Overall Application Strategies?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

DrDrummer

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
499
Reaction score
202
We need a "30+ Study Tips"-esque thread for overall application strategies...

I'm looking for tips from people who had a lot of success in terms of how they timed their primaries (fairly obvious, earlier = better), secondaries (here's where some strategy comes in), and interviewing. I'm using Excel to keep track of all this stuff, because with almost 30 schools, it gets pretty overwhelming.

My situation: 3.65/3.5 GPA w/ 34 MCAT, TX Resident. I'm applying to all the TX schools and 23 AMCAS schools, all with GPAs and MCAT averages that are hopefully within reach. I've collected all the secondary questions from last year (I've got a lot of writing to do), and figured out that secondary fees alone will run me $1,900+.

So here's what I'm thinking: Rank the 23 schools in order of my preference, and return secondaries ASAP (I'm aiming for a 48 hour turnaround, since I should have most essays written) for the top 15. Wait a month to see if I get interview invitations, and if I'm not getting any love, send secondaries by mid-August to the remaining schools. I figure doing this could save me $1,000 if I'm getting interviews... any thoughts on this strategy? Is the cost in terms of waiting (and possibility of lost interview slots) greater than the benefit in terms of financial savings?

My other question is regarding letters of interest/following up, and keeping track of such things. Did successful applicants write a letter to the admissions depts. at all the schools they're applying to, or to the top five, or anything like that? Are these only worthwhile when you're intending on committing to a school if you're accepted, or following an interview?

Also, to save money, have people had success e-mailing or calling schools in the same city as they're interviewing in to try to schedule interviews (even when none has been offered yet)?

Successful applicants of years past, please help! :)

Members don't see this ad.
 
I think your strategy is good, I would tweak it just a bit though. Make sure that a few (maybe 50%) of these "priority" applications are to rolling schools. Interviewing at a lot of places without atcual acceptances won't do anything to relieve your stress.
 
Make sure that a few (maybe 50%) of these "priority" applications are to rolling schools.

Thanks for the advice. What do you mean by "rolling schools"? When I look in the MSAR, all of the admissions dates seem to say that the earliest offered admission is either the second week of October or early November, then they give applicants 2 weeks, and the latest offer of acceptance is when the class is full. Are there schools that notify about acceptances before October 15th?

I tried a search on the boards but couldn't find anything.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Out of curiosity, why are you applying to so many schools outside of Texas? Are you trying to get out of state? I was just surprised to see how many schools you applied to, because with your stats and assuming your ECs are up to par you have a really good shot in Texas.

I don't have any application 'timing' advice. However, at least in Texas, my 'in-the-area' emails did absolutely nothing. I went to undergrad OOS, so it cost a decent amount to fly back and forth to Texas. I got no replies from UTMB, San Antonio or Houston (I was interviewing at Baylor).

However, I sent a letter of interest to UTH and got a response and an interview invitation about an hour later.
 
Thanks for the advice. What do you mean by "rolling schools"? When I look in the MSAR, all of the admissions dates seem to say that the earliest offered admission is either the second week of October or early November, then they give applicants 2 weeks, and the latest offer of acceptance is when the class is full. Are there schools that notify about acceptances before October 15th?

I tried a search on the boards but couldn't find anything.

That is what rolling schools do- they accept as they interview and keep going until the class is full. Non-rolling schools (the only one I know of is Harvard), have one specific date where they accept, reject, and waitlist, which is usually later like in March.
 
Do you really want to leave Texas? In terms of gaining an interview and an admission, your state medical schools are your best bet. Your MCAT places you in the top ~10-20% of acceptees according to TMDSAS. So, based on these factors alone, I would imagine your chances are quite good. Plus IS tuition is a little over $10K. You honestly have a pretty good deal going.

Applying to the 23 AMCAS schools would be time consuming and expensive. Depending on where you apply, your shot at even getting an interview at some of these schools is as low as 5-7%. Hence, your return on the investment can be pretty low. I would only apply to the handful of schools that you really want to attend and forget about the rest.
 
We need a "30+ Study Tips"-esque thread for overall application strategies...

I'm looking for tips from people who had a lot of success in terms of how they timed their primaries (fairly obvious, earlier = better), secondaries (here's where some strategy comes in), and interviewing. I'm using Excel to keep track of all this stuff, because with almost 30 schools, it gets pretty overwhelming.

My situation: 3.65/3.5 GPA w/ 34 MCAT, TX Resident. I'm applying to all the TX schools and 23 AMCAS schools, all with GPAs and MCAT averages that are hopefully within reach. I've collected all the secondary questions from last year (I've got a lot of writing to do), and figured out that secondary fees alone will run me $1,900+.

So here's what I'm thinking: Rank the 23 schools in order of my preference, and return secondaries ASAP (I'm aiming for a 48 hour turnaround, since I should have most essays written) for the top 15. Wait a month to see if I get interview invitations, and if I'm not getting any love, send secondaries by mid-August to the remaining schools. I figure doing this could save me $1,000 if I'm getting interviews... any thoughts on this strategy? Is the cost in terms of waiting (and possibility of lost interview slots) greater than the benefit in terms of financial savings?

My other question is regarding letters of interest/following up, and keeping track of such things. Did successful applicants write a letter to the admissions depts. at all the schools they're applying to, or to the top five, or anything like that? Are these only worthwhile when you're intending on committing to a school if you're accepted, or following an interview?

Also, to save money, have people had success e-mailing or calling schools in the same city as they're interviewing in to try to schedule interviews (even when none has been offered yet)?

Successful applicants of years past, please help! :)

1. earlier is better
2. the excel thing is nice, but you will stop using it after a while (no real need to track apps that thoroughly, or at least for me)
3. I think you have a good shot at getting in
4. its good to be prepared with your essays but some schools do change secondaries so be aware
5. secondaries come on a rolling basis. you will not get 23 secondaries at once. no real use in ranking them. have a basic idea of why this and that and tackle them as they roll in and turn them around quickly. some secondaries can come as late as september even if you are the first one to submit AMCAS
6. A month is not enough time to be complete and get interview invites. you need to send your secondaries in as they come if you want to go there. you can quit after september or so but interviews come sporadically and sometimes in random order. don't hold off on your secondaries if you are going to apply to those schools at all, its a bigger waste of money to do so.
7. i wrote 0 thank you letters/0 LOIs/0 followups and I had a decently successful cycle. others did write (and some wrote a lot). do what fits your personality, but if you are gonna do it, do it well.
8. you can email schools and let them know you are in the area. some are receptive, others are not (check the 2ndary threads from the 2014 cycle, its mad useful)
 
Out of curiosity, why are you applying to so many schools outside of Texas? Are you trying to get out of state? I was just surprised to see how many schools you applied to, because with your stats and assuming your ECs are up to par you have a really good shot in Texas.

Maybe (hopefully) you're right-- I do have a strong MCAT, but it's somewhat unbalanced, and my grades in the pre-reqs often were Bs when they should've been As, and I went to a state school with a direction in the name. :cool: I balanced it out with other science courses, but we'll see. Looking at trends, the average GPA and MCAT keeps going up as all the would-be I-bankers and tech startup junkies apply to medical school, so I cast my net widely. I grew up in Illinois and my family is there (moved here for TFA), so I applied to lots of Chicago schools in case I get no love from TX, I can go back home. I'd love to stay in TX-- I want to practice in an underserved area, and the less debt I have, the more likely I'll be able to do that and not worry about loans. I figure shelling out to apply widely will hopefully pay dividends by giving me choices if I get interviews, and hopefully one OOS acceptance if I get nothing in TX.

brooklynblunder said:

Thanks for the tips (everyone else, too). I'm a pretty quick writer, so I figure I'll try the letters of interest and follow up notes and such. I think what you said is true-- if you do something, make sure you do a good job of it. Hence the Excel spreadsheet. :) We'll see if your prediction about keeping on top of things comes true... I'm using mdapplicants, too, so that'll help me and hopefully those coming later.
 
As others have said, secondaries will not come all at once. I got mine from the end of June to the end of August (and all my primaries were submitted at the same time, at the beginning of June). I would rather spend the money and do all my secondaries as I get them, than risk not getting in somewhere and having to reapply. You never know which school may choose to interview and accept you!
 
What do you mean you went to an undergrad with a direction to the name? Like A&M and you're afraid the UT schools won't like you or vice versa? If so, the med schools don't seem to care. I went to an undergrad that all TX schools hate, and I turned out fine. Lol
 
Top