Applying in January or September and needed MCAT?

[Uzr]

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Just wondering if there's a disadvantage to starting in January instead of September. I would rather spend the extra time preparing and studying.

Also an MCAT question....I took it and got a 23, should I include that on my application? Not great I know but my bio/verbal scores are okay. The problem is physical sciences.....I struggled with chemistry/physics in university and have not taken a course in either subject in 3 years+ now. I don't think I'll be able to score higher on them even if I do retake the mcat so I would prefer to avoid doing it. The admissions officer I spoke to from one school mentioned that they have no problems taking students from my university with low GPA's even without an MCAT because they know it's a tough competitive program howevever I thought I would take it anyways but scored less than I had wanted. I don't expect to get into a school like St. George with that but maybe another one.

Now I've seen people get into Caribbean schools with lower scores than that but I'm wondering if it's worth releasing or not. At the moment I'm thinking of releasing it and just explaining on the interview/Personal Statement why I did poorly on physical sciences (I would assume they're more interested with biology anyways). Thanks

 

[Qester]

One thing to keep in mind that the ability to score well on the MCAT is correlated with the success on step 1 USMLE. With the rising difficulty in obtaining residency spots as an IMG you need to look at yourself and determine if you can score well on extremely difficult standardized testing.

 

[laricb]

One thing to keep in mind that the ability to score well on the MCAT is correlated with the success on step 1 USMLE. With the rising difficulty in obtaining residency spots as an IMG you need to look at yourself and determine if you can score well on extremely difficult standardized testing.

Mcat doesn't correlate with the USMLE. I know many carib students who have achieved 99% on step 1 with mcats in the 25-29 range. The tests are completely different if you work hard in you're first 2 yrs you should do fine on the step 1 test.

 

[Uzr]

One thing to keep in mind that the ability to score well on the MCAT is correlated with the success on step 1 USMLE. With the rising difficulty in obtaining residency spots as an IMG you need to look at yourself and determine if you can score well on extremely difficult standardized testing.

I'm aware of this correlation however a large reason for my MCAT score is as I said the chemistry/physics section as well as organic chem to some extent. I did not do well in these subjects in undergrad and mainly stuck to bio subjects in which I did not have a problem. Of course this combined with the fact that I took the physical science subjects 3+ years ago meant that I had forgotten most of what I had learned. I didn't have much of a problem studying for biology for the MCAT but found it hard to motivate myself to study for chemistry/physics.

My main concern like I said is if a 23 score on the MCAT is good enough for me to use on a Carribean school application or if I should re-do it though I doubt I will do much better on physical sciences or if I should just not report the 23 score at all on my application if the school does not require an MCAT. I'm basically just trying to get a gauge of how a Carribean school views a 23.....obviously for a North American one it's a bit below avg and not good enough to use but would a Carribean school view it as the student at least being competent?

 

[edgerock24]

I believe 23 is a fine score for the big 4 carib schools.