- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
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I sat for the MCAT in May of this year and really don’t feel things went my way. That’s another story, but my question is with regards to postsubmission changes. It’s easiest to lay out my scenario.
The rest of my application is ready and I plan to submit to get verified ASAP. Exam results for the MCAT I’ve already taken will be released on June 15. This means that, if unaltered and if no issues pop up during verification, my application should have all components available in hand for all AMCAS medical schools in early July. But, what if my MCAT is as bad as I think it is? To this end, I signed up to take the MCAT again at the end of June but will only sit for it if my results due in on June 15 are as bad as I fear they are.
I understand that I’m able to update my application after submission to reflect a new test date, but I don’t want to do that if it will flag my app as a hold while the results of that second exam are TBD. For example, if I include the second test date on my app and submit it, will medical schools put it at the back of the line until my second MCAT score comes in? This wouldn’t be good if my first exam scores come in and they are good enough for me to cancel the second exam.
It seems safest to submit my app without information regarding my second exam date. This way, I can then update the app on June 15 (once my scores are available) to reflect an additional test date if it is in fact needed.
As for the inevitable ‘why do you need to take it again?’ or ‘why do you think you will do better the second time?’. It’s simple: CARS. I’m NOT a fast reader, not even at a normal speed I’d say. But I did nail down how to read faster by exam day in May, to a point that is. Then I sat down on exam day and passage after passage, they were the longest ones I had ever seen throughout all my review of the AAMC material. Not only did the reading techniques I developed during preparation go out the window, but I physically ran out of time due to being caught so off guard. And running out of time has always yielded me a terrible section score.
The rest of my application is ready and I plan to submit to get verified ASAP. Exam results for the MCAT I’ve already taken will be released on June 15. This means that, if unaltered and if no issues pop up during verification, my application should have all components available in hand for all AMCAS medical schools in early July. But, what if my MCAT is as bad as I think it is? To this end, I signed up to take the MCAT again at the end of June but will only sit for it if my results due in on June 15 are as bad as I fear they are.
I understand that I’m able to update my application after submission to reflect a new test date, but I don’t want to do that if it will flag my app as a hold while the results of that second exam are TBD. For example, if I include the second test date on my app and submit it, will medical schools put it at the back of the line until my second MCAT score comes in? This wouldn’t be good if my first exam scores come in and they are good enough for me to cancel the second exam.
It seems safest to submit my app without information regarding my second exam date. This way, I can then update the app on June 15 (once my scores are available) to reflect an additional test date if it is in fact needed.
As for the inevitable ‘why do you need to take it again?’ or ‘why do you think you will do better the second time?’. It’s simple: CARS. I’m NOT a fast reader, not even at a normal speed I’d say. But I did nail down how to read faster by exam day in May, to a point that is. Then I sat down on exam day and passage after passage, they were the longest ones I had ever seen throughout all my review of the AAMC material. Not only did the reading techniques I developed during preparation go out the window, but I physically ran out of time due to being caught so off guard. And running out of time has always yielded me a terrible section score.
