<p>Will an application be verified without the committee letter? It seems D's school sends out all committee letters at one time, and from what I read on the website, that won't be till the last week of August! Will schools send out secondaries without the committee packet? Also, I have heard that some or all schools require a photo, is this correct? When do they ask for that?</p>
<p>Hey</p>
<p>I got verified in 8 days. Submitted the 8th and verified the 16th. And his app will be sent to a verifier as soon as AMCAS gets his transcript. And yes I’ve started getting secondaries last fri and today without any of my recs being in yet. </p>
<p>So schools won’t look at your secondary till all the recs and the photo (if required) is in. So the photo is asked for with the secondary. And it all just needs to be in for the school to start looking at you.</p>
<p>Yes, it will be verified without the letter. I was verified mid-July, committee letter came out end of August. You need the letters to move forward with the schools–but you can have AMCAS submit the verified primary, and she can finish her secondary and submit it, all before the letters are in. Not to worry.</p>
<p>Yes, schools will send out secondaries without the committee packet. Most schools send secondaries to every student who applies–after all, they get to collect ~$75 per student who submits it…so might as well send out a lot of secondaries! They probably won’t read her secondary or evaluate her file until they have her rec letters (or committee letter) on file.</p>
<p>Most of my schools required a photo. I went with a boring headshot. They asked for it to be submitted along with my secondary and my check. The purpose of the photo is so that they can verify that the person who took the MCAT, the person who showed up to the interview, and the person who shows up for the first day of class are all indeed the same person. Many schools will issue you a photo ID badge (just like, a giant shipping label type of thing) to wear during your interview too–perhaps it’s added to your file at some point.</p>
<p>That should do it. Anything else?</p>
<p>Applications will be verified without LORs. It’s the transcripts that are the important data for verification.</p>
<p>Since many secondaries are automatic (i.e. everyone who meets basic MCAT/GPA cutoffs gets one), schools do send out secondaries without having received all the supporting material. I’m not sure that schools that use screened secondaries also send out secondaries without having received all supporting materials. (IIRC, Wake sent D1 a secondary even though all her LORs hadn’t all been sent yet, but I’m not 100% sure on that.)</p>
<p>Yes, most (all?) schools require a small headshot photo. It doesn’t have to be professionally done. Just has to be the right size. (D1 took her picture using the camera on her laptop and I cropped it to the right size, adjusted the contrast using PhotoShop. Also removed the red eye so she didn’t look so crazed…) Only 1 school required a hardcopy of the photo (Rush), everyone else was Ok with a digital image. </p>
<p>Photos have to be attached to the secondaries. (So when they interview you, they can match the face to the person.)</p>
<p>Thanks Chem Freak and Kristen and WOW mom. So if I have this correctly, since schools won’t look at your application till the committee letter is in, what would be the advantage of submitting your app the day AMCAS opens instead of a month later? Hypothetically, if somebody is verified the last day of July and turns around all seondaries within a couple of weeks, they still would have everything in before the committee letter arrives and the app is looked at, correct? </p>
<p>Yes Kristen, one more thing. 
Is there a general timeframe that interview invites start coming in?</p>
<p>Depends on your school. My school releases committee letters starting Jun 1st depending on if all your recs are in. So the committee letter will be in pretty soon for me so I want to get my secondaries in my mid July.</p>
<p>the point of applying early is so that your app gets verified quicker and you get the secondaries sooner. my transcripts just arrived today, but i submitted at the beginning of june. i wont get verified till a month later im guessing. kinda stinks since it was out of my control</p>
<p>GAMOM-</p>
<p>Yes, everything has to be in–application, secondaries, LORs for the application to be reviewed by the admissions committee. Whatever is the last piece submitted (secondaries, committee letter) is what determines when an application is reviewed. So your hypothetical is correct.</p>
<p>Interview requests start coming anytime after Oct 1.</p>
<p>quick question:
will I receive any secondaries without a mcat score? I will be submitting my primary app. very soon but won’t take the mcat until the middle of July!</p>
<p>Just look up the prompts for the essays on SDN and prewrite them. Then it won’t matter.</p>
<p>You won’t get any secondaries until a MCAT score has been received by the med school.</p>
<p>bigreddawgie, it’s still pretty early in the season. It took less than a month for me to be verified and I submitted mid-July. Bet it will take you about two weeks.</p>
<p>I was complete at my schools in September and received all of my interview invites between October and November for interviews that were scheduled in November, December, and January. One of my friends was complete later (with an August MCAT retake) and was invited to an interview in January.</p>
<p>Son was verified(submitted 1st day/verified a few days later) and 1st MCAT was in and LORs were done…received secondaries pretty quick and interview invites in August for early Sept interviews.</p>
<p>For a few schools his re-take for his MCAT did hold up his interview status (complete vs not complete) (a July retake) but most schools just used his first one and then just added his later one (went up a few points).</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Hmmm…my daughter confirmed with the premed advisor that the committee letters won’t be sent out till August 15th. Not sure why they wait till then, but they’ve always done it that way. I’m sure that med schools are aware of her schools timing so just more time to sit back and wait :(</p>
<p>DD received her first invite in July for an August interview, the sooner the better on each step. I would get the primary in and the secondaries and scores, too. Does your DD have any other letters besides the committee letter? If so, she could get those in, too and might garner some invites whilst awaiting that committee letter.</p>
<p>^
Unfortunately she can’t send in things on her own. All of her rec’s are compiled for the committee letter. Will some schools read her app and secondaries without the rec’s?</p>
<p>My D submitted AMCAS on the first day. All her transcripts had already been received, so she was verified within 24 hours. I think that is the main benefit of applying early. All of her letters have been submitted to AMCAS, BUT she is not taking MCAT until July. She has already received at least one secondary, so I do think some schools send secondaries without MCAT scores. She used the professional photo that was taken for her sorority senior year.</p>
<p>GA2012MOM–unfortunately admission committee will not read applications until LORS and secondaries have been received. (File must be “complete” for admissions consideration.)</p>
<p>This is partly because many students do not “complete” and therefore admission committee members are just wasting their time reading partial files.</p>
<p>GAMOM, don’t worry too much. With a lot of these schools’ committees, the rules are just the rules–and it’s not worth stressing over them. That’s basically the policy at my school too…that they won’t send committee letters until the end of August. It’s a huge bummer and in my opinion a huge disservice to the students…but it’s not the end of the world. While August is not ideal, it’s far from the disaster you might think it is. </p>
<p>If she can’t have letters in until August, she probably won’t have interviews until the end of October. Again, not ideal, but far from the end of the world. Keep that in mind when you’re reading this forum in the upcoming weeks. Some applicants will probably pick up some early interviews, and you’ll be left wondering why your kiddo doesn’t have any yet. Interviews in the fall/winter don’t necessarily mean she’s a less-desired candidate–rather, it probably just means her file was complete later in the cycle. </p>
<p>At this point, especially since there’s nothing you can do about it, there’s really no reason to be worrying too much! </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My daughter finally submitted her application on Friday. They are still awaiting her transcript to verify her (it has been sent from school), yet she already received her first secondary early this morning. She was a little shocked because we were assuming they wouldn’t be coming until she was verified. Thanks for the idea of taking the photo on the computer WOWM, she is going to do that tonight.</p>