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<p>Elleneast- You are correct, an above average applicant (who would be one that got lots of interviews early) is less hurt than an average applicant, assuming no preference in medical school. Students that are closer to the average or below it are the ones that are most hurt, in terms of getting in somewhere. Now adays, most adcoms use filters where everyone above a certain gpa and MCAT are popped onto the top of the pile regardless of when you apply. If you are near the end, this can still hurt you even if you have top scores, but you’ll still probably get an interview and have a fairly good chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Right – this is the old philosophy that some candidates are strong enough that being late is okay; some are weak enough that being early wouldn’t have helped; but there’s a lot of folks in between.</p>
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<p>I happen to know someone who applies to 33 schools. I think this number is well above the average. I wonder how she can complete all the secondaries timely as she has such a heavy schedule this summer (working 40-50 hours in a lab.)</p>
<p>I know some students do apply to 33 (and more), and given certain parameters I might even think that wasn’t a bad idea, but for most 15-20 should be enough to cover all bases. </p>
<p>I’m starting to think D went a little over with 24 schools. </p>
<p>There is a current thread on sdn going on “how much does this app process cost?” I think my kid, if she posted her costs to date, might be “winning” 
. By a pretty large margin. And she didn’t take a prep course. </p>
<p>She has had 2 interviews, and she has 3 secondaries to go. She is sitting at $3700 so far. She’ll be at $5,500 by the end of September (all “fly-in” interviews plus the remainder of the secondaries).</p>
<p>From some advice given by sdn gurus she was expecting $5-8K , given her desire to attend a research-oriented school for a potential career in academic medicine . Only an early acceptance will keep it within the “high”. I’m thinking $10K with second-looks. </p>
<p>Mercy.</p>
<p>Now most could do it a LOT less. D is running into droves of Texas kids only applying to Texas schools. They ain’t paying diddly.</p>
<p>I do realize that applying early is best and I have no doubt that someone out there has already created a graph proving just how important it is but a neophyte looking over some of these threads might conclude that the game is already over if their available secondaries are not completely finished and if they have not already gotten interviews before the beginning of the school year. I can see the high school seniors that read this pre-med section already marking up their calendars for three years down the road. Should you hustle to get everything done? Of course. But not everyone can make getting their secondaries out a full time job. That is why I wrote of my daughter’s experience. She got everything done in a reasonable length of time but perhaps wasn’t quite as on top of it as all of the people here.</p>
<p>Financially adding TX schools, you might as well add the entire bundle of them, as after the base fee it is only another $10/school.</p>
<p>Also, if one is average or lower, more schools should give you more chances to find a fit. That being said, the sheer number of secondaries is intense & insane and whilst some have the usual 2-3 questions, some have 10 or more that require serious thought and rewrites.</p>
<p>Despite my providing info early, DD did not follow the lead of some students and write the secondary prompts last spring, she is writing them now. She is also not in school now, though is working full time, playing a sport and settling in a new town. I remind her daily (nagnag) that she needs to stop making new friends and write more essays ;)</p>
<p>I had to write mine while on vacation :p. Everyone else was on the beach.</p>
<p>DD turned in Five, count 'em, five secondaries today. That feels good.</p>
<p>Is she starting to get to repeat essays? </p>
<p>Does DD stand for Darling Daughter (or dearest daughter perhaps)? I always see D and DD but I never bothered to ask.</p>
<p>DD can be darling daughter, dear or dearest daughter, or (for me, occasionally) darn daughter. ;)</p>
<p>Lol! Good to know.</p>
<p>Some essays are the same basic prompt with different character counts- how is the excellent 2000 character essay supposed to still be excellent with 1000 characters?!</p>
<p>Definitely some overlap and some editing together, but you still have to be careful to keep it cohesive. When the proof-reader has read the same essay with a different count it is easy to miss logic errors as you have read it so many times.</p>
<p>****, three years from now, I am going to be stressing out…good luck.</p>
<p>Colleges</p>
<p>I don’t want to come off as sounding mean but you need to relax and start to enjoy life a bit. You have numerous posts here where you are stressed about one thing or another, from selecting the right school to worrying that you won’t be successful enough at the school you selected. Now you are already thinking about being stressed THREE YEARS FROM NOW!</p>
<p>I am serious when I say this, please take a step back, take a deep breath and RELAX. You are going to mentally burn out long before you get to the point of med school applications if you don’t. </p>
<p>The workload, stress and pressure in med school makes any undergrad experience pale by comparison. Please, for your own sake, start finding a way to relax. I am not saying don’t work hard, simply work smart, learn how to pace yourself and to manage time effectively and also learn how to turn the motor off, unplug and unwind. These are all things you will need to be successful in med school and in life.</p>
<p>Good luck at Emory!</p>
<p>My daughter’s experience was pretty near that of EllenEast’s daughter. Her advisor said to apply to 12 schools. I said, “Surely four is enough!” She said, “Oh, Moma. . . .” I had the last laugh when it came down to those four schools. Some things she did right: Full merit scholarship to good undergraduate school, useful summers (Her school financed a summer of sociological research in another country, and she got paying lab jobs the other two summers.), and right courses. But some things she did spectacularly wrong: No prep for MCAT (and not much studying either), no AMCAS thing until August, and no primaries out until September. The four schools mentioned above were (1) a top ten, (2) a top twenty, (3) a top fifty (4) a basic primary care oriented school. (These ratings are US News for what it’s worth.) The #4 school called for an interview after the primary. My daughter did not schedule the interview, and withdrew later, but was very pleased with that school’s interest. She only ended up doing three secondaries and three interviews. The #1 school waitlisted her, as did the #3 school. But before the waitlists happened, she was set to go to the #2 school. As it happened, that school was always her first choice because of its size, reputation, and history of liberality and egalitarianism. She sent her secondary to them in October, and they called a week later. She was soon at the interview, and they let her know within a week that she was in. She asked the professor who called (He had been one of her interviewers.) if she could scream. He said, “Yes,” and so she did. End of story.</p>
<p>Well, not exactly the end. As a parent, I have a theory: She had good grades, acceptable summer work, and a pleasant personality combined with good writing and speaking skills. But I don’t think that is what did it, nor do I think dumb luck overcame her tardiness in the application process. As it happens she had the same median (average? I don’t do numbers.) GPA and MCAT scores as that school’s past entering class. I think that might have been the key. She was good, she was late, but, more than anything, there was no reason for that school to reject her. She was pretty much what they always wanted and was what they usually got. Maybe it was luck that the school was her dream school (She would have gone there as an undergraduate but for the full ride at a comparable school), but her true enthusiasm for that school couldn’t have hurt. </p>
<p>I am not suggesting that anyone cut short the number of applications. None of you have ever been average before, but at this point being the absolute average student that a school plans on admitting is a very good thing. So do your homework, and make sure you apply to that very school. Then read up on that school (or schools) in particular. Develop enthusiasm for the school. And if that school is or becomes truthfully the school that is your top choice, tell them so. Of course, there may be a number of schools for which you are suited. But sometimes in the hectic rush of applying to medical school, the enthusiasm that you should be showing to the very school to which you might be going gets lost. It is largely a numbers game and the house has the odds. The schools will take a student who is their average student—but don’t let them be average to you. It might help you get in if you really like the school, and you will be happier when you get there. Good Luck all.</p>
<p>PS I agree with eadad’s last posting. And I almost always agree with Curmudgeon. By the way, Curm, I think she is a shoo-in.</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words …and most especially for the story. What a great outcome. I’d have never had the guts to suggest 4 schools. :eek:</p>
<p>Now, as I have been hinting…mine applied to too dang many it appears. She already has more interview invites than I thought she’d have in the whole process. Not complaining and not bragging, just saying that it was overkill. </p>
<p>I’m thinking most students without any statistical negatives could live with 8-10 well-selected schools if their goal wasn’t a top research med school. IF academic medicine is your goal then add a handful of top-ranked schools where you have a decent shot and consider it a day. Obviously if you are trying to overcome a lower MCAT or GPA you might need to cast a wider net. </p>
<p>Fear and uncertainty coupled with a clear Mastercard can make you do stupid things on AMCAS app day. ;)</p>
<p>DD cast that wider net…if her MCAT had been 34 instead of 29, it would have been a different story. We also decided we’d read enough stories of people who did not apply broadly enough and are doing it all over again; DD does not want to apply again, she is already in a gap year, so she increased the list to cover a few extras.</p>
<p>So far only 1 interview, but lots of screened secondaries, and files becoming complete each day. 1 tardy LOR showed up last week (replacing the unsigned one submitted on time) and I hope she, too, can say she applied to too many schools.</p>
<p>If she gets into her state school and/or the state to which she has strong ties, she would be done, but instead it is the summer of secondaries. Her state school is no safety school, so she had to go far and wide to other states who all seem to admit 5-25% OOS</p>
<p>How many out of Texas interview invites, Curm?</p>
<p>"Fear and uncertainty coupled with a clear Mastercard can make you do stupid things on AMCAS app day. "</p>
<p>I second that. I ended up declining 10 interviews and wasting probably 1000 bucks in the process because I made the fool decision to apply to 20+ schools.</p>
<p>somemom, she applied to 6 of the 8 Texas allopathic medical schools. She has had 3 interviews and has 2 scheduled. </p>
<p>Every school she has interviewed with has left a positive impression on her. We spent some time yesterday parsing the differences between the schools . Although she can verbalize some likes and a few dis-likes, the great benefit so far is her realization that “they are all good schools”.</p>
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