Ok I admit this might be an old question, but I heard from someone that since most medical schools will be still admitting people in June and July, they won't start to look at this year's application until August, so it doesn't make a difference to submit the application in June or August. Is that true? Or is it best to submit as early as possible?
When to apply
- Thread starter chencxm
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Say you submit the AMCAS in june, it takes a few weeks (3 or 4) of processing to be sent to the school. after this the school either screens you out or sends you a secondary a few weeks/months later. after these are in and processed they send out interview invites, then they start to really evaluate, and this is why most acceptances aren't until feb-june. basically, there are different levels of the application process and often different people looking at it at each. thus while the admissions committee is making a final decision on a kid in july, an associate dean of admissions may be deciding whether or not to recommend your application to be reviewed by that committee at a later date.
suffice to say, send in your stuff asap. the worst that can happen is you get rejected very early and you have time to find out how to fix your application for the next round.....nobody wants to get all their rejections in july of the next year.
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You do not have to submit the AMCAS the first day you are allowed to do so. But making sure your application is complete (verified by AMCAS+LORs are uploaded, secondaries are submitted, etc) by end of August is considered early as far as I am concerned. Most school start their interviewing season in Mid to late September.
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As the above response stated, being 100% complete (AMCAS verified, LORs, secondarys) by the end of August isn't a bad date to shoot for. However, in general, you want to have everything submitted as soon as possible. This is so important because many schools admit on a rolling basis. At some point during the screening / application-review process, they will place you into a grouping of students who they deem are similarly qualified (usually based on MCAT, GPA, plus other factors). At this point, the only objective factor that separates the similarly qualified applicants is the date they submitted AMCAS (or when their entire application was complete). This date is usually used when deciding who to offer interviews to first (more important for the average and below average applicants). Depending on the quality of the school and the quality of the applicant, this can be the difference between an acceptance, a waitlist spot, or a rejection.
The original poster is correct that many schools are still trying to fill all of the positions in their next upcoming class, but this doesn't mean that they haven't started the process for the next upcoming cycle (they are great multi-taskers).
From my personal experience as an applicant in the process as well as my experience as an admissions committee interviewer, I have personally seen several above average applicants whose applications weren't complete until August / September, which led to later interviews, which led to a waitlist position instead of an acceptance.
In short: if you can submit ASAP, then submit ASAP (it can only help).
-admissions committee interviewer / senior medical student
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Think of it this way...would you rather be just submitting your primary app in august, or scheduling interviews? I scheduled most of my interviews mid August through late October and went on my last interview in Mid-December. Now I've pretty much heard from everywhere, and have narrowed it down to one WL school and one accepted school. There are people who are still hearing back decisions now.
Basically, apply in June so you're first in line for secondaries and reviewing. You may be lucky and end up with an early interview and maybe even an acceptance by October 15th. Then you can enjoy your life till school starts 🙂
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👍
I forgot to mention this. Don't underestimate how fantastic an acceptance offer on 10/15 would be (first day that general MD programs can offer regular season acceptances). I was fortunate enough to receive an acceptance to my first choice on 10/15, so the next 10 months were glorious. Nothing compared to a couple of my classmates who didn't get acceptances until the summer before we started school. That extra 8 months of elevated cortisol can have huge effects. 🙂
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Ah, then we should all listen to your wisdom.
Lots of inaccuracies in this post. The earlier the better. Processing takes time. You want to have all your ducks in a row well before August if at all possible: primary, MCAT, LORs, committee letters, transcripts, and even some secondaries done!!
If you apply in June, you will spend tons of time during July and August finishing most of your secondaries. If you apply in August, you won't be able to do that until September or even October and then you are a LATE applicant!!!
Even if you have stellar stats, you will be disadvantaging yourself -- either somewhat or a lot -- by not taking advantage of the adage:
"Apply as early and as broadly as possible."
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they said "submitted to AMCAS + letters + secondaries completed by the end of august"... not just AMCAS submission.... read carefully
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Let's put it this way. Schools won't seriously start looking into their next class until their current class is completed. Which usually means mid-July through August. You want to be in that first batch, so having all your applications complete by the end of August is in your best interest. You don't have to submit on the first day, but you want to submit early enough to make that happen, and since you don't know how long your verification will take, it's best to apply as close to the first date as possible.