When referring to "applying late and early" does that mean only when the primary is verified and secondaries are sent? Or when everything, primary, secondary, MCAT, letters of rec, etc., is received?
My school has a prehealth committee and they typically don't sent out the committee letter and all submitted letters of rec for us until early-mid August. I already took the MCAT and am set there and my AMCAS will be ready for submission the first day available and I'll have my secondaries done ASAP as well. Will I be handicapped by my prehealth committee because of the delay with sending out their letters though? All my providers submitted their letters to prehealth and I'm basically just waiting for the committee letter.
Rule 1: Take a Breath
(2017 timeline posting counter #012)
-AMCAS Opens May 3rd, 2016 for entering data and requesting transcripts
-AMCAS primary can be submitted June 7th, 2016 in order to start the verification process
-AMCAS doesnt start transmitting verified applications until June 24th (though some schools have secondaries sent to contact info upon submission to AMCAS)
-Most Primary Apps are transmitted early July thru late August
-Letters via AMCAS are processed/transmitted separately from primary
-Letters can be added after primary has been submitted and transmitted and are mostly not needed until secondary reviews at the earliest.
-Most adcoms dont start meeting for review until at least mid-August, more likely September (though adcom staff may be doing early reviews).
-Submitting Primary Application June is Early, July Medium, August Late
-Having Primary verified and transmitted to school by end of August is normal speed
-Having Secondary and all LORs complete to school by end of September is normal speed, by end of October is about late.
Getting primary in on time does matter because of all the other items that follow it. But applicants often see the beginning and not understanding how it flows from there. Additionally, how each school then opens a file, reviews them on GPA, MCAT, and other factors, and what order they wind up in a queue has less to do with when the primary arrives then when the secondary is completed and received. Since the majority of schools, I dare say, send out pre-transmission, unscreened, or minimal cut off screened secondaries, this is probably a larger factor in where you wind up in the queue for 1) reading an application and 2) decision on interview invite. As I have said previously, and will undoubtedly say dozens of time during this 2017 application cycle (see count above) review of apps is not simply done in a linear chronological order. High achievers, URM, family of alumni, feeder schools, associated UG programs, linked postbaccs, and other factor may push an app forward in the process. Schools have thousands of applications to review and all of this takes time as in weeks and months.
