International and Caribbean Medical Schools :: Timeline question - too late?

Author: jmcappleby
Subject: Timeline question - too late?
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:42 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 1

I suppose I'm just looking for some peace of mind. I'm a pre-med senior who did not have such a great outing with US Med School applications and am looking at the Caribbean as an option. Stats-wise, I'm fairly decent with a 3.4 GPA and 31 MCAT and decent EC's, nothing extraordinary, unfortunately.

When I first seriously considered this (last week), I resolved to fix some stuff that probably marred my old applications and have been working on better versions of my personal statement, having some more medically-oriented people edit it, etc. I'm almost done now and will be sending everything in on Monday March 17th.

1) I guess my question is, am I too late for Fall 08? I know people recommend applying 5ish months before the semester of entry, but when I read various forums and about people who've been applying in Dec/Jan and have already interviewed, I'm a little worried.

I ask because I didn't quite make plans for what I would do after graduation (Mid-May) if I did not enter school in the fall and honestly the last thing I want to do is just sit around. If there's a real possibility that I'm too late and will be rejected/deferred to January, then I will probably want to start looking at things to do till then. Wondering if you guys had any thoughts.

2) In your experience, what is the typical time-line for response from Caribbean schools (mainly the big 4)? If I over-nighted my applications on Monday and they liked it, typically when would I be interviewed and when would I know of their final decision?

3) Some of the personal statements on the applications asked for a 1500-word max essay (SGU). Although I essentially began working on my essays from scratch, it still feels redundant and laborious reading through that long of an essay. I know that's just a guideline, but would you say it's advisable to keep it short and memorable even if it is much shorter than their limits?

Thanks!