Organization while applying.

[Hot Wheels]

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I'm gearing up to apply in June and I'm trying to figure out how I want to track my status/progress/to-do lists for each school I'm applying to. How did you do it and would you have done anything differently?

 

[WhyDoWeFall]

I did it through an excel sheet. I made a list of all school choices, average GPA, average MCAT, secondary deadline dates, secondary costs, a next up box, and a status. In the status box I colored the box in with Green (accepted), Yellow (Interview), Red (rejected). The next up box was where I would put what I need to do next.

On a word sheet, I listed all the schools and bullet pointed how the process went. So most of it was "AACOMAS Application, Secondary, Interview, Decision". For this one I printed it out, placed it above my desk and I would cross stuff out when I was done. I correlated this with my excel sheet.

Advice: use interfolio. Have your LORs go to their so your professor/doctor only has to write it once. Once they submit it, you can just click off which schools you want it sent to and they keep backups. I would NEVER go through the Health Professions Office because I remember them loosing a lot of my letters. They also didn't like me too much because I wasn't a "top candidate". Also, keep a copy and print out all receipts for applications. Throw them in a folder just in case. I'm pretty cautious by nature. Lastly, if you don't hear a confirmation from the school that they got your application or secondary, call them up. Don't sit there thinking they got it. I have heard many stories of Admissions not getting something but the applicant thought it was fine.

Good luck and apply early.

 

[StarFall]

I did it through an excel sheet. I made a list of all school choices, average GPA, average MCAT, secondary deadline dates, secondary costs, a next up box, and a status. In the status box I colored the box in with Green (accepted), Yellow (Interview), Red (rejected). The next up box was where I would put what I need to do next.

On a word sheet, I listed all the schools and bullet pointed how the process went. So most of it was "AACOMAS Application, Secondary, Interview, Decision". For this one I printed it out, placed it above my desk and I would cross stuff out when I was done. I correlated this with my excel sheet.

Advice: use interfolio. Have your LORs go to their so your professor/doctor only has to write it once. Once they submit it, you can just click off which schools you want it sent to and they keep backups. I would NEVER go through the Health Professions Office because I remember them loosing a lot of my letters. They also didn't like me too much because I wasn't a "top candidate". Also, keep a copy and print out all receipts for applications. Throw them in a folder just in case. I'm pretty cautious by nature. Lastly, if you don't hear a confirmation from the school that they got your application or secondary, call them up. Don't sit there thinking they got it. I have heard many stories of Admissions not getting something but the applicant thought it was fine.

Good luck and apply early.

Great advice. I will be following this as well. I really like the idea of keeping the word sheet to track each school's progress. Could you provide your excel sheet as an outline or skeleton for us?

 

[addieu345]

I did it through an excel sheet. I made a list of all school choices, average GPA, average MCAT, secondary deadline dates, secondary costs, a next up box, and a status. In the status box I colored the box in with Green (accepted), Yellow (Interview), Red (rejected). The next up box was where I would put what I need to do next.

On a word sheet, I listed all the schools and bullet pointed how the process went. So most of it was "AACOMAS Application, Secondary, Interview, Decision". For this one I printed it out, placed it above my desk and I would cross stuff out when I was done. I correlated this with my excel sheet.

Advice: use interfolio. Have your LORs go to their so your professor/doctor only has to write it once. Once they submit it, you can just click off which schools you want it sent to and they keep backups. I would NEVER go through the Health Professions Office because I remember them loosing a lot of my letters. They also didn't like me too much because I wasn't a "top candidate". Also, keep a copy and print out all receipts for applications. Throw them in a folder just in case. I'm pretty cautious by nature. Lastly, if you don't hear a confirmation from the school that they got your application or secondary, call them up. Don't sit there thinking they got it. I have heard many stories of Admissions not getting something but the applicant thought it was fine.

Good luck and apply early.

Great advice! Thank you! and yeah if you don't mind, can you provide us your excel sheet as an outline?

 

[WhyDoWeFall]

Great advice. I will be following this as well. I really like the idea of keeping the word sheet to track each school's progress. Could you provide your excel sheet as an outline or skeleton for us?

Apparently I made 2 versions of the excel sheet. The one I talked about above is missing (might have deleted it) but I also found this one. It has a Secondary Release Date and also a LOR status as I found some only wanted the LORs once you have been offered an interview. I would recommend adding the secondary amount if you wish. Hope this helps some of you out. Good luck this round

 

[kp11]

Gsun88 has a solid plan on organization. I applied to AACOMAS, TMDSAS, and AMCAS, so my strategy was to organize by application service in a 5 subject spiral notebook. The 4th subject was Interview Invite stuff/travel plans. The 5th subject was a day by day entry log of what had been accomplished. I also created a folder in my mail account for all of the conformation/receipt stuff you'll get from schools and app services.

I usually resort to as low-tech as possible.

 

[StraightDave]

Just do a google docs excel sheet in drive with your school, step in your application (secondary, interview etc), your username password for each schools login info. I did this in drive so I could access anywhere. I also put in contact info for each school so I knew who to email or call about questions and status etc. kept me very organized with minimal effort. Honestly the username and password info for each school is the most important thing to keep track of (info for logging into their secondary)

 

[CajunMedic]

I can also recommend the excel spreadsheet. I had mine broken up by AMCAS/AACOMAS. Listed the school, date secondary received, date returned. how returned, date school received and outcome. The lines were also color-coded: Green for complete, red for rejected/on hold, interview invites/waitlist are blue.

 

[Hot Wheels]

Sweet, thanks guys!

 

[TreadLightly]

Color coded excel spreadsheet here as well haha