Thank you girls!
Good luck to you as well Annette. So Pixie, how are savoring these few weeks before the craziness starts?
Redo - I’m savoring with every fiber of my being. 
While the power was out I unpacked our books and read every day - mostly sci fi and Sherlock Holmes.
Now, that we have power I’ve spent the past two days watching Dr. Who on Netflix. Finishing season 1 tonight, so I’m sure I’ll have the whole series done before school starts. But I’ll finish unpacking in between episodes.
Still not verified yet… just ‘ready for review’…but I don’t mind, because my 2nd MCAT score won’t be out for another 3 weeks anyway.
I keep telling myself that I have time…
Annette, how do you have secondaries already, when you just submitted your application this week? That’s crazy!!! I thought AMCAS didn’t send your info out to schools until they verified it?
This whole process makes me want to stick my head in the sand. =)
The good news is that of the 4 schools I applied to, only 1 has a secondary that has any real meat to it. One doesn’t even have any secondary essays, and the other 2 are pretty simple… so I feel pretty calm. Right now. =)
Congrats, everyone!!
@carrie liz: I don’t know how I got the secondaries the next day…I expected them to wait till they had my transcript’s verified and my LORs.
My last transcript was finally sent Monday, but not yet received by AMCAS. And my committee letter still needs to be written, but is waiting on my last outside LOR to be sent to them to bundle with it.
I’m hoping I didn’t bite off more than I could chew with 11 schools applied to, either.
Annette
The schools know you’re applying once you submit. Some send out the secondaries then, some wait until you’re verified, and some screen before they send the secondary.
Few restrict anyone from submitting a secondary; it’s free money to them as long as they put the disclaimer out, “It is up to the applicant to review our most recent class’ stats, and determine if they are competitive.”
Annette -
I applied to 12. It was very doable.
Kate
Is anyone else drowning with these secondaries? I’m now half regretting applying to so many schools. It’s like a full time job coming up with responses. And I already have a full time job! /rant.
They can get overwhelming, just try to get through one everyday or everyother day. As long as you aren’t holding onto them for a month you shouldbe fine.
This may be the ONLY time I can say this…but for the moment, I’m really glad I only applied to four schools. =)
Hang in there guys–it will all be over soon!!!
- syr_eng2md Said:
Is anyone else drowning with these secondaries? I'm now half regretting applying to so many schools. It's like a full time job coming up with responses. And I already have a full time job! /rant.
It is a full time job. But, it's the most important job you've got right now. Don't worry, July's the worst but in a few weeks you'll only have 1 or 2 trickle in per week and it will be so easy, because you spent July writing for 30-40 hours each week.
Thanks Guys! It seems like a fine line between trying to write a good secondary response and trying to turn it around in a week or less. And of course, not try to sound crazy.
Whew! 15 down, still some to go. I feel like I’m Oprah to these medical schools. And you get $100, and you get $95, and you get $120, and you get $80, everybody gets my money today!
Redo-it-all,
What was your GPA & MCAT for Tech?
HI Leuschner4. MCAT 36P and GPAs: cGPA=3.69, sGPA=uGPA=4.0
As for Tech, I have received an interview only from Lubboch, not El Paso (Foster). So far I haven’t hear from any other schools than Tech Lubboch and UTMB. 4 Schools have sent invite and I haven’t been considered for those (at least as of now, it includes TCOM, UT San Antonio, Texas Tech El Paso and Texas A&M). Interestingly, the only DO school I applied to (TCOM), didn’t seem to like my app, so no invite from them. That’s unfortunate. But so is life.
Cheers.
Redo, it is still July, after all. Might be a tad premature to say they haven’t shown you any love yet, no?
Olderguy
obviously, you are right. However, I am thinking that I submitted my app very early and I am sure they got to it. So if I am not in the first round of invite (like for the 2 invites I have), then my app is not as “suitable” (to these schools) as I’d like.
Of course I will keep waiting (hoping, praying etc…). I also use these invites to figure out what my chances with my top choice are (not sent invites yet). So right now 2 out of 6 schools are interested. My top choice being the most competitive to get into … things don’t necessarily bode well. OK, hard to predict these things. But I can’t help to use every little bit of info to try and figure out the process.
Of course I’ll keep you all posted.
Soooo… AMCAS is up to verifying everything submitted through June 21. SO close to finally getting verified! I submitted June 27, so I’m hoping in the next week or two, they will finally get around to me.
None of my schools do anything with you until you are verified, so I am in limbo. Is it normal to check AMCAS every day? LOL
It’s hard to make plans at this point… I’m sure we’re all thinking about every hypothetical scenario right now. For me, the biggest one is wondering how a newborn will affect things. My state school is my best shot at admission…and I was going to commute away from my family Mon-Fri (3.5 hours away) in order to go there. Not ideal, but not forever. Now, though… I’d be leaving a 6 month old…and I’m just not prepared to do that. So my most likely “Plan A” is now shot all to hell.
I can honestly say I have NO idea how this is going to play out. None.
So much to consider, and so little facts to go on. It’s all just conjecture and worry at this point. Oh, joy!
@Carrie Liz: I don’t know if it’s normal, but I also look at AMCAS daily to find out where I am in the stack of applications. They didn’t receive all of my transcripts until July 13, so I’m still waaaay down the list.
I just finished up the two secondaries that were sent out the day after I submitted (without verified transcripts, even). Now,I’m working on the secondary prompts (from SDN) for the schools I applied to, so I’m not totally slammed when the formal secondary application invites come in several weeks from now.
And no one knows how things will play out…“the best laid plans of mice and men” and all.
Hey Carrie
so when you say commuting 3.5h away from your place, you talking about doing the trip once weekly, right? Not daily. Just checking.
You know, with a baby on the way, I would probably apply, do the best I can, and defer 1 year till baby grows up. In the meantime, figure out how to make things work, relocation / daycare and so on.
Well good luck to you.
Redo…yes, definitely once a week! :). Although I have the unique advantage of a husband who is a pilot. We have a physician friend (who my husband taught to fly) who owns an airplane and is pretty invested in my med school future. He’s offered for us to use his plane as needed…which is a tremendous blessing. Takes the trip down to just over an hour. So I will fly home on weekends, and hubby and kids may fly over midweek for dinner sometimes.
The first two yrs I have to do in Memphis…but the clinical years can be done from the Chatanooga campus, which is one hour, fifteen mins from my house…WAY more doable.
Just seasons…we will find a way. My whole family stands ready to help, and I am beyond grateful.
I’ve definitely considered the deferment route…decided to stay the course and apply, bc it gives me the most options.
In spite of the new logistical nightmares, we have much to be thankful for, and I’m definitely focusing on that!
Carry on, friends!!