New and confused

[hopelivin]

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I'm new here and extremely stressed rn. Been reading Student Doctor Network for a prior 2 weeks after hearing from a friend that this site exists. I realize that I followed terrible advice.

I'm in the 2018-19 applicant group. I applied in July and working on submitting my secondaries. This is per the plan of my pre-medical advisor. She told me that medical school deadlines are in Dec/Jan, and I should be done 2 months before to be early. So here I am foolishly writing all secondaries in September. I see now that she was wrong. I'm on the verge of tears.

I have 15 more to submit as my goal was submit all by Sept. 30th. I'm far from rich and worked hard for the money I spent. I'm out of undergrad with limited support apart from my pre-medical advisor. I feel lost now because I spent higher than 3 grand on AMCAS. Is there really no hope for me with medical school rn so late? Please help me 🙁

 

[Toutie]

What does your application look like? It will give us a better idea of what your situation looks like. GPA? MCAT? ECs? URM? State of residence? School list?

 

[Lucca]

Look, you're going to be later than average but it's not the end of the world. You've already submitted so theres really nothing you can do but get those secondaries turned in ASAP and wait. You will likely be waiting longer than most and will be facing a relatively uphill battle compared to people with similar apps and earlier submission dates. However, if your app is solid and well-rounded and your school list is reasonable then your chances are still OK.

If the worst case scenario materializes, you know now how to improve your next cycle. Best of luck.

 

[Valtun]

I'm so sorry for what you're going through, I hope everything works out in the end for you.

For people that have such a strong influence on the pre-medical process (especially for the uninformed and those who don't know anyone who's gone through the same), pre med advisors are god awful.

I mean for ****s sake the one at my school literally promotes the Caribbean and tells students it's a 'great' option to consider. There's posters all around the school showcasing different Caribbean medical schools

There's nothing you can do now unfortunately OP, but there are people who have been in the same position as you and are now current medical students and doctors. Don't lose hope, you got this!

 

[alictiria]

A friend of mine recently went through this - while some schools are very strict about the 2 week thing (UNC comes to mind), many are willing to consider applications up until their deadline without prejudice. In general, the schools that care are upfront about their policy in the secondary portal. Maybe save your $100 if a school says they don't consider (obviously) or have a strong preference for a date before you've submitted, but other than that you should be alright to be considered fairly. You're submitting later than the ideal, but by no means are you too late.

 

[BOAO523]

As others have said, your situation is less-than-ideal but i definitely don't think all is lost. Without sacrificing quality, would you be able to write 2 or even 3 secondaries per day and send them out ASAP? Hopefully this doesn't come across as overly optimistic but assuming that you have good stats and ECs if you submit before month's end and adcoms are able to look at your app by late October or early November then who's to say some of those later interview slots can't be yours?