Schools seeing App Data?

[Clarus]

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At what point in the Application/Admissions process do schools take a look at certain things like Personal Statement and LORs and the like? I was wondering if anyone had a general timeline to how that worked in the process of screening applicants and sending out interviews. because in the end, even if you have great LORs but have a sub-par scores, then the med schools won't get a chance to see those LORs or any other things you've done.

Can someone shed some light on this? Particularly for osteopathic schools? Thanks!

 

[austintr]

At what point in the Application/Admissions process do schools take a look at certain things like Personal Statement and LORs and the like? I was wondering if anyone had a general timeline to how that worked in the process of screening applicants and sending out interviews. because in the end, even if you have great LORs but have a sub-par scores, then the med schools won't get a chance to see those LORs or any other things you've done.

Can someone shed some light on this? Particularly for osteopathic schools? Thanks!

I think this varies from school to school. I would guess that schools that have a ton of applicants do most of the easy bulk screening first, so as to not waste time/manpower reading a bunch of essays and letters. Pretty much all schools screen GPA/MCAT to some degree, though some adhere more strictly to their cutoffs than others. I would also guess that schools that take longer to send out secondaries probably do a little bit more reviewing of these aspects of the app before sending out secondary apps, but that's just a conjecture. Academics are the first bottleneck in the process for good reason: they provide a (mostly) objective quantifiable way to quickly weed out many apps. With 6-10K apps per school and ~3 500 word essays per app, you're in the neighborhood of 9-15 MILLION words worth of essays before you even consider the app itself and the LORs. Ain't nobody got time fo dat!

TLDR: It's a mystery.

 

[Espressso]

You're basically asking to turn the light on in a room that's meant to stay dark. This entire process is designed to be unpredictable.

 

[Goro]

When I am scheduled for an interview, I see your entire app, and that's when I read it.

No school cares what a great person you are if your stats tell the story that you will struggle in med school.

At what point in the Application/Admissions process do schools take a look at certain things like Personal Statement and LORs and the like? I was wondering if anyone had a general timeline to how that worked in the process of screening applicants and sending out interviews. because in the end, even if you have great LORs but have a sub-par scores, then the med schools won't get a chance to see those LORs or any other things you've done.

Can someone shed some light on this? Particularly for osteopathic schools? Thanks!

 

[OrdinaryDO]

When I am scheduled for an interview, I see your entire app, and that's when I read it.

No school cares what a great person you are if your stats tell the story that you will struggle in med school.

Goro, do you think, in your honest opinion, that the "Halo Effect" is a real problem for ADCOMs who see an applicants grades before they do the interview? Just curious.

 

[Goro]

Well, when we have super candidates, we do want them to come to our school. But this comes from the entire app, not merely glowing LORs.

We certainly don't go easier on top candidates.

Goro, do you think, in your honest opinion, that the "Halo Effect" is a real problem for ADCOMs who see an applicants grades before they do the interview? Just curious.