need advice about letter of recs for MSTP

[bruinbear26]

I'm a late applicant for this whole process (yes, very bad) so I need all the help I can get from you more experienced people. Anyway, regarding your guys' letters of recs: I notice some of the MD/PhD apps require profs to fill out the schools' specific forms, did you ask your profs to send these in to? Did you send them in ALONG with the recs they wrote originally? Is there anyway we can get around not having profs fill out these extra forms?

Thanks. =)

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[Andrew_Doan]

If the program requests a form, then it is strongly advised that you get your professors to fill it out.

It's kind of late to apply MSTP, but you'll never know if you don't try.

 

[jot]

i wouldn't bother with filling out any of the forms that the schools supply. most don't care at all - and its a real hassle for your profs. the only school that actually is close to adament about it is pitt- but there is still leeway there. doesn't reflect on you poorly, they understand.

 

[anot]

I'm also late - my amcas is in, but without an mcat score (which I only got yesterday), and I haven't started any secondaries or MD/PhD supplements. I was not planning to ask my recommenders to fill out the school-specific forms: first I don't think these forms have any unique questions that will be left unanswered by the committee letter, and second these guys are generally pretty busy (god knows it's taken them long enough to finish the initial recs). If this is the wrong attitude, please say so and I will reconsider.

Also, I don't see what the big deal is with applying late. If you are better than an early applicant, why wouldn't they accept you? And won't all the top schools admit the same 10 people at first, and then have to go back to their applicant pool later when all 10 choose Harvard? I think Cornell has 2 interview days for a reason, and Yale's email explicitly says there's no harm in applying closer to the deadline. Am I wrong here also?

Thanks.

 

[dl2dp2]

I get the feeling that many, if not all, the top applicants file applications early. You'd be really surprised by how many smart people there are out there...

Honestly, i'm bummed by Cornell's rejection, but it's not out of reason. If possible apply early...take ANY and ALL possible advantages in this game if you could

 

[CaNEM]

I did not use the forms, whether they said it was required or not.

Many MSTP programs do not have rolling admissions, sometimes even at schools that have MD rolling admissions. This means as long as you get the apps in by the deadline and you are a competitive applicant, you should still have a good chance. Perhaps avoid programs that started their app process really early, have early deadlines, and/or having rolling admissions. We're all here if you have any questions abotu specific schools.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

I used the forms. Why fight the system? It's there for a reason. I played it by the book, and I got in. I'm not sure what would happened if I didn't.

When I applied. My applications were in in June or July.

 

[shamus1]

Originally posted by anot


Also, I don't see what the big deal is with applying late. If you are better than an early applicant, why wouldn't they accept you? And won't all the top schools admit the same 10 people at first, and then have to go back to their applicant pool later when all 10 choose Harvard? I think Cornell has 2 interview days for a reason, and Yale's email explicitly says there's no harm in applying closer to the deadline. Am I wrong here also?

Thanks.

I guess that the problem with applying late is that in programs with rolling admissions you might find that they run out of interview slots. The w-o-w (walks-on-water) applicants can get away with it, as schools will always find a way to squeeze in an extra slot for a future Nobel laureate, but those applicants who are only outstanding may find that they are denied interviews. There is no guarantee that an early application will get you an interview, but it certainly does not hurt.

I would also say that there is no consensus among schools who the "top 10" applicants are in a given year. There is an certain amount of randomness in MSTP admissions decisions, and even people who are accepted by Harvard may find that they are rejected by other, putatively lesser, programs. For that matter, some applicants reject Harvard's offer of admission and go to these "lesser" schools. In those cases, it is about finding the right niche, not the biggest name.