Hey Cabruen, you're definitely right in that they're doing exactly what they said, but it is a bit deceptive.
I never recieved the formal invitation to complete the secondary, just the email that said that they knew I was in the process of completing my AMCAS, and that I would be able to submit the secondary when they recieved my completed AMCAS. But I had already started working on it, hoping to submit it as soon as I got the confirmation. I didn't realize that this was in actuality a way of saying that they would screen the AMCAS and then invite people to complete the secondary. Because really, wouldn't the first thing they get from AMCAS be the completed AMCAS application?
Anyways, I emailed them, and they gave me a pretty political response, saying they get so many applications for so many spots and our mean scores are such and such and we seek candidates with lots of extracurriculars and so on and so forth, so I didn't really get much real feedback.
I also definitely agree with those who say that it's better to be rejected early in the game rather than later. But I thought I had at least another month or so before rejections would start to roll in. . .
Okay, just my thoughts, sorry that was so long-winded.