1. It is EXPENSIVE!
Ridiculously expensive. You just don't realize how quickly things will add up. You have to pay for the MCAT, MCAT prep materials, primary applications, secondary applications, and any travel expenses for interviews. Detailed post about the expenses coming soon!
2. Submitting your application early is key.
THE EARLIER YOU GET YOUR APPLICATIONS IN, THE BETTER. You have a month between the time the AMCAS (the MD school application) opens and when you can first submit it. We suggest you complete it within this time frame so that you can submit the application as early as possible. We also strongly recommend getting secondary applications completed and submitted within two weeks of receiving them. This way, schools will know you are highly interested, and the secondaries won't pile up if you are a procrastinator (like us).
3. Good recommendation letters are SO important.
You need to get recommendations from people who know you well so that they are able to write "walk on water" letters. It is also important that the letters are submitted in a timely manner because some schools will not even look at your application until all of your letters are submitted. It does you no good to have your application submitted by August 1st if your letters aren’t received until October. Give your evaluators plenty of notice with a specific date that you'd like the letters submitted. If your school sends a committee letter, you may not have any say as to when it is submitted. However, the earlier you submit your primary application, the earlier your committee letter can be written.
4. Everyone’s application timeline is different.
If you compare yourself to your classmates, you will feel super anxious and upset when they get accepted to med school and you still haven’t even been invited to an interview. It is okay. That is the downside of rolling admissions. Just take deep breaths and focus on yourself. Even if you get the last interview date (like Lex did at one school), don’t let other people psych you out. Walk in there like you deserve to be there because you do!
5. MCAT scores are not everything.
Everyone thinks that MCAT scores are the end-all be-all of medical school acceptance. This is absolutely not the case. We know people with lower MCAT scores who got accepted as well as people with higher MCAT scores who did not get accepted. If you get an interview, the admissions committee has already decided that you can handle the rigorous academics of medical school. They use the interview to determine if you will make a capable, compassionate physician. At that point in time, your interview dictates your acceptance rather than your MCAT score or GPA.