rolling admissions and timing

[wya2020]

What is rolling admissions ? I thought it meant first come first serve? SO if a school does not have rolling admissions, is there no advantage in applying early? Confused as to when applying early is advantageous, does it depend on if school is rolling or not?

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[Engrailed]

You should not be timing your application submission based on rolling vs non rolling schools. It's truly in your best interest to avoid being late so that you'd maximize you chances of being granted an interview (as the cycle progresses, the number of invites declines.. quickly!)

For rolling schools, they admit their strongest candidates as they interview them (starting in October for the early interviewees), whereas non-rolling schools tend to wait until they have interviewed everyone so that they can review the entire pool of interviewees at once. Several Ivy league / top tier schools do this (Penn, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Mayo, etc).

 

[wya2020]

is having all my primary materials sent to a school in first week of august and then getting secondaries turned around within the week late this cycle? my mcat is schedule for end of july due to covidd and im not sending in any apps until i get my score back august 6 i cannot

 

[Engrailed]

Does this mean you would be submitting your AMCAS in June/July without your MCAT score?

having secondaries completed/rec letters received etc = application marked “complete” by early (no later than mid) August should be fine.

 

[LizzyM]

Here's my general rules, developed pre-Covid:
Have your application in by the 4th of July.
Have your application complete, including letters and secondaries, by Labor Day.
Have at least one interview invite by Thanksgiving or give serious thought to your cycle on Black Friday.
Have at least one offer by Mardi Gras or make an alternate plan for your summer and beyond.

 

[Goro]

Here's my general rules, developed pre-Covid:
Have your application in by the 4th of July.
Have your application complete, including letters and secondaries, by Labor Day.
Have at least one interview invite by Thanksgiving or give serious thought to your cycle on Black Friday.
Have at least one offer by Mardi Gras or make an alternate plan for your summer and beyond.

To this sage advice, I urge SDNers to remember that you are rejected until you get that accept email in your Inbox, and as such, always be working on your Plan B

 

[LizzyM]

To this sage advice, I urge SDNers to remember that you are rejected until you get that accept email in your Inbox, and as such, always be working on your Plan B

And not even then if you get an admission email from Mayo -- wait for the phone call.

 

[gyngyn]

The main difference between rolling and non-rolling schools is when they deliver the acceptance news.