Rush on secondaries?

[gunsandroes]

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Hi all,

I've browsed SDN already for this, but have found differing answers. My primary has been verified, and I will receive the first batch of secondaries once they come out.

My question is - is it worth it to try to rush turning in my secondaries as soon as possible (i.e. first two weeks of July), if my LORs will not arrive until late July? Do schools review applications/send out interview invites only after they have received both the secondary answers and the LORs? If so, would it not be better to take my time completing the secondaries (barring the two-week turnaround window, which I am currently disregarding in favor of quality of secondaries), given that my LORs will not be in for another month?

 

[candbgirl]

Well the first two weeks of June are long gone so... But do not rush to submit. Take your time and write good and thoughtful responses. Why would you even think you should rush something this important? Start now with pre writing. Most schools use the same prompts as the previous years (some do change them up a bit so check before you submit) so you could get a jump on the writing.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile app

 

[gunsandroes]

Sorry - I meant the first two weeks of July! Just edited. Thanks for the response!!

And I am currently prewriting, but just wonder what the point of hassling through this is, if my letters won't arrive until presumably the end of July/early August and schools won't send out II until after the letters are there?

Tldr; is there any purpose in getting my secondaries in the second week of July as opposed to the last week of July, assuming my letters won't arrive until the last week?

 

[raiderette]

I sent the majority of my secondaries before my letters were received. I got a lot of early invites, so it is possible that the LORs were just skimmed over to make sure I wasn't a serial killer. Psychologically, it felt good to get them written, reviewed and gone so it was out of my hands. That way I didn't sit there rewriting and stressing over them while waiting for my letters.

 

[WedgeDawg]

You won't be marked complete until your letters are sent in (I had the same issue when I applied with my letters being late), but you should be 100% ready to go once your letters are in, meaning you should aim to have all your secondaries in right before your letters arrive, so you can be marked complete by schools as soon as possible.