Hi all,
Does anyone know when the earliest date that a school says that you must have a letter of evaluation or committee letter to them by? My college just sent out an email that they will not be sending out Letter's of Eval / Committee Letter's until December at earliest, unless you can provide them with an earlier date that is required by the medical school. I have been going through all my medical schools but haven't been able to find dates for all of them. So I just wanted to see if there is anything I should know about that is earlier...
This might be a problem if you don't let them know an earlier date.
Many schools require all materials--AMCAS, letters, secondaries, and etc--before they start reviewing your application. I understand that the impact of letters come in usually after you get an interview invite; however, numerous schools require those letters to be submitted through AMCAS before they even open your application file.
In other words, if your letter gets submitted in December, there's a good chance that schools won't even look at your application until December. Only a few schools require letters after you get an interview invite, but I am sure you are applying to more than those schools.
The thing is, the official deadlines in med school websites/MSAR are "late." Due to rolling admission, it's considered very late if you simply follow the official deadlines because thousands of applications will be screened before that date.
My question to you is this: How do other pre-meds in your school address this concern? Does your school understand that being complete "early" this month or perhaps next month is crucial in getting into med school?
EDIT: I completely skipped your question. I would go with whatever date that says "submit all your application materials by [Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan each different for each school]." For example, for Tufts:
http://md.tufts.edu/Admissions/MD-Application-Process/Timeline
"Deadline to complete regular TUSM Secondary Application" is January 15th and Tufts can receive letters from July to January. Technically, the deadline for letters is January 15th since that's the last date that the application will be "complete" with secondary applications in. But by the time you get to December and January, Tufts will probably have 60~80%+ of their incoming class filled in already and later applicants will compete for a few spots leftover and wait lists.
I would tell your school, "it's imperative to be complete your application as early as you can. Schools begin receiving letters starting this month. Since I am planning to be complete by late July, I would like the letters to be submitted before August."
If you need data to show applying early is imperative so that your school understands, I think there was already a thread about this several weeks ago.
