I am writing this record to help people make better application decisions because most applicants make a lot of mistakes. I sure did. It also helps me to organize my application and my thoughts about it.
Secondaries with LORs all done by september 1 - IT IS CRITICAL TO START ON THIS IN MAY OR EARLIER AND WORK ON IT EVERY DAY!!! Your letter writers will procrastinate so give them a specific deadline - say you need them by July 1st (secondaries start coming in then). Make them use interfolio or some related service to submit them so they can be done before you even choose your schools. Choose people who like you, not prestigious people. LORs can only hurt you, they cannot help you. If you know someone who carries weight with the committee/dean/board of trustees, have them write a letter after your application has been complete for a little while. I would think it would have more impact on bringing attention to your file that way.
I recommend keeping an 'open mind' about specialties because so much will change and many people have biases against this specialty or that one. It probably wouldn't hurt to say you are interested in primary care specialties (if you are)at schools that focus on that.
I'm not politically connected or wealthy, so I wish I hadn't applied to Hopkins, Pitt, Penn, & Duke - after doing more research on the subject, I realized that I had less than 1% chance of acceptance but I was gonna spend hundred on secondaries. I wouldn't recommend trying as a caucasian to get top 10 unless you are politically connected or have a flawless record with 33 MCAT/3.5 BCPM. I was lucky to get an interview from a top 25 school. When you see profiles that got in with less, realize they are either fake or due to an unstated political affiliation (Legacy donation pledges go a long way towards some candidates acceptances).
I was nervous about my undergrad GPA, so I sent letters to the schools letting them know that I had been in a PhD Program and MBA program for last 5 years and they should only look at my graduate GPA (3.6). The letter also asked for relevant information and corrected an error on the AMCAS for some schools where it had automatically filled in a field saying that I had applied to their school before (I hadn't). I sent it to 11 schools, but only 2 responded to the letter, and those that did only provided the information I wanted (scholarships,housing,financial aid, etc.) - none of them made any comment about my GPA or AMCAS error. All the Virginia schools screen presecondary though, and I got secondaries despite my horrendous undergrad gpa, so maybe the letter had an impact (I assume screening is typically based on BCPM, GPA, and MCAT, but I don't really know).
10-19-05 accepted at Marshall, but I haven't been contacted for interview by anyone else yet.
10-25 received interview invite from WVU in mail for 11/4. I also discovered that I did not press the final submission button for UK. Well, I had hit the final submission button, but I failed to hit the final, final submission button. Long story short, UK is only now beginning to look at my application and their class is usually full by december.
update: I still got an interview at UK, but I have strong ties to the state. I hated cancelling on them but I had good reasons. Their admissions staff is very professional. I wonder if their class was already full anyways.
11-15 Considering that I received my first out of state interview invite (UK) after being complete for about 2.5 months. I must have been crazy to think that I ever had a chance of attending a top tier university with 11s on the MCAT and a PH.D./MBA. I can hardly get interviews at mid-tier bordering out of state schools. And trust me, I put a lot of effort into writing good essays (admittedly, they're not the best because my life is rather plain). At least the in-state schools have accepted. The increase in competition from in-state to out of state is phenomenal. If you don't get strong positive feedback from your in-state apps, I recommend quickly adding DO or carib schools. A word of warning to those of you applying to out of state institutions: most will not even look at your application unless you have some connection to that state or are in a bordering state. Unless you have money to burn, forget about it.
1-18 Accepted at WVU and interviewing at OSU - things are going my way!!! WVU wants $200 within 2 weeks to hold my acceptance,but can't tell me yet how much financial support they can give me. Price is an important consideration to me because I am already 60K in debt from the Ph.D. and also I'm a bit older (so I have a shorter career span to repay the debt). The interviewers at WVU were really polite, despite the common perception that they 'stress interview.' There is a weird situation with OSU where I will likely be able to afford it despite the increased price because my significant other/pre-fiancee (who is a 4th year MD student) may be willing to subsidize that option (but not UK). I am anxious to see the various schools' financial aid/scholarship offerings.
Epiphany: this may be obvious, but the MCAT is by far the most important thing to spend your time on. The higher it is, the more flawed you can be. I think a 38+ would have got me into a top 10. If you get ExamKrackers and study 3 hrs/day for 3 months I guarantee you'll get a 30+. 5hrs/day and you'll get a 35+. If you think about the time commitment, its far more valuable than spending it on volunteering/clinical shadowing/postbac. 3 months of volunteering 5 hrs a day pales in comparison to the value of a 10 point improvement on your MCAT. Be sure to take a cake courseload during the MCAT semester and cut out all social activities. If you have ADD, get adderal to help. I wish I had it, I hear it is a big advantage. All I have is coffee.
