Why is early so important?

[Abilene85]

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Warning: I hope this doesn't make me sound like I am a bitter reapplicant (I start school in a month). I just seriously wondered about this issue when I was applying last year. And if there is a similar thread, please send me the link.

So I understand that most med schools have rolling admissions and that early is key. I went through the whole process as a late applicant, and it felt like I had tripped at the start of a race and had no chance of catching up to the people ahead. Schools don't even try to hide it. They openly tell us that if you have an average package you have a really good chance as an early applicant, but if you have a great package and are late, you might not make the cut. So...why don't schools waitlist more people at the beginning to check out the batch from spring interviews, since they know some good applicants are coming? Or do you think it's like, "learn your lesson - apply early or apply again?"

 

[sendwich]

maybe they just get overloaded with "good" to "good enough" applicants, and don't get around to the "great ones" b/c of lack of time, employees, other resources, etc?

There are so many parts to this whole cycle that I'd change, if I were an adcomm. Seems like some schools put their applicants through a lot of unncessary emotional turmoil.

are you a 2nd time applicant and got in for this fall? congrats!! LOTS of people would love to be in your shoes. You're in a great place 🙂

 

[Abilene85]

are you a 2nd time applicant and got in for this fall? congrats!! LOTS of people would love to be in your shoes. You're in a great place 🙂

No 2nd time (praise the good ol' Lord!). I applied senior year and got in on my first try. Though I found a lot of fun in the application process, I'm glad I don't have to repeat it.

 

[TheRealMD]

It's really more important if your numbers are "lower" than the schools you want to go to. You see, not only are there limited numbers of matriculant spots, but also limited number of interview spots. The problem with rolling admissions is that people who interview earlier have a shot at all the spots in a school. After a month or two when they start admitting people, you need to have higher stats to compete with fewer spots to have a chance. This happenes when you've got people taking the MCAT twice or perhaps sending in impressive LOIs.

 

[Abilene85]

I guess I would just operate differently. I would be very selective with the early applicants, accepting only the best and wait-listing/rejecting the others. I would continue to be that way into spring interviews, at which point I would get a feel for that year's applicant pool. Then I would start taking students off the wait-list. So instead of filling the entire class with direct acceptances, fill some spots with the best students, then fill the rest with those on the waiting list. Actually, the University of Iowa, Carver CoM has a system similar to this, where most students interview and are then put into a final pool.

 

[TheRealMD]

I guess I would just operate differently. I would be very selective with the early applicants, accepting only the best and wait-listing/rejecting the others. I would continue to be that way into spring interviews, at which point I would get a feel for that year's applicant pool. Then I would start taking students off the wait-list. So instead of filling the entire class with direct acceptances, fill some spots with the best students, then fill the rest with those on the waiting list. Actually, the University of Iowa, Carver CoM has a system similar to this, where most students interview and are then put into a final pool.

That's not time-conservative. You'd be asking admissions committees to put in 10x more hours than they are now looking over applications.

 

[premeddick]

I guess I would just operate differently. I would be very selective with the early applicants, accepting only the best and wait-listing/rejecting the others. I would continue to be that way into spring interviews, at which point I would get a feel for that year's applicant pool. Then I would start taking students off the wait-list. So instead of filling the entire class with direct acceptances, fill some spots with the best students, then fill the rest with those on the waiting list. Actually, the University of Iowa, Carver CoM has a system similar to this, where most students interview and are then put into a final pool.

This is called non rolling admissions. Most applicants would wait until the deadline and then the admissions office would have to cram in a bunch of interviews right at the very end.

 

[Abilene85]

This is called non rolling admissions. Most applicants would wait until the deadline and then the admissions office would have to cram in a bunch of interviews right at the very end.

That could be a problem. Iowa must not have had any issues because most everyone else is pure rolling, so they got the early applicants as well.

I guess it doesn't really matter, because there aren't enough spots in med schools for all the competent applicants.