a miracle will occur and the application will be verified in record time!

 

[creekfreek24]

first hi everyone, new member and a late bloomer 🙂

just finished primary app, havent sent it out yet (waiting on some $$)
applying to 11 schools, 3.3 gpa (progressive improvement), 29M mcat and just graduated this may
i have very little patient care experience (only like 40 hours volunteering in the emergency room) but i have a ton of undergraduate research experience and im working as a microbiology lab tech now. am i screwed?

neeeed some reassurance :O

i agree with Dancerdoc, doit. You are pretty much in the exact same boat i was in in 2005 when i applied. Ive been published and had lots of research but not much clinical. now 2 years later i'm applying again, i still have all that research experience but i've built up a lot of clinical experience.

In my experience, shadowing a D.O. would be a good help for you. When i was in interviews 2 years ago i made the mistake of talking about the research too much and then they're gonna just tell you to get your ph.d.
my advice, shadow some D.O.'s, and try to play the clinical experience up a little bit more than the research.

best of luck!!!!! i interview at UNECOM next thur, the 15th.

 

[pakbabydoll]

I was wondering what caused you guys to apply late?
Do students usually have trouble with getting LORS? or what other problems. I want to be prepared.

 

[oden]

I think there is a thread for the secondary essay prompts, so you can have all the essays done before you even get the secondary... I'll try to find it for you and post the link

thanks alot Tanner82

 

[Kateb4]

I was really scaring myself looking at the interview/accepted threads.

I am working on secondaries now, but they're going slow! Of the 9 schools that I applied to, I got secondaries from all and submitted 6 so far - none are complete though. I have one LOR done, and three should be done this week. I had to wait for summer grades. I re-took a class that I had a C in (got an A this time), but I needed that boost before I submitted my primary. Then I just had to hunt people down to get the LORs.

I feel so late now though. I really hope that I can get some interviews before the end of the year. Do schools interview into late Dec or do they break for the holidays early?

 

[HristosKaran]

Don't worry guys, I think AACOMAs are used to a later rush (hopefully). I just sent my primaries off a few days ago (transcripts on the way). Applying to both MD/DO schools is definitely hurting my wallet. I have a 3.4 GPA, which is a little deceiving since I've had a 3.8+ the past three years, and a 27Q MCAT. 1.5 years O.Chem research with small publication, 200+ hours volunteering in ED ..hoping for the best!

 

[LauraDO]

I was wondering what caused you guys to apply late?
Do students usually have trouble with getting LORS? or what other problems. I want to be prepared.

i guess you could say I strategically waited. Since I'm not taking my mcat until Jan I didn't want my app to get lost in the shuffle when everyone else was submitting

 

[froggiepremed]

FYI,

I put my apps in at the end of October last year - I got in and had several interviews! Good luck😀

 

[superfan56]

i guess you could say I strategically waited. Since I'm not taking my mcat until Jan I didn't want my app to get lost in the shuffle when everyone else was submitting

honestly, i don't think this would happen. It's not like they don't sort the apps before they're complete. It's just put in folders and reviewed like once a week to see if the files are complete. Everything is constantly added...

 

[LauraDO]

See this is what I like to hear!!! Froggiepremed you are on my favorite person list today!

FYI,

I put my apps in at the end of October last year - I got in and had several interviews! Good luck😀

 

[LauraDO]

actually this is what the admissions people at both LMU and LECOM-B told me to do

honestly, i don't think this would happen. It's not like they don't sort the apps before they're complete. It's just put in folders and reviewed like once a week to see if the files are complete. Everything is constantly added...

 

[EEL08]

Yea I'm gonna apply to pcom, wucomp, texas one, ny one.

only applying to osteopathic schools, maybe sgu in caribbean as backup
29T, 3.3 gpa
i hope they still take me....the deadlines for osteopathic schools are so late...but people are saying it is late right now??? with deadlines in feb, and april? 🙁 🙁 🙁

I hope you already applied to TCOM because the deadline is already passed I believe. Unless that's only for in-staters.

 

[Akshay]

Don't worry guys, I think AACOMAs are used to a later rush (hopefully). I just sent my primaries off a few days ago (transcripts on the way). Applying to both MD/DO schools is definitely hurting my wallet. I have a 3.4 GPA, which is a little deceiving since I've had a 3.8+ the past three years, and a 27Q MCAT. 1.5 years O.Chem research with small publication, 200+ hours volunteering in ED ..hoping for the best!

so how do you plan to explain the drop in GPA in your last year....i've had a similar drop....but i completed my graduation in 3 years....worried as hell about the damn thing being brought up at interviews

 

[DancerDoc777]

See this is what I like to hear!!! Froggiepremed you are on my favorite person list today!

Yeah, seriously! We are pretty hard pressed for encouragement. Any other success stories out there???? We could use the boost in morale!

 

[belichek]

my tour guide at bradenton had a 2.7 undergrad gpa (from UCLA) and he said that he sent in his secondary on march 10 last year and got in 4 days before orientation for the 2011 class.

 

[DancerDoc777]

my tour guide at bradenton had a 2.7 undergrad gpa (from UCLA) and he said that he sent in his secondary on march 10 last year and got in 4 days before orientation for the 2011 class.

That's pretty sweet. I would definitely say that's a success story!

 

[HristosKaran]

so how do you plan to explain the drop in GPA in your last year....i've had a similar drop....but i completed my graduation in 3 years....worried as hell about the damn thing being brought up at interviews

Oh, my drop was in the very beginning...I went from the 2.6ish range to 3.8ish for the last 3 years.

 

[umean2tellme]

my tour guide at bradenton had a 2.7 undergrad gpa (from UCLA) and he said that he sent in his secondary on march 10 last year and got in 4 days before orientation for the 2011 class.

wow.

 

[superfan56]

my tour guide at bradenton had a 2.7 undergrad gpa (from UCLA) and he said that he sent in his secondary on march 10 last year and got in 4 days before orientation for the 2011 class.

i was speaking to someone saying that Bradenton's first class had only 150 applicants for 150 slots. Not sure what it is now..

 

[Jpc984]

Those numbers sound fishy. Did you phrase it correctly?

 

[nlax30]

i was speaking to someone saying that Bradenton's first class had only 150 applicants for 150 slots. Not sure what it is now..

http://www.aacom.org/data/annualreport/slideshow/index.html

Page 5 has entering class and applicant numbers for the DO schools, for entering classes of 2004-05 and 2005-06. It doesn't have the applicant numbers broken out from LECOM's main campus in 04-05, but Bradenton had 1746 applicants for it's 2nd class (05-06).

Other random data/info from AACOM:
http://www.aacom.org/data/index.html

 

[Esperanza]

I am absolutely hating the secondary apps! I was just taking a little breather before seeing that my secondaries need to be send in right away! I have my people for recommendations on hand, including two DO's. I have applied to 9 schools. I just figure, if there is any time in my life to apply its now. After this, who knows? Its just really expensive and time consuming. (the essay part 🙂

 

[DancerDoc777]

I am absolutely hating the secondary apps! I was just taking a little breather before seeing that my secondaries need to be send in right away! I have my people for recommendations on hand, including two DO's. I have applied to 9 schools. I just figure, if there is any time in my life to apply its now. After this, who knows? Its just really expensive and time consuming. (the essay part 🙂

I'm definitely dreading the secondaries, at least the essays anyway. Everyone recommends that you start on them even before you receive them from the schools, but on the SDN secondary site (posted above) they're all from 2006 which could mean they might be updated/different this year. Plus, none of them say what the character/word limit is for the essays. Does anyone know if any of these schools' websites have the secondary app posted and available: Touro-CA,NV, SOMA, AZCOM, Western? I would work on the secondary essays but I don't want to re-write them when I found out that they've changed from '06 or the word limit is different. How are you guys working out the secondary situation? Are you doing them ahead of time?

 

[superfan56]

almost all the secondaries are posted, you just have to do some digging.

 

[Jpc984]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=417296

No digging required... i found it in this thread.

 

[Esperanza]

Yes, I am working on them all right now. I think its better to have a head-start 🙂 before they send out all the info asking us to do the secondary apps. I personally went through all of the schools websites and read what they asked for. I was just hoping some one would tell me that I didn't need to write a new one, that I could just manipulate my old primary essay and use that for my seconardies. 🙁 Thats life, I guess...

 

[superfan56]

I wouldn't do the same as the primary. They want you to jump through more hoops.

 

[EEL08]

I didn't manipulate my primary for the secondaries, but once I wrote a few secondaries I could manipulate those to fit for other secondaries.

 

[superfan56]

I didn't manipulate my primary for the secondaries, but once I wrote a few secondaries I could manipulate those to fit for other secondaries.

exactly what i did

 

[DancerDoc777]

This thread has been quiet lately, so I thought I would update the late bloomers on my recent status: AACOMAS primary is finally processed and mailed! I checked yesterday and I was so excited to see that! I was surprised that next to "designations" in the status box, there was no date when they were mailed, but when I clicked on it and looked at the list of schools, they each had "mailed" and "processed" next to them. Just, a warning to make sure you click on "designations" to see if they are mailed, because otherwise they don't show the date.

My Pre-Med advisor is all ready to send the LORs out this week, and hopefully I will get all the secondaries this week. I think the calm before the storm is almost over 😱 👍👍.
Here is my progress:
AACOMAS submitted 10/27/07
Transcripts & MCAT scores received 10/29/07
GPA Calculation 11/21/07
Mailed/Processed 11/25/07

Good luck to all the late bloomers out there! Hang in there and try to be patient! 😀

 

[NYC Medic]

when a late application is really late?

 

[LauraDO]

This thread has been quiet lately, so I thought I would update the late bloomers on my recent status: AACOMAS primary is finally processed and mailed! I checked yesterday and I was so excited to see that! I was surprised that next to "designations" in the status box, there was no date when they were mailed, but when I clicked on it and looked at the list of schools, they each had "mailed" and "processed" next to them. Just, a warning to make sure you click on "designations" to see if they are mailed, because otherwise they don't show the date.

My Pre-Med advisor is all ready to send the LORs out this week, and hopefully I will get all the secondaries this week. I think the calm before the storm is almost over 😱 👍👍.
Here is my progress:
AACOMAS submitted 10/27/07
Transcripts & MCAT scores received 10/29/07
GPA Calculation 11/21/07
Mailed/Processed 11/25/07

Good luck to all the late bloomers out there! Hang in there and try to be patient! 😀

yay! you are on your way, my gpa was just calculated today so I'm hoping my application will be mailed out by the end of the week

 

[HristosKaran]

Cool! I sent my primaries in about a week after you, so hopefully I will be verified soon as well!

 

[LauraDO]

Cool! I sent my primaries in about a week after you, so hopefully I will be verified soon as well!

yeah I'm guessing all of the turkey made them productive, that's what good quality protien will do for you, clears the brain, increases focus and energy, who knew 🙂

 

[superfan56]

personally. enjoy the calm before the storm........

 

[DancerDoc777]

I think you're right! I thought the turkey would slow them down, but apparently they're on top of things. Your guys' apps should be mailed in no time 🙂. Isn't this exciting?! Things are definitely moving along! Have you guys started working on any secondary essays yet?

 

[DancerDoc777]

personally. enjoy the calm before the storm........

Oh I definitely took full advantage of my life during the "calm"- without working a stitch on anything application-related. Life is/was good. Now I'll be working like a mad woman trying to get everything in asap. 😱

 

[LauraDO]

Well I just got an email from LMU saying my primary had been recieved so I guess my stuff has been mailed out even thought it doesn't say so

 

[EEL08]

Well I just got an email from LMU saying my primary had been recieved so I guess my stuff has been mailed out even thought it doesn't say so

When you click on designations does it say processed by each school?

 

[LauraDO]

When you click on designations does it say processed by each school?

Yep, sure does!!!!!