<p>I know getting the app in by june 1st is best, but I am taking the MCAT in July,so will my chances really drop that much if I apply in Aug or Sept, especially for competitive schools?</p>
<p>Yeah, it's a pretty serious disadvantage. Of course, if you're way above a school's averages, they'll still have space for you, but it's a pretty big deal.</p>
<p>What you want to do is fill out the application and send in your transcripts in June to the AAMC so that your grades can be verified. This way, as soon as your MCAT score comes out in August, you can submit your primary. If you submit your primary in mid-August or so, I think you'll be okay. Depending on how fast you get those secondaries and rec letters in, you should be okay.</p>
<p>I mean, obviously the earlier the better -- so mid-August is a lot better than, say, September. My advisor always told us the key threshold was really July 4th weekend. There really is a discernible difference in results.</p>
<p>bdm, are you being serious?</p>
<p>For primary submission? Yeah, absolutely dead serious. I freak out when my friends tell me it's June 20th and they haven't submitted yet. Timing is absolutely crucial in med school apps, thanks to the extreme rolling nature of it.</p>
<p>Like I said, it heavily depends on how fast you submit those secondaries. If you are really fast and your letter writers are on the ball, then you can afford to submit your primary later.</p>
<p>From my own experience (and I was complete at most schools in late-August to late September; my primary was submitted in early June and rec letters were submitted in mid-late August), I was able to get the vast majority of my interview invitations in Sept.-November. I think as long as your file gets reviewed by November, you shouldn't be at a noticeable disadvantage. However, to get your file reviewed by November, you have to be marked as complete by Sept-October and to be marked as complete by Sept-October, you have to submit your secondaries and rec letters by August-September. This is still possible for the OP but he's going to have to really dedicate himself to pushing out secondaries at a reasonable rate.</p>
<p>I was complete at 23 of 25 schools by July 31st; the remaining two hadn't released their secondaries yet. I don't think there's any question that a lot of people who look at my application are very surprised at how well the process treated me. Since I'm not familiar either with his app or his results, I'll let NCG compare his outcomes to the predictions most would make for him -- but I'm guessing that those predictions probably came out about accurately. In contract, mine were really a pleasant surprise.</p>
<p>Apply early. It really matters.</p>