Suggested Secondary Return Time for MD/PhD

[silvermuse]

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I know that the suggested deadline for returning secondaries for MD-only is two weeks from receipt. I was wondering if the MD/PhD deadline is slightly more lenient. Looking at the interview threads for previous MD/PhD cycles, it seems most people were complete later as compared to MD-only.

Any thoughts? Hearing other people's opinions will hopefully stop me from spazzing out at how long I'm taking for some of these. Obviously I'm working to return the secondaries as quickly as I can, but they're beginning to pile up. Working full-time in a lab also cuts down on the essay writing time, and some of these secondaries are truly beastly! (glares at Emory, which wants a research experience essay that expands on the AMCAS one! what if there isn't anything else to expand on!!)

 

[24thGrade]

The only school I almost applied to which had such a cut off was UC irvine if I remember correctly (you only have a few weeks after they send you the secondary invitation to complete it). I really didn't apply to a ton of schools though (~12).

As you know, getting in your app to most places asap is the best plan. I really wouldn't push turning anything in past September if you can avoid it and much earlier is always better.

If you want to be strategic about this, I think you ideally want to interview before the committee's first release of acceptances so that your application is on the table every time they are making decisions (committees will typically meet ~2-4 times during interview season to release acceptances). So if you can somehow find those dates and have you application in at least 1.5 months before that you will be putting yourself in a position to be interviewed before the committee meets. Interview invitations are often sent out about a month before the interview so you have plenty of time to arrange travel, etc.

This is probably horrible advice but something you might want to consider: there were two schools I applied to who did not offer ANY acceptances until february or march. I had my application in really early to them and was part of their first rounds of interviews in like octoberish. Needless to say, it's difficult to stay in people's memories if they haven't seen you for nearly half a year when they are making their decision on your acceptance. For such a school it might not be a bad idea to turn in your application on the late side. Again, I may be completely wrong here but just a thought.

Another suggestion which is probably better is to get in your not-top-choice applications in FIRST and done asap. This makes it more likely that you will be interviewing at your less-favored schools before your top choices. If you're like me and others, your first interview it going to be a bit bewildering and not your best performance. Your 3rd interview and on you'll like be at the top of your game and will be a pro interviewee by then.😀