What do you think?? Apply Early or apply later??

[pineappletree]

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I'm going to take a few classes over the summer. Not many, and the result won't be a heavy improvement on my GPA.

However, I currently have a 3.48 sGPA
If I ace my science classes (they are of low difficulty and it wouldn't be unreasonable), I'll have a science GPA of over 3.5

The problem is that if I wait for my summer classes to end, I'll end up submitting my application and my transcript in early AUGUST (~10th), which is extremely late~~



What do you recommend?
Should I apply with a sGPA of 3.48 in early July?
Or send an application with a >3.5 sGPA in early august??

 

[tremulousNeedle]

Let's say that your grades are available by Aug 10th, at best it will take a week for your transcripts to arrive at AMCAS and another 2 weeks for verification (could be as short as a few days or as long as 6 weeks). This means that your primary application will not be complete until early September at best, provided there are no other bumps in the road. By then most of your peers will have already secured or be awaiting invitations to interview and your secondary applications will still be in the mail.

An application this late will undoubted results in fewer interviews; the impact will be worse for average or below average applicants relative to above average applicants, but even exceptional candidates will feel the effects. I have seen average applicants whose AMCAS was complete after September 1st who did not receive any interviewers, but this is obviously dependent on multiple factors.

Since all you're hoping to get out of this delay is a 0.02 bump in GPA, I would recommend not waiting until August to submit your application. I would actually suggest you submit in June, as soon as you are ready.

P.S. You can always send updated transcripts to schools that you are interested in.