Update timing?

[chappikachu]

I recently found out that my abstract has been accepted for a moderated poster at the International Stroke Conference, which will be held at the end of January 2018. I am first author and will be presenting. I've read on previous forums that this kind of thing is worthy to mention in an update (at least at schools that accept them). Now my question is, is it better to update schools about it now or after I attend the conference in January?

I am concerned that if I update schools later, it may be slightly too late into the interview season. At the moment, I have not heard back from 14 schools and am sitting on 1 pre-interview hold, 1 post-interview waitlist, and 1 interview in the next week.

Besides the conference, an update I could include right now is:
Clinical research coordinator (gap year job) - ~750 additional hours since submitting AMCAS, ~85 of which involve shadowing a specialty (for context: included on AMCAS, but I grouped my research assistant and clinical research coordinator hours together since I'm working under the same PI in my gap year as I did in college (~700 hours on AMCAS); shadowed 3 specialties (~45 hours on AMCAS)) - should I even include this though or would it be repetitive? Wrote about what I was doing as research coordinator very briefly on my primary app and in slightly more detail on secondaries for schools that asked, but I could go into even greater detail about my roles not previously mentioned and the specifics of current projects I'm involved in.

If I wait until end of January though, I will potentially have other updates:
1) new non-clinical volunteering hours - was involved in student chapters during high school and college; going to begin volunteering with a regional chapter mid-November (would have ~45 hours by this point)
2) possible first-author clinical research publication - already submitted to a journal end of October but it's notorious for a long review process; the same work I'll be presenting at the 2018 conference

Graduated this past year and not taking classes, so no grades to update schools about.
Thoughts? Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading!

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[hubbsbubbs]

Tough situation. On the one hand, your updates aren't exactly heavy hitters. On the other, I can see why you feel pressure. It sounds like you have an interview coming up though? Maybe just focus on that for now. I don't think an update would hurt, but I also don't imagine it would help much.

 

[21Rush12]

My first thought is update your waitlist school with all of these, concisely and briefly, with emphasis on your abstract acceptance/presentation and the new things. I think that it’s important to find out when that school has historically started to move its waitlist, and make sure that you do it after January (when you have these accomplishments) but at least a month or so ahead of the first waitlist movement.

As for the silent schools, it’s a tough call.

 

[chappikachu]

Tough situation. On the one hand, your updates aren't exactly heavy hitters. On the other, I can see why you feel pressure. It sounds like you have an interview coming up though? Maybe just focus on that for now. I don't think an update would hurt, but I also don't imagine it would help much.

Definitely would not be writing this update until after my interview next week, no worries. Busy prepping for that right now haha.

My first thought is update your waitlist school with all of these, concisely and briefly, with emphasis on your abstract acceptance/presentation and the new things. I think that it’s important to find out when that school has historically started to move its waitlist, and make sure that you do it after January (when you have these accomplishments) but at least a month or so ahead of the first waitlist movement.

As for the silent schools, it’s a tough call.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking it was better to update my waitlist school after January. I will definitely find out when it starts moving its waitlist - had not even occurred to me to do this.

Torn about what to do with silent schools ugh.

 

[21Rush12]

I think with the silent schools most will tell you that it’s not likely a big enough thing but that it depends on the individual school’s update policy.

Again, the reason for waiting to update your waitlist school after January is that they likely won’t touch the waitlist until spring anyway, and that way you’re expressing your interest and demonstrating new accomplishments right in line with when they are starting to prepare for movement.

 

[chappikachu]

I think with the silent schools most will tell you that it’s not likely a big enough thing but that it depends on the individual school’s update policy.

Again, the reason for waiting to update your waitlist school after January is that they likely won’t touch the waitlist until spring anyway, and that way you’re expressing your interest and demonstrating new accomplishments right in line with when they are starting to prepare for movement.

For silent schools then, would it be worth updating about everything after the conference?

Makes sense re: updating waitlist school.


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[CyrilFiggis]

Do it now. It doesn't really make a lick of difference. A paper and conference isn't likely to sway schools when looking at the totality of your app. I'm sure @gonnif has a statistic hidden away that shows how much AdComs value research/papers/etc. Just make sure you don't send them the actual abstract, just give them the title and logline for it.

 

[chappikachu]

Do it now. It doesn't really make a lick of difference. A paper and conference isn't likely to sway schools when looking at the totality of your app. I'm sure @gonnif has a statistic hidden away that shows how much AdComs value research/papers/etc. Just make sure you don't send them the actual abstract, just give them the title and logline for it.

Thanks for the advice!