Submit In A Week?

[thenykway]

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Hey all, just curious about when to submit my AMCAS application.

I can finish everything in the next week or so. My issue is that my letters of recommendation are taking a lot more time than I thought plus I took the June 20th MCAT so I won't have a MCAT score to submit for another month.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I can submit my application when I finish in a week without my MCAT score or my letters of recommendation. My question is, is there any sort of advantage in doing this? I know the earlier you submit the better but will med schools even take a look at my application without those two pieces of information? Will they send secondaries any earlier even without them? I'm trying to make sense of this all cause I feel like if there is no advantage in applying in a week rather than a month, why do it? Perhaps I can spend that time fixing up my personal statement.


Also, a few other minor questions... On the AMCAS, it asks for my race but it is optional. Would there be any advantage to leaving this blank rather than putting in my race? I'm South Asian, def not a minority in the medical field lmao.

And do applicants usually use the AMCAS Letter Writer or a program like Interfolio? Which is usually quicker/more reliable?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Pandaeac]

There's definitely an advantage to submitting now. You can submit now to one school (if you're unsure where to apply without knowing your scores) and get in line to have your app verified by AMCAS. All that's necessary for that is your completed application (NOT including LOR or MCAT scores) and all of your official transcripts to have been marked as received. The longer you wait to submit, the longer it takes to get verified. Once you are verified, AMCAS sends your info to the schools you've listed. At this point, by the time you're verified, this would probably be around when you got your scores and LOR in anyway.

Good luck!

 

[kuso5tak]

I'm in roughly the same boat as you. I took the MCAT on 6/20 and I submitted my app last night. I'm expecting that I'll get my score and be verified roughly within the same week. They said the MCAT score would be out 30-35 days after the day of the test, and I'm assuming that verification will take a month.

 

[thenykway]

Thank you all for the help.

So just curious, until they get all my recs and MCAT score, they wont even consider sending out secondaries, correct?

 

[mtbski]

Thank you all for the help.

So just curious, until they get all my recs and MCAT score, they wont even consider sending out secondaries, correct?

They will send you the secondary as long as your app is verified and you have your MCAT score. I've been told that they really don't read LORs until your send in your secondary, and probably not until you've been invited for an interview.