If you’re reading this after July 1st of your application year and you haven’t submitted AMCAS, I consider your application to be late and your chances of receiving interview invitations will go down if you don’t act fast. But don’t worry — all is not lost and you still have a strong chance of acceptance if you use the AMCAS shortcuts in this guide.

If June 1st has already come and gone, the best thing you can do is complete AMCAS, submit your letters and transcripts, and write your secondaries as soon as possible. You still can get accepted to medical school if you work hard to submit your best possible application as quickly as possible.

Waiting for your summer MCAT Score?

One of the biggest reasons why you might hesitate to submit your medical school application is MCAT scores. The logic is, “I should wait until I receive my MCAT scores before I apply. After all, if my MCAT score is too low, there’s no point in applying.”

Instead, you are better off to apply now. Don’t wait for your MCAT score. Instead, look at your two most recent practice scores as your best predictor of your future score. If your practice scores are in the low 30’s, go ahead and apply. If your scores are in the mid-to-low 20’s, wait until next year. (I’ve never seen a practice score of 25 magically turn into a real score of 40 in just a couple of weeks, so apply realistically.)

While you’re waiting for an MCAT score, send in everything else so your MCAT score is the last thing medical schools get from you. That way, you’ll be way ahead of all the other applicants who haven’t submitted anything because they’re waiting for their score.

Make sure your med schools receive your letters of rec and secondaries

Medical schools won’t send out interview invites until they receive your letters of recommendation and secondary application essays. Make sure that your letters have been sent to each school, and pre-write your secondaries so you can return your secondaries within two days after receiving them.

Not confident in your personal statement? Got writer’s block?

Other than MCAT score, writing your personal statement can be a big hold up. The most helpful shortcut I can recommend that will speed up the writing process and result in a strong essay is to be inspired by sample personal statements.

I recommend enrolling in my online personal statement course. It has 27 samples and writing templates along with 8 how-to videos that show you how to quickly write an essay that will impress medical schools.