Time investment for the application process

[Prion]

Having just done the MCAT, I'm starting the apps process right now, spoken with all my referees and they all agreed to write me the letter.

 

I haven't really planned out the next couple weeks/month yet, kinda put everything aside for the MCAT:D . Generally, how long does the apps process take? I'm aiming mostly for the Ontario schools, maybe some US ones for back up.

 

Do most people tend to finish them by early Sept. and add little things to it until it's due? How long does it generally take? How many hours/day etc.?

 

I haven't really started yet, wanted to kinda take a trip for a few days too but I don't want to fall behind in this process.

 

 

 

 

Any advice? (I guess the activity of this board would reflect when people generally start working on it, although I'm also thinking there are a lot of early birds here hehe)

Thanks in advance

[thatonekid]

I think you can do a decent job in a month (the amount of time you have left), but if you're still in school, it may be hard to focus on school work and the app during september.

 

Personally, I started mid july and have finished my autobio sketch and my UofT essay. My 3 referees have also agreed to write letters on my behalf. For the next month, I plan on doing the 5 mac questions and finalizing my sketch and UofT essay. Since I work full time in the summer, I've generally been spending about 2-2.5 hours on my app per day. Even though I have time on the weekend, I generally only spend very little time on the app, but that will change in sept when time becomes limited.

 

From what people have told me, some are finished by early sept and fine tune the app until the deadline and some only finish the day before it's due. I think that taking a trip won't put you behind on the process. The fact is that you have to really focus when you're working on your app to make sure it is as powerful as it can be. So, I think that if you only have the month of september, you can still create a good application.

 

Finally, you may be a bit late in applying to american schools, since they go by a rolling process. There's a bunch of info in the american forum that you should check out to get an idea of when people apply.

 

However, all of this is only my opinion and others may disagree.

[Cnussey]

Depends on your writing skills--took me a week.

[Halcyon]

Tips:

 

-Give yourself loads of time to contact verifiers;

-Plan to submit to OMSAS before the system slows down; and

-Always plan for extra editing time - there's always room for improvement when it comes to written answers.

 

Good luck!