I know this advice is coming a little late, but it is very important to get your application in right away!
A few years ago, when I was applying to osteopathic schools, I turned in my application right away. I was early in the cycle. I had a decent application, nothing too special, but what I had going for me was timing and quality. I made sure that I got things in right away. That included getting secondary applications in right away.
When I applied I sent in 10 initial applications, and they all asked for secondary applications. And right away I filled out 8 secondary applications. For one reason or another I decided against filling out 2 of the secondary applications. Of those 8 secondary applications I got 4 interviews and by mid October I had learned that I had been accepted to all 4 schools.
Now, as I said before, I feel that I had a decent application, but nothing too spectacular. I was good enough that I met the requirements for MD and DO school applications, but I really wanted to be a DO and therefore I only applied to DO schools. Every school that I interviewed with mentioned that I had given myself an advantage by applying early. Osteopathic schools want students that truly want to be DOs, and I showed them that I really wanted to be a DO.
I guess what I am trying to tell you is that if you don’t have your application in already, then you need to get the ball rolling! Get it in right away! With that said, make sure you do a good job. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by having a poor personal statement, but we’ll talk more about personal statements in a later post.