Too late to apply?

[zerosum]

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Hi,
I was curious if people thought it is too late to apply at this point. I finished my mcat this past april and originally thought I would take a year off. I now feel I would like to apply but am wondering what people think about the timing--have my chances fallen drastically since I have waited so long if i finish my essay and get out the rest of the app by the end of Aug? Also, do people think it is better to wait a year and have 2-3 research articles published or would it not make as much of a diff since Ill already have 1 published by the time i apply in august. thanks for the help!

 

[JM.]

Go for it.

 

[merovingian]

Get your stuff done right now and, if you feel you are competitive enough (decent GPA, MCAT, EC's, LORs, blah blah blah), then apply right now....its still relatively early in the game, i mean you still have im guessing about half of the total applicant pool this year that still have to take the August MCAT

 

[zerosum]

Perhaps I should elaborate a bit:
I will be a 4th year this fall and currently have a 3.67 gpa(very competative UC school), 32Q, decent extracaric's, good clinical experience, but i dont really feel like i have something that makes me stand out. Im doing some decent research and will publish a paper this month; within a year ill likely have one or maybe two more papers out. I didnt intend for it to happen but i feel like ive fallen into the 'run of the mill' med school applicant stereotype. Is it worth it for someone like me, whose mcat isnt very great, to take a year off to increase gpa, research, extra curric's, as I would like to attend a top med school(UC's,or ivy). Also, for these top schools, is the essay a huge factor? Thanks agian!

 

[Marooned]

Run-of-the-mill, huh? You have what's required--the numbers and the research experience w/publications. You are already a strong candidate. Now, this is where the personal statement becomes so crucial. It's your chance to shine. Use it well.

Definitely apply.

 

[Cantal]

too late to apply?!??! Don't be silly!

don't take those people sit there and hit the submit button on June 3rd at midnight so they can be the first to send their AMCAS as the norm. they are NOT the norm.

In fact, last week when I went to get my letters of rec sent out from my the collection agency at my school, I was told that no one else even comes until August/September to take care of this stuff and I was ridiculously early. You're not too late to apply and I can tell you that most people I know applying to med school are still dwiddling on their essay.

Also, as a huge note, your app will go into review in many schools before those people who are taking august mcats, since a lot of schools wait until their scores are returned in september or october before they even get reviewed.

Anyway, don't waste your weekend thinking about it. If you want to apply, fill out your info and GET YOUR TRANSCRIPTS SENT NOW! it'll take them like 3 weeks just to take care of that, so you might as well send them and let them get a good position in the queue. Then you submit, get verified, and you're on your way 🙂

Good luck with the process.

-Cantal

 

[funkless]

Amen to that. Transcript verification was by far the biggest time-sink for me.

Get them sent in now, as you're deciding. Go ahead and drop the $18 on overnight mail. Compared to the thousands of $ you'll spend applying, it's worth it.


--Funkless

 

[merovingian]

Your stats are definitely good enough to get you into a med school....as far as the top schools, you may be on the bubble, but I wouldnt say impossible.....if you still want to take a year off, I would suggest doing some weird or different volunteer thing, like taking a trip to south america and working at a free clinic there, something like that, something that would be really interesting to talk about at interviews.....as far as going about finding something like that, well you're on your own from here...