Have already postponed twice at this point but it’s really tough to get into FL practice with school going on. Thinking of taking the exam June 30th to give my self more practice time (June 15th won’t work for me). Is that considered too late/detrimental for the MD cycle, assuming I apply to a throwaway school in June and add schools immediately when my score comes in and apply at the end of July? Thanks!
You should have your scores within a month. I dont see a test on 30th (28th and 29th will release july 30th),
July 30th is not late if you have your rest of the application ready.
@texaspg Thanks, yep, I mean’t the 29th. I’d definitely have everything done by then (LORs, Transcripts, essays, ECs, etc.), but would I have to have everything done before I apply to a throwaway school (I assume I would do so in early June)? Thanks!
Also, I’m just worried about how long verification would take for me if I apply then (from what I understand it can take up to 1+ months).
How have you scored on a full length practice test? There is no point taking a test you are not prepared for.
AMCAS has opened for pre-application for the 2019-2020 cycle. You should open an account now and start filling out your primary application. Once AMCAS officially opens in early June --or whenever your school releases grades for the most recent term–have official transcripts sent. Many colleges do this electronically. There is form to give to the registrar’s office at your college on AMCAS that has your unique AMCAS ID on it. The registrar needs the ID to upload the transcripts to the right application.
You need your primary filled out w/ at ;least 1 school on your application list and transcripts sent in & received to get in line for verification–a process which can take up to a month. You can be verified without a MCAT score, but your application won’t be transmitted to schools without a MCAT score attached. Once your MCAT score is added to your application (happens automatically when scores are released), it will be transmitted to all the med schools on your list within a week. AMCAS uploads applications to med schools in batches once a week. (IIRC, they used to do it on Thursdays or Fridays.)
You can add LORs to your file at any time before or after verification.
With June 30th MCAT date, you’d get your test scores back around the end of July. Sending out your primary the end of July/1st week of August isn’t considered late. So long as you are able to return your secondaries in a timely fashion (i.e. within 2 weeks being received), you should be fine.
I would suggest pre-writing your secondaries while you wait for your MCAT score to come back.
Don’t underestimate the amount of time & energy it takes to write strong secondary essays.
@honcho Once your app is ready and transcripts are in, it took around 15 days in last cycle for verification.
Keep looking at SDN school specific threads. There folks update with the secondary questions for the current cycle. So as WOWM suggests, keep writing your secondaries ahead since you know the specifics. Whenever your MCAT scores comes, just add your target schools.
Thank you all! I’ll get working on my application right away. I think I have most things ready on my part (except need to polish up my personal statement). Otherwise I’ll finish everything else up, and study for the MCAT for June 30th (or if the 15th opens up for me).
@WayOutWestMom at what point would I switch my schools from the throwaway to my actual list, once I connect my MCAT score to my application? I assume this is done easily through the application?
@hondo, you can’t remove schools from your application list, only add them. So no “swapping schools out”. Your application will be sent to your throw-away school no matter what. Choose it carefully. (If you don’t want to apply to your throw-away, just don’t complete the secondary–if you receive one–and you’ll be forever incomplete there.)
Once you receive your score, take few days to compile list of likely match schools–schools where your stats, ECs and interests are a match. Once you add your schools to your application list and pay your fees, your app will sent automatically on the next transmittal day.
The MSAR ($28 at AMCAS) will be very useful. It has all kinds of helpful data that will assist you in deciding which schools to apply to.
IIRC, you’re from CA, so you will need to apply broadly to schools outside the state. MSAR will have information about how many OOS students apply to, interview at and matriculate at every school. Some state med schools are more OOS-friendly than others.
@WayOutWestMom Yep, CA. I’ve heard of the whole OOS fiasco, especially with some that are unfriendly towards CA applicants. Have the MSAR but haven’t really used it, plan on doing so more when I begin filling out the application this weekend. If I understand correctly, we can just add schools throughout the application cycle and they will be sent to those schools the next transmittal day? Also, the purpose of the throwaway school is to speed up the verification process, so is that to circumvent the “summer application traffic” everyone talks about? Thanks!
wowmom - I see a delete button next to the schools?
The delete button only works before submission of the application. Since the OP will need to officially submit his application to get in line for verification, he won’t be able to delete this throw-away school.
Ditto for later when he’s forming his final school list, he can add and delete schools to his list–but only up until the time he hits the submit button.
Yes, that’s what happens; however, adding a school after mid September is an exercise in futility. The school has to receive your application, process it, send you a secondary which you have to complete and return, upload your LORs, etc–this all takes times, usually a couple of weeks (best case, often longer). Then your app has to have in-house review, then sent to the full adcomm for decision review–and adcomms don’t meet regularly. This takes more time. Schools have been reviewing applications since early to mid -August. IIs started being tendered in mid-to-late August. Schools only have limited number of interview slots. Adding a school in September or later means your application will get fewer passes through the sift heap, be compared against a larger number of other applicants and will have fewer available interview slots you’ll be competing for. Some schools have tendered all their IIs by October. Most of the rest are done tendering IIs by Thanksgiving/early December. So unless you’re an exceptional candidate, applying earlier is better.
The summer application traffic period is early June through about mid-August when the AMCAS pipeline looks like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Whether you apply in June or in late July you’re going to be smack in the middle of it. By using a throwaway school, you’ll be getting in the verification queue earlier and therefore get processed sooner than if you had waited until after your MCAT scores came back to get in line.