Questions about the admissions process??

[CanIMakeIt]

Hello ppl....

I have read over the whole process and I am still not clear on a few things .... (I know that I have to submit ASAP after June 1st opening):

1. When do I start sending my transcripts in (I am thinking of printing the AMCAS transcript request after it is opened in May 1st week)

2. When to send the LORs .... There is a committee at my univ that takes care of that (and since I only took the required courses there, I don't have to use them) .... but they will not meet until September for regular cycle candidates .... Is that too late in the process


Any pearls of wisdom are welcome .......

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[Syranope2]

here's my best shot

1. as soon as you can print out the transcript request, send in your transcript to amcas. they have a tendency to missplace or lose or never receive transcripts, so it's best to get it in there as soon as you can, in case you have to resend it. don't worry that your second semester grades won't be on there. at the beginning of the application cycle, you only need to send a transcript to amcas, not to any of your medical schools. sometimes a med school will ask for an official transcript if you've gotten an interview, but most of them won't require one until you've been accepted, so you only have to worry about getting out one for now.

2. as with everything else, i say the sooner you get your lor's in, the better. most schools will accept lor's from you as soon as you've sent in your primary through amcas. my premed committee, for example, sent lor's in the middle of august, i think. some schools, however, will not accept lor's until they ask for them, ie when they've decided to grant you a secondary. these schools include, but might not be limited to, the uc's and u. of georgia, and mayo. your college should have information on those. all schools will require your lor's in order for your secondary to be complete, so, as with everything else, it's always better to have them in earlier rather than later.

hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[felipe5]

I say send the transcript in as soon as possible (might as well send it in before they get flooded...mainly to make sure they don't lose it like they lost mine). Now, as far as LOR's go, thats a different story. Most schools ask for LOR's once you send off their secondaries, so you may not have to send those in until you get those suckers off. In the meantime, I do suggest you getting everything in order. LOR's can be quite tricky to organize, especially if you are trying to get multiple profs/md's to write you one. Make sure that everything is in line, even if its way before they're needed. One of my letters was almost one month late, and despite my constant "friendly" reminders, a little prior planning could have brought me into the application game a little earlier. G'luck!!!!!

 

[jlee9531]

send in the LORs when your schools asks for them...aka when they send you their secondary. dont waste your money by sending out LORs too early only to find out that they wanted to reject your pre-secondary.

 

[Syranope2]

that makes sense, jlee. i didn't have to worry about wasting my money because my school sent them out on their own, without charging me. if you have to do it yourself, definitely wait until they ask you for them in order to save yourself some trouble.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Thanks for the replies ...... one thing was unanswered ..... is sending LORs in September too late is right around the mark ..... I don't want the delay in LORs to delay the whole app process for me

 

[hakksar]

September is not too late but you will miss opportunities for early interviews in September. I would suggest that since you are preparing now, to ask for LORs before you leave for the summer and tell the writers that you will let them know where and when to send them when you receive your secondaries. Just make sure you have a way of contacting them over the summer.

 

[WyldeWolf1]

The Golden Rule of Med school applications: Be prepared, and be prepared as early as possible.

Get your LORs months ahead of time. Odds are, if there's a science professor you feel is worth asking, and will spend time writing a good letter, he/she is receiving the same request from many students. One of my professors said he spends a MINIMUM of four hours on a LOR, and got about 20 requests that semester. Of course, he wrote them in the order they were requested to be fair, which meant that the last few students had to wait quite a while for him to find the time for their letters.

Most major universities that have a med school and/or a pre-medical advising office will create a file to hold your letters. Therefore, you can get a letter LONG before you must submit it and just keep it in your back pocket until you do.

One last pointer about LORs: after someone has agreed to write one on your behalf, IMMEDIATELY write a thank you note/letter specifically thanking them for writing a medical school LOR for you. This has the effect of 1) reminding them to do it and 2) making them feel committed to actually getting it done on a timely basis.

As far as transcripts go, definitely use the AMCAS form. I tried to submit one ASAP without the printed form and it "got lost" until the third time I called AMCAS, used all the anger and fury that my bass voice can muster, and told the representative that my father, a lawyer, would be contacting them. A few hours later it was "found", with the excuse that the "unusual" (ie not AMCAS) form delayed its processing. Oh, and my threat was VERY viable because I had the foresight to use electronic tracking of the transcript. You can usually do this by bringing the FedEx/UPS/etc envelope ready-to-go to your registrar's office and requesting that they use it to send the transcript. If AMCAS tells you they haven't received it (which happens more than it should), you can simply say, "Oh really? So-and-so signed for it two weeks ago."

Let's see...more pointers...

Start saving money now for the AMCAS and secondary fees. If you're like the typical student, you'll probably have to borrow money from family, so you may want to bring that up now. Also, if you get multiple interviews, the costs really add up in a hurry.

Finally, triple check and edit everything you submit and make sure it's your best work. Stress over it while it's in your hands, but once any material has been submitted, just relax. You've got about a year before medical school starts (which it will, because you're good enough, you're smart enough, and darn it, people like you), so enjoy your last year of relative freedom.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Thanks everyone .....

I will get on it