What do I do?

[bme94]

Hi,

I'm getting frustrated here. I sent in my last batch of secondaries a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of the schools haven't even downloaded my letters. Do I need to email each school individually and ask if they can do so? How would you go about this situation?

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[AnatomyGrey12]

No you wait patiently and understand you applied later than a lot of other applicants. Why do they have to do things on your timeline?

 

[bme94]

No you wait patiently and understand you applied later than a lot of other applicants. Why do they have to do things on your timeline?

They don't have to do things on my timeline. I was just getting concerned, that's all.

 

[mrvercetti]

I thought schools only read letters of recommendation if they've considered interviewing an applicant

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[bme94]

I thought schools only read letters of recommendation if they've considered interviewing an applicant

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Really? Where did you hear that? I thought they downloaded the letters for all applicants, so the applicants become complete at that school. Then they make a decision based on that and the rest of the application. I could be wrong, though.

 

[mrvercetti]

From a book I read about the application process, "If a candidate’s GPA and MCAT scores are above the threshold a school sets as a cutoff, the application moves to the next stage of the process. At that point, other elements of the application, such as extracurricular activities, the personal statement (see Chapter 8 ), and letters of recommendation (see Chapter 9 ) are scrutinized to determine whether the applicant receives an interview offer. (Note that some schools do a holistic review of all applications from the outset, which includes reading the personal statement and assessing other elements of the application package such as extracurricular activities; however, GPA and MCAT are still important factors even if the entire application is assessed initially.)"

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[Marrowist]

This is all hearsay. All schools do things slightly differently. If you have turned in all of your requirements, you wait for the schools to mark you complete. Once you are complete, you wait for a decision. I applied to some schools in July and was marked complete and never heard anything again.

 

[You're My Boy Blue]

Wait patiently. I submitted an application in August and was just marked complete 2 weeks ago. Extreme I know, but schools do things at their own pace

 

[bme94]

So, the general consensus is that just because it's been a couple of weeks, and they haven't downloaded your letters, doesn't necessarily mean that the school isn't interested in you? I've had a few schools mark me complete within 2-3 days, others I'm still waiting on.

 

[DO2015CA]

I know a few classmates that didn't even send their primaries until December and interviewed march-April and still was accepted. The DO cycle is much longer than the MD one so I wouldn't worry too much