@texaspg A med school doesn’t penalize an applicant who is coming from a school that doesn’t do CLs
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Does a committee letter replace the specific types of letters individual medical schools require? (2 science, one non-science, etc.)
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Not really…the Committee likely requires that you submit those LORs to THEM so you still need them…and sometimes the LORs are attached to the back of the CL.
My son’s school sent his CL out around Sept 1, and that’s not unusual for CLs. I do think that these things should happen in the spring so that nothing is delayed.
All I can say is that if your school does do CLs, then find out what is the earliest date that you can sign up to get a Committee Interview and meet that early sign up date. That can mean asking for LORs in Jan/Feb time frame, so that those will be “good to go” and submitted to the Committee in the spring. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to “get in line” early for your Committee Interview (again, find out when you can “get in line”…typically you can’t get in line until all your LORs have been submitted to the Committee.
My D is currently working on her file for her school’s committee letter. From what I understand, the committee is giving her deadlines to meet. I don’t know when they send their letter out (she probably knows, I just haven’t asked). I do know she was emailing people to ask for the LOR’s over winter break and was a bit annoyed that they weren’t answering her. I had to remind her that to some people winter break meant a break from work and that she should talk with the professors once school started back up.
My school also had a late committee letter process–they didn’t even do the committee interview (often precedes committee letter) until the first week of fall semester (mid Aug) and I didn’t have my letter until Sept! Everything still worked out
It’s worth explicitly pointing out that you do not need LORs or a committee letter in order to submit AMCAS. You should be on your game and should be able to do everything that’s in your control as early as possible. You should access AMCAS when it becomes available so you can figure out how to format stuff, enter classes, etc etc. You should submit AMCAS as early as possible (aim for mid-June). You will eventually send transcripts from any college you’ve every received credit; you should be familiar with each school’s transcript request process before AMCAS opens. You should also have your personal statement done by this time. The earlier you submit AMCAS, the quicker it is verified, and the sooner you can move on with this process. (Note that you can go back and update your MCAT score after verification, so you can/should still do AMCAS even if you don’t have an MCAT score yet. You also can go back and update/add to the number of schools you apply to; you only need one school on your list in order to submit AMCAS for verification, and that should be easy for you to do!)
I am sure this info is on other parts of this very informative thread. I just think it’s a crucially important point that can always be reiterated! Good luck!
So DS has brought me into his MCAT nightmare. The May date for the new MCAT filled up almost immediately. He currently has a June date as a backup, but he has tasked me to check for a May date. All Midwest dates filled up within the first hour. We live in a state that actually makes applying EDP an attractive option. Over 90% acceptance rate and priority campus choice. If he takes the May test, he will still have the option for choosing EDP if his scores are average or applying broadly if his scores are higher. A June date means that he will either hold off on verification until he gets his scores (bad idea) or he gives up on EDP to Indiana (which would lose him a huge admission bump and save us thousands of dollars).
I have resorted to checking the site 10+ times a day. This may continue for a few months.
You don’t need to hold off on verification while waiting MCAT score-- get in line for verification day one. Take MCAT as soon as possible in June if you can’t get May date and keep looking for people to drop and spots to open up.
If DS is still considering EDP, he MUST hold off sending his app in for verification. You can only apply EDP in the primary application and it must be marked EDP from the beginning. My new strategy is to convince him to fly to a family friend to take the test.
They have two dates in April, only one in May and two in June. April and May will also get preliminary score reports before they get the actual scores. That should help people finalize their lists and know whether to spend the money to apply this season before AMCAS opens in June.
New to this particular forum…a question I would appreciate thoughts regarding: Son just beginning the premed slog and is anticipating an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering, which he understands is not necessarily the easiest path to a med school admission. That being said, he has started strong with a 4.0 his first semester (chem/chem lab/physics/calc/Econ) of freshman year at a second tier 30-50 USNWR undergraduate research-intense institution. The question is about the relative advisability of taking OChem over summer at another institution closer to home, rather than the school he attend full-time. Does it matter? Is it okay? OChem is not part of the tight biomed engineering program and he essentially is being told to try and take it over the summer. Thoughts?
I think his reasons for taking it are reasonable. While it looks bad for pre-reqs to be taken at easier schools, his program’s overall rigor should make up for that. At DS school a lot of guys take physics in the summer elsewhere and they have not had issues getting into medical school.
Vandyeyes, conventional wisdom is that it is best not to take pre-reqs in the summer, that it looks bad to adcoms. But with your son’s major, it may be a necessity. I think as long as he takes it at a 4 year college, he has comparable grades at his college and in the summer course so it doesn’t look as if he is trying to boost his GPA with the summer course, and he has a good explanation if asked, it shouldn’t be detrimental to his app. D took the 2nd semester of Physics during Maymester at a local 4 year college and she got 3 MD acceptances.
Quick question to the experts here. I’m currently finishing up a PhD in Biochemistry from a top-five grad school on the west coast and plan to apply to medical school this fall. Due to the rigors of my PhD research, I only had three weeks (winter break) to study for the MCAT before taking it in January. Here’s my score: 31 (9 PS/10 VR/12 BS).
Is this score competitive enough for me to apply for an MD program? Or should I retake the MCAT? I hope that I won’t have to retake the MCAT, especially with the new format coming up - I feel that my time would be better spent doing experiments in the lab to get more data for publications.
Other stats include a 4.0 GPA from undergrad (Ivy League) and 3 scientific publications (2 sole first-author) from undergrad and grad school. Hopefully I’ll get 2 more before I graduate end of this year. Recs should be stellar. Thanks!
@shu_uemura I think the main problem with that score will be if you are now a resident of California (not sure where you are) where it may not be competitive enough.
@texaspg Thanks so much for your reply! I will only be applying to one school in Asia so I hope my score will be competitive enough over there. Anyway if I don’t manage to get into medical school this time round I will just start a post-doctoral stint and apply again next year. I hope to eventually become a clinician-scientist but if this doesn’t work out I’ll just try out the biomedical scientist career track for a while.
Son just attended a premed meeting at his UG. the prehealth advisor said that usually 70% of kids take a gap year but this year could be close to 80%. Maybe because of the new MCATS. She didn’t say that, it’s just a thought. My son is a junior and is not planning to take a gap year and is planning to apply in June. So essentially he’ll be applying mostly with all the seniors from his UG. He. took the old MCATs last August. So my question is, will the fact that he is competing with mostly seniors from his school hurt his chances? I’m really worried about this. This process is so unpredictable, I don’t want there to be another reason for him to have a problem.
I’m actually really surprised at the high number of kids taking gap year. Is it because they didn’t have time to finish their prereqs, need to improve their GPA, get more shadowing in? Why this trend of more kids taking a gap year. As it is becoming a dr is a really long road. Why make it even longer?
New to this thread…glad I found it. I have a son who graduated May 2014 with a B.S in Heath Science. Hes now at a university doing an SMP. He applied to only 5 schools this cycle late and one of which is the university he is doing the SMP at. Hoping to get an invite since he is doing well. Most likely will be applying next cycle. He also has a 31 MCAT as one of the people who posted above. I just dont know if I should encourage him to take the MCAT again. His graduate GPA is a 3.97 so far…some shadowing but not a ton of EC’s. Worried mom here…this is so stressful.
No, it’s not a competition. Your S should only be concerned with the things under his control. Does he have a strong application? Does he have his LORs lined up? Does he have a plan on how to deal with interview absences while traveling for interviews? Will he do mock interviews? These are the kinds of things to consider, not what others are doing.
Students take gaps years for many different reasons. Everyone should do what’s right for them. I didn’t do a gap year, but some of my friends did. There is no “trend” in taking gap years. Median/mean age at matriculation has been constant for over a decade. If anything, there appears to be a very slight increase in younger students.
So just to clarify some facts between your posts on two different threads. S graduated in May/June 2014 with a low GPA and 31 MCAT. The college he earned his BS at told him to only apply to five med schools in current cycle because he was applying late. His post grad GPA to date is 3.97. He’s hoping to get interview invite this cycle from one of his 5 applications. Do I have this right, or am I confused?
If I may ask, what was his low overall low college GPA?
What was his college BCMP GPA?
What was his MCAT subsection scores?
What is his home state?
Under grad was a 3.3. But he did get a B.S and took advanced health related classes. The grad school he is in told him to only apply to 5 including the grad school he is in now. Break down was 12 physical, 10 bio, 9 verbal of the MCAT. Out of the 5 med schools he was shot down by 3 pre interview. Out of the approx 170 in his program they invite I believe 50 for an interview. Only accept 20-25. Not great numbers but its a shot. He also has one more he hasnt heard from. Thats where we are at. Now I pray. Invites come out in March.
