Too Late?

[septober1]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi all,

I have looked at the calendar for interview dates and am thinking that it is much too late to submit my AMCAS for MD/PhD programs this cycle. I figure it would be more harmful to finish the application and submit this cycle and not receive secondaries or interview offers and then re-apply next year. Have not lurked much, so bear with if I'm asking the same-ol'.

Thoughts?

 

[StIGMA]

It depends on your stats. For most people, waiting until next year would be the definitive plan. If you are a Rhodes scholar and otherwise phenomenal applicant, submitting now won't be the best plan, but you'd still get into a great program.

 

[septober1]

True, I guess I am just unaware of the risks of applying. Because it's not zero-risk. Besides the monetary input, of course.

 

[red doctober]

Wait you have not submitted your AMCAS yet? I think the deadline was Oct 15th.

 

[Maebea]

If you have not yet submitted your AMCAS, I would say that you are on the wrong side of late. It will take 4-6 weeks for AMCAS to verify your grades. You will need time to complete secondaries & schools will need time to evaluate your application. If you look at the time elapsed between when applications have been completed and when interview invites were sent, you will see that most take 3-4 weeks. The interview rate of applications submitted after October 31 at my program is 3%; the rate of those submitted before is 17%. The later applications were not necessarily weaker, they just had to compete for a smaller number of interview slots, and they had to compete with all those applications we had previously put on hold. In addition, we have a bias against later applicants: they have 150 days to apply to our program, so why did they wait until the last 30? Perhaps they are not very interested in our school, but they are not getting interviews elsewhere. (This might not be the case; perhaps there were financial or time constraints that forced the individual to spread their applications out. We have no way of knowing this, so we tend to think the worst.) If you are a walks-on-water applicant, we may excuse all this, but if you are merely an excellent applicant we will more likely pass on your application.

And yes, reapplication does carry a stigma, so it would probably be better to wait until next year.

 

[K31]

And yes, reapplication does carry a stigma, so it would probably be better to wait until next year.

Just curious--does it indicate somewhere on AMCAS if someone is a reapplicant, or is the MD/PhD applicant pool small enough that applicants are remembered from year-to-year? I was a reapplicant once upon a time (due primarily to a late application) and it didn't seem to hurt me except at the schools that interviewed me the first time.

 

[TheMaverick]

Just curious--does it indicate somewhere on AMCAS if someone is a reapplicant, or if the MD/PhD applicant pool small enough that applicants are remembered from year-to-year? I was a reapplicant once upon a time (due primarily to a late application) and it didn't seem to hurt me except at the schools that interviewed me the first time.

I'm not sure about the primary, but secondaries certainly ask if you've applied before to that school, and sometimes if you've applied in previous years to any schools.

 

[tortuga87]

Wait until next year. It is too late. Letting 1 year go to inc. chances significantly to get into a better school for 7-9 years is worth the investment

 

[Maebea]

Only the schools you designated in a prior application cycle will see your AMCAS status as a reapplicant; schools that you did not previously designate will not know that you had applied before.

The pool is small enough for us to remember applicants from one year to the next. We also retain applications for several years, so we will review our previous evaluations & see how the perceived deficiencies were addressed in the reapplication.