submit app now or wait?

[ravens11]

I take the July 18 mcat. My entire app is complete; however, I only have one clinical experience completed so far. I am about to start shadowing a doctor and I am also going to be volunteering in the ER. Also, I am still going to be performing the same clinical experience, but I have incorporated a personal hobby of mine in to it so it should be unique to adcoms.

Would you recommend submitting my app now (early) or would it be better to wait and have 3 more experiences to list? Would it be any different submitting my app now than it would be submitting it right before my mcat date?

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[njbmd]

I take the July 18 mcat. My entire app is complete; however, I only have one clinical experience completed so far. I am about to start shadowing a doctor and I am also going to be volunteering in the ER. Also, I am still going to be performing the same clinical experience, but I have incorporated a personal hobby of mine in to it so it should be unique to adcoms.

Would you recommend submitting my app now (early) or would it be better to wait and have 3 more experiences to list? Would it be any different submitting my app now than it would be submitting it right before my mcat date?

It depends on how strong the rest of your application is. If you are marginal on the uGPA/ (previous)MCAT, then you want to be as early as possible as they will hold for your new score. You can then send a update with your experiences and you should be fine. Earlier application benefits candidates with lower uGPAs/MCAT assuming the rest of your application (LORs,PS) is outstanding.

If you are a strong candidate (high uGPA) then waiting is not going to put you at much disadvantage. I would certainly get those clinical experiences/shadowing done as quickly as possible as time is ticking away.

Under no circumstances would I wait for the MCAT score to come in before applying as you would be quite late at that point. In short, delaying for an extracurricular probably is not a great idea.

 

[ravens11]

thanks for the advice

 

[Bahadur]

If you are a strong candidate (high uGPA) then waiting is not going to put you at much disadvantage.

What is considered a good/high uGPA now a days?

 

[MilkmanAl]

In my opinion, "strong" would be 3.7+, but I'm sure there are many who'd shoot higher.

 

[chad5871]

In my opinion, "strong" would be 3.7+, but I'm sure there are many who'd shoot higher.

I was about to write exactly the same thing.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I take the July 18 mcat. My entire app is complete; however, I only have one clinical experience completed so far. I am about to start shadowing a doctor and I am also going to be volunteering in the ER. Also, I am still going to be performing the same clinical experience, but I have incorporated a personal hobby of mine in to it so it should be unique to adcoms.

Would you recommend submitting my app now (early) or would it be better to wait and have 3 more experiences to list? Would it be any different submitting my app now than it would be submitting it right before my mcat date?

I'm in a similar spot, July 10th MCAT but I've started additional medical volunteer work recently that I'd like to include on the Aamcas. In my experience, it would do no good to state what you intend to do in the future, ergo my decision to wait on submitting the aamcas primary.

My intent is to submit the primary around 2 weeks prior to sitting for the MCAT. Transcripts can be submitted now, which will speed up the process a bit. My hope is that the aamcas primary will be turned around in 4-5 weeks, and it'll be verified a little before the mcat score is available.

Some schools consider the date you initially applied to that school, many won't look at your file until the MCAT is available. If you're real short on ECs right now but will be bulking that up substantially in the next month or so, I'd wait to submit the primary. Also, you can check on SDN or in some cases see questions on the schools' web site that will be required for the secondary; typically essays are required, that way you can start those now.