Paul Jung, M.D.
When applying to medical school, most applicants begin their application process focusing on the deadline the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) sets, typically sometime in late fall.
What premeds don't realize is that concentrating on the deadline is the wrong thing to do, for it can lull applicants into a false sense of security-regardless of the quality of their credentials.
Notice that the AMCAS application also indicates a date at which they begin accepting applications, typically in early June of the year before you wish to matriculate. Why would they list a "first date" of all things?
Well, here's a scenario for you: Two students who lived near Washington, D.C., home of AMCAS, wanted to apply as early as possible to medical school. They prepared their applications and were ready to turn them in on June 15, the day AMCAS would begin accepting applications. So, first thing that morning, they drove down to the AMCAS offices and personally handed in their applications. When they arrived, the secretary gladly took them, stamped their return postcards "received" and handed the cards back.
The students looked at the stamps, which read "#63" and "#64." Apparently 62 people had somehow turned in their applications before these two had arrived, presumably by overnight mail.
What does this story have to do with deadlines? In the medical school application race, there are always people ahead of you. Therefore, you should try everything possible to stack the deck in your favor. Of course, good credentials on your application go a long way, but now we're talking about the process of applying. And this process requires savvy skills just as much as it does high exam scores and perfect internship experiences.
Take full advantage of your "lifeline." Yes, it's true that your application will be accepted by AMCAS until that deadline in the fall. But in contrast to this date, you should consider the first day that applications will be accepted as your "lifeline."
Most medical schools have rolling admissions. This means that they take applications in the order in which they're received and admit or reject them at that time based on the quality of the applicant. This may seem painfully obvious to you, but think of it another way. When the admissions committee begins reviewing the first application, there is a wide-open class waiting for its seats to be filled. As application season winds down, only a few open seats remain, maybe only wait-list spots. When would you want your application to be considered? When there are numerous openings or only a few? To put it bluntly, the longer you wait on your application, the fewer the seats that will be available.
There are usually two lame justifications for waiting to apply: "AMCAS didn't send me my application in time" and "I can't complete my application that early!"
You can do two things to make sure you get your application in early. First, you can request the application well in advance of June. Although the mail may be tardy, ordering your forms early should give you enough time to complete the application and submit it on the lifeline day. Second, you can

obtain a copy of last year's forms so that you can practice filling out the application before the official application arrives. (Getting the spacing right on a typewriter isn't easy for a generation that grew up with computers.)
One recent improvement to this process is the electronic version of the medical school application, known as AMCAS-E. You can download the application files from the Association of American Medical
Colleges' Web site, www.aamc.org, or obtain the software from your university health professions adviser. Regardless of how you apply, you should still adhere to the lifeline and keep the application dates prominent in your mental calendar.
The second argument, that you can't possibly complete your full application that early, usually stems from the idea that once your application is typed, it is complete and the admissions committee will have no other material on which to judge your candidacy. Again, this is a misconception. And in this case, you can use an early, perhaps "incomplete," application to your advantage.
Once you've submitted your application in June, you still have a full year of activities and courses to complete that aren't part of your original application. So, each semester you can send a copy of your updated transcript to the individual admissions committees.
Assuming your grades are good, this is an opportune way for you to remind the committee of who you are and reinforce your name in their minds. This can also be done with extracurricular activities and any awards you may receive. For example, if you're elected to Phi Beta Kappa or win a local award, you can write a letter to the admissions committee notifying them of this fact. Or, better yet, have your health professions adviser or another college adviser write that letter-it lends more credibility and formalizes your achievement.
Notifying the admissions committees of your achievements puts your name on top of the application pile a few more times. It never hurts to link your name with positive achievements for the benefit of the admissions committee, and this is a good way to do it.
Implications for MCATs. Of course, aiming for an early application lifeline affects when you should take your Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). If you take the spring MCAT and do well, you have no reason not to apply on the lifeline. And even if you didn't do well or didn't take the spring exam, you should still submit your application on the lifeline. By doing so, you put your foot in the door of the admissions committees; they become familiar with your name and achievements and when your
September MCAT scores arrive (hopefully good ones), it reminds them to revisit your application.
If you wait until the September scores return before you even begin filing your application, the deck is stacked against you. Just think about all the other applications they've received and applicants they've invited for interviews before you've even pasted your stamp on the envelope.
Submitting your application before your fall MCAT may also be wise if you think your application isn't up to par. In this case, the admissions committee may tell you exactly what you need to do to get accepted, whether it be a particular MCAT score or grade in a certain class.
To Early D or not Early D? A natural question at this point, then, is the issue of Early Decision (or Early
D). This is a program that allows you to apply early to only one medical school on the condition that if you're accepted, you must attend that school. In general, it is a bad idea to do this.

If you apply Early D, you will receive one of three decisions from the admissions committee: Accept
(congratulations-if you're accepted, you must enroll at that school, no exceptions), Defer (your application now goes into the regular applicant pile, and you are free to apply to any other medical school), or Reject (sorry, but you are now free to apply to any other medical school).
So, how could this be bad for anyone? It all has to do with your reasons for Early D, which is really only an option for the exceptional candidate who has one medical school in mind. How do you tell if you're exceptional? One way is to ask yourself if you think you're an exceptional candidate. If you have even a remote doubt that you're exceptional, you're probably not. But don't worry; most good doctors weren't exceptional applicants to medical school.
Early D is confusing because it gives applicants the mistaken idea that by choosing this option, you're revealing an allegiance to a particular school and thereby scoring some points with its admissions committee. This is not how it works. One admissions dean told me that he's amazed at how many good, but not stellar, applicants try Early D, hoping it will simply increase their chances of admission.
If you're not exceptional, then Early D can only hurt you. First of all, medical schools make these decisions each year around Oct. 1. If you're rejected or deferred, your application to other schools will be submitted far past the lifeline and close to the AMCAS deadline. The only thing you're guaranteed with Early D in this case is a late application to other medical schools-not an ideal circumstance.
If you're an exceptional student, you'll probably get admitted to the medical school of your choice, regardless of whether you apply Early D or not. If you're not exceptional, you shouldn't abandon the opportunity to apply to other schools in a timely manner.
In sum, deadlines are just that-deadlines. Rather than playing that game, give your application a better chance by following the lifeline of early submission. And forego Early D. It usually only causes more trouble than it's worth.