When to call the secondary quits

[BarcaBest23]

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I have received 5 interviews at all of my top picks thus far and hope to get in maybe 1 or 2 more. I am hesitant to send in the rest of my secondaries because I would not like to spend money unnecessarily. Do you think having 5 to 6 interviews lined up is decent enough to call it quits on secondary applications for 2nd choice schools? Thank you.

 

[raginfly]

i definitely would call it quits if i got that many interviews
what's the point of wasting the money. if i start getting rejected after interviews i would start to send in some more secondaries. hopefully you'll get in and won't have to worry about that.

 

[LilBrudder]

If most or all of them are from schools your stats match to, you should be fine. If a few are from reach schools, I might submit a few more.

 

[Dr2B4Ever]

I'd stop as long as you're good at interviewing 😎

 

[alwaysaangel]

I'd stop as long as you're good at interviewing 😎

This is key. Its very easy to blow the interview or end up looking better on paper than in person (I feel like this happens to people who did activities they weren't really excited about in college).

I would keep sending in secondaries until you get an acceptance. You could send them in more slowly, just barely making their deadlines and hold on to a few until you see how interviews are turning out. I definitely wouldn't start formally withdrawing from schools until you have an acceptance.

Odds are you will get an acceptance with 5 interviews, but at the same time a lot of people either do well and get accepted to everywhere they interview, or horribly and get rejected from all of them. So its not a sure thing.

 

[Astarael]

First of all, let me say that this is just my $0.02. Yes, if you keep completing secondary applications and get an acceptance at one of the schools you already have an interview invitation for, you'll feel bad for spending several hundred dollars unnecessarily. That being said, if you fail to gain an acceptance because you didn't do everything you could, you'll feel a whole lot worse about having to wait a year and spend several thousand dollars to reapply. Something similar to this happened to me last year (I didn't complete many secondaries because of a LOR issue) and I can say that I feel pretty bad about the fact that I wasn't more aggressive during the application process.

 

[jaxasp]

i would say keep applying, you're about to pay for 4 years of medical school, i really dont think paying a few extra hundred dollars to help guarantee a career pathway is a bad investment

 

[bravofleet4]

well if you get in the costs of filling some more secondary applications is miniscule compared to the total cost you're going to pay for med school.

in the off chance that you don't get in though you'll have wasted a lot of money on the primary, have to wait another whole year before you can apply again, and be at a huge disadvantage...

SO YES KEEP FILLING OUT SECONDARIES

 

[DrTroll]

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, just my 2 cent.

 

[RadioCure]

I'd just suck it up and submit them all. It's comparatively chump change and the risk you take is certainly not worth it.

 

[anfleisch]

Stop if you get to 10-12 interviews. 5-6 is not a whole lot overall, and there is no reason to take chances.

 

[chibrown01]

I agree with everyone
Send in secondaries slowly if you are really short on cash. Keep in mind that you have travel expenses ahead Of you.

If you are horrible at interviewing (which is possible) then your first few interivews may be horrible until you get the hang of things.

You always want to have your options open. Who knows which schools will give you scholarships or which schools will impress/surprise you during the interview.

 

[avion321]

My advise is kind of in the middle of things and is what I have done this past year. When I got an interview at my top choice school I kept on filling out secondaries but did not pay for them (I also knew that the school I was interviewing at has a very quick post interview reply time). That way if I got in, I was not out all the money from the other apps. If I did not get in, I could easily get the other secondaries completed. It gives you some of both sides, however if your interviews are not coming up soon or the schools have a long reply time you way want to keep completing them. As to not delay your application and kill your chances at the other schools.

 

[mspeedwagon]

Dude, keep filling out secondaries until you have been ACCEPTED to a school that you would like to go to. Without an acceptance in hand, not filling them out is a terrible idea.