<p>Nice info also in thread by bluedevilmike: “Timing Alert”</p>
<p>What to do a year before attending:
He provided this example for 2008…I’m updating it changing the year…
If you want to enter medical school in the fall of 2012:</p>
<p>1.) You should have a quick list of your extracurricular activities put together by November 2010.
2.) You should have a first draft of your essay put together during Christmas 2010.
3.) You should have a rough list of schools by March 2011.
4.) You should ask for letters of recommendation before April 2011, and ask them to send in their letters by June 1 2011.
5.) You should be finalizing your essay.
6.) E-mail an older student to get as many secondary essay topics as possible.
7.) During May 2011, you should open up an AMCAS account. This will be quite easy if you’ve already taken the MCAT, which I hope you have.
8.) Ideally you’d have an MCAT score by June 2011 – not a test, a score. July is probably okay as well, but it would make me uncomfortable.
9.) On June 8 – NOT JUNE 1st – you should send in your primary application. This includes a list of schools, a list of EC’s, your grades, a TRANSCRIPT REQUEST, and your essay.
10.) On June 15, many schools with “Open” secondaries (non-screening) will open up their secondaries. You should look carefully through the website of every school you applied to to see if the application is open yet.
11.) You should take no more than two weeks to fill out any secondary. Otherwise they accumulate. Rumors – which I find credible – also say that schools use secondaries as an indication of your interest.
12.) Schools will start to send you secondaries, as well. The two-week rule stands.
13.) If there’s ever a point where you find you have nothing to do, start writing secondary essays ahead of time!</p>
<p>14.) You should be completely done with all primaries and secondaries by the time school starts.</p>