Secondaries: Opinons Requested

Hey Mire,

Wow -- 9 secondaries -- i couldn't imagine that! I applied to three schools and I've only had to work on 3 secondaries, luckily - so financially the secondaries really aren't an issue.

Personally, if I was in your boat, I would submit secondaries to the schools that I really, really wanted to attend. I applied to the three schools on the west coast (Touro, Western and AZCOM) because I knew that I didn't want to leave some of my family in ailing health, etc.

Touro was really expensive @ $100 -- but I was so happy I got a secondary (since they screen their applicants before secondaries) and it's somewhere that I really want to go, I shelled out the 100 beans.

However, this is the first time that I've applied to medical school and I have no expertise in the matter at hand. That is just what I would do.

Good luck!!

 

my opinion-Do everything in your power to come up with $200 for rest of applications if your stats are average. YOu can start relaxing when you get an acceptance, but not till then unless you want to risk having to reapply next year. Eat ramen for a few weeks..go to the pawn shop..borrow money..get a loan...Its expensive, but worth it. The sooner, and the more you apply, the better your odds..

 

I agree with osteopeddoc. Med school is not easy to get into unless you have superstats. If your MCAT is 28+ and your overall and science GPA's are over 3.5 then you're probably okay. But if your stats are iffy apply to as many school as you can.

The longer you wait the less chance you have of getting in. Most schools operate on rolling admissions, so the the more you hold off, the more seats get filled up.

I look at it this way. By the time you're ready to interview at any or all of those 3 schools, you won't even remember the extra money you had to spend on their secondaries. What you'll be left with is a much better chance of getting into at least one school.

Plus you could always ask those schools to waive the fee if you really can't afford to pay it. I've heard where that's happened in the past.