Quantifying the disadvantage one has when applying later??

[johnwandering]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I always hear, "oh it's bad to apply late... you will be very disadvantaged during the application process"

However, I have NEVER had anyone quantify the disadvantage.
"Less than a percent of international students get into american medical schools" (an example, I don't know if its true) is a quantification of a disadvantage. It allows a person to grasp an idea of the gravity of a situation.


What is exactly the disadvantage one has when applying late?? (In mid July, Late Jule, early august, mid august...)
I can understand that people in different positions (application strengths) are disadvantaged differently. Perhaps anyone can try to put a number to this as well??

 

[Narmerguy]

I always hear, "oh it's bad to apply late... you will be very disadvantaged during the application process"

However, I have NEVER had anyone quantify the disadvantage.
"Less than a percent of international students get into american medical schools" (an example, I don't know if its true) is a quantification of a disadvantage. It allows a person to grasp an idea of the gravity of a situation.


What is exactly the disadvantage one has when applying late?? (In mid July, Late Jule, early august, mid august...)
I can understand that people in different positions (application strengths) are disadvantaged differently. Perhaps anyone can try to put a number to this as well??

I don't know that data exists that tracks the acceptance rate of applicants vs. when they apply. Even if there was, this is confounded by the potential starting disparities in their competitiveness and a lot of variables would have to be controlled for.

 

[Cyradis]

This is COMPLETELY anecdotal, but from what I've heard and from talking to others - it seems to be that applying in June/July vs. October will net you roughly 2x more interviews, if applying to the same schools.

Part of the advantage comes in that you are competing with less applicants early on in the cycle. Another is that for some schools, the interview spots fill up before their stated deadline - i.e. Oct 15th (NYU this past year filled their interview spots by Mid Sept IIRC).

 

[TooMuchResearch]

3

 

[wanderer]

It's really highly variable by school.
Applying to NYU, Mount Sinai, Pitt, or Michigan as late as mid-September will almost certainly lead to a rejection, but some schools, especially state schools, will give you an interview immediately if you are good enough even if you wait till late October.

To answer your question there's no number, but for the aforementioned schools, as well as some others, your odds of getting in approach 0 as September 30th approaches. For others it's much more subtle. However, if you have an average app and you are going to be late you should wait another year and get it early, because your odds really go down a lot.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I always hear, "oh it's bad to apply late... you will be very disadvantaged during the application process"

However, I have NEVER had anyone quantify the disadvantage.
"Less than a percent of international students get into american medical schools" (an example, I don't know if its true) is a quantification of a disadvantage. It allows a person to grasp an idea of the gravity of a situation.


What is exactly the disadvantage one has when applying late?? (In mid July, Late Jule, early august, mid august...)
I can understand that people in different positions (application strengths) are disadvantaged differently. Perhaps anyone can try to put a number to this as well??

The reason you've never seen it quantified is because from our perspective it is essentially un-quantifiable.

For most people it is a perceived disadvantage - i.e. they applied late and didn't get interviews or acceptances that they felt they "deserved"

 

[CoolWhipp]

3

7

 

[NotAsking4Much]

My school did stats on this. For us, and take it with a grain of salt as it only applies to my undergrad, we have a 1/5 in shot for an interview generally if we apply in July/Aug. By Oct, that's 1/50.

 

[DoctwoB]

Every day you wait after june 1st to submit AMCAS is like losing 1 MCAT point.

Every day you don't submit the secondary after receiving it is like losing 40hours of clinical volunteering, 80 hours of non clinical volunteering, or 30 hours of research.

Selecting any interview date other than the first offered is equivalent to losing 0.2 on your cGPA.



In all seriousness, there's absolutely no way to quantify this. There's definitely selection bias also, as the more intense applicants who have their **** together will be applying earlier. Obviously there is a disadvantage to applying very late, but I don't think anyone can say with certainty that there is a difference between a june 1st and a july 1st application.

That being said, apply early (better safe than sorry), and that also comes with the possibility of an october 15th acceptance which makes the rest of the process infinitely easier.

 

[coolnad17]

Below is feedback I received from a school in Texas (TX resident) regarding the lateness of my application. I submitted on October 1, 09 (the day it was due).

"The biggest problem with your application was the lateness of its submission. By the time we received and reviewed it I had already committed about 90% of my available interview slots and had plenty of qualified people already in line for the rest."

I had above average stats for all the schools I applied to but only received one interview/acceptance. In my case, submitting late was unavoidable, but if you CAN help it, try and get those applications in as soon as you possibly can. There is no way to exactly quantify, but as the interview season progresses, the number of available spots begin to decline and the ratio of the number of applications to available spots increases. Thus, you're at a disadvantage.

 

[Colonol Forbin]

Below is feedback I received from a school in Texas (TX resident) regarding the lateness of my application. I submitted on October 1, 09 (the day it was due).

"The biggest problem with your application was the lateness of its submission. By the time we received and reviewed it I had already committed about 90% of my available interview slots and had plenty of qualified people already in line for the rest."

I had above average stats for all the schools I applied to but only received one interview/acceptance. In my case, submitting late was unavoidable, but if you CAN help it, try and get those applications in as soon as you possibly can. There is no way to exactly quantify, but as the interview season progresses, the number of available spots begin to decline and the ratio of the number of applications to available spots increases. Thus, you're at a disadvantage.

I was in the exact same boat - verified something like nov. 15th...only one int/acceptance, but above average for most places - NOt bitter or anything, but I'm convinced had I applied early, I def would have had more int. Anyways i had to apply late, so definitly apply early for those wondering if it makes a difference

 

[zwitter]

I applied late....had a mediocre app.....didnt apply broadly (only 4 schools)....and got 3 interviews and 3 acceptances. Its all about making your menial 3.6 gpa , 30 mcat and somehow convincing adcoms you are indeed a unique snowflake...and nail this message home at the interview

 

[LiveUninhibited]

It's really highly variable by school.
Applying to NYU, Mount Sinai, Pitt, or Michigan as late as mid-September will almost certainly lead to a rejection, but some schools, especially state schools, will give you an interview immediately if you are good enough even if you wait till late October.

To answer your question there's no number, but for the aforementioned schools, as well as some others, your odds of getting in approach 0 as September 30th approaches. For others it's much more subtle. However, if you have an average app and you are going to be late you should wait another year and get it early, because your odds really go down a lot.

I second this. It's partly a consequence of rolling admissions and how fast the admissions committee fills their class. So, for a place like OHSU, applying later will barely make a difference. But for UKentucky, it would make a huge difference as they fill up their class so fast via rolling admissions.