When do Secondaries come in?

[kilroth]

Hi all, this is my first post. I am going to submit my primary when I get my MCAT scores ~the 24th. From July 9-27 I will be traveling in Europe. Will it be hard for me to get my secondaries in before the deadline when I get back? Will most come in before August? What are the deadlines on the secondaries after one receives them? I am sure I will be able to get some of them online or from my folks to work on in Europe, but I would like to have mine submitted well before the deadlines to look like I am on top of things. Any info will be appreciated....

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[VienneseWaltz]

Most schools didn't download AMCAS until the 1st or 2nd week of July. About half my secondaries came during the last two weeks of July, most of the rest in August, one in September (UNC, notoriously slow at everything). If you are prepared to work like hell on them as soon as you get back, you shouldn't have any trouble getting them back w/in 2 weeks. Most schools give you 2 weeks (Stanford wants your file completed in 10 days, LORs included--sheesh), but almost all of them will accept them later. Northwestern will not accept a secondary more than 4 weeks from the date they send you the materials.

For any secondaries that arrive more than a week before you get home, call the school immediately and explain that you've been out of the country and will return the secondary as soon as possible. A friend, now an MSIV at Duke, was out of the country and wound up taking 3 weeks to get some of his secondaries back, but no one minded.