*** Applying in your third year? ***

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Lunasly

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Hey guys,

Just a question about applying in my third year of undergrad. I am currently a freshman thinking of majoring in biology. Taking mostly Human Physiology and Anatomy courses.

In any case I was curious about how applying in third year works. Right now I am a freshman and I dropped out of one course so I only have 2 courses. They are calculus I and Biology I. So I still have quite a lot of pre-reqs to go. If I were to take 2 pre-reqs every 2 of the three semesters, I would be able to finish by the winter of my third year leaving me with the summer to write the MCAT and applying to med school? You can apply before writing the MCAT, right?

However, the only problem is that I would have not of finished Physics by that time which I understand is a portion of the MCAT. Would you advise that I hold off on taking courses towards my degree and take Physics this winter and then the following fall so that by the time my junior year comes, I will be ready.

Thanks,
Lunasly.

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yes you should finish all the prereq's before attempting the mcat. you can submit an app without having completed the mcat, but schools will not look at your file until you have it. a common plan is for people to have the prereq's done by the end of junior year, take the mcat in may/june while applying that summer. the application process will actually continue in through your senior year. i wouldn't recommend taking the mcat any later than july, since it takes a month for scores to come back and that will hold up your app.
 
yes you should finish all the prereq's before attempting the mcat. you can submit an app without having completed the mcat, but schools will not look at your file until you have it. a common plan is for people to have the prereq's done by the end of junior year, take the mcat in may/june while applying that summer. the application process will actually continue in through your senior year. i wouldn't recommend taking the mcat any later than july, since it takes a month for scores to come back and that will hold up your app.

Ok fair enough. Doesnt that mean I will have to study for the MCAT during the school year though especially if I schedule it for a 3 - 4 month time period?
 
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Ok fair enough. Doesnt that mean I will have to study for the MCAT during the school year though especially if I schedule it for a 3 - 4 month time period?

yep. this is common. people also sometimes take a review course for it, in addition to a full course load, in order to prepare. your other option is to spend the summer studying, take it in august, but you won't have the score until september; AND if you want to retake at that point, you can't, because early sept is usually the last date offered.

either way--a difficult semester, or a summer of studying--it won't be fun.
 
Mhmm so maybe I should take an easy winter semester in my third year so that I can take a course as well as have the summer to study. However I then lose the advantage of applying early. I heard this does not apply in Canada, however.
 
You don't have to take a review course. They're crazy expensive (we're talking on the order of US$1500-$2000), so many people just prefer to study on their own with the cheaper review materials. Just set up a study schedule and stick to it...

Personally, I took 3 science classes and a non-science class the semester before I took it, studied in the breaks between classes (I had an hour off between each of my classes), and took it during finals week. I ended up doing pretty darn well on it...
 
its not even the mcat...you need 90 semester units or 135 quarter units to apply (at least for some cali schools im looking at). no one applies in their third year because they pretty much cant
 
its not even the mcat...you need 90 semester units or 135 quarter units to apply (at least for some cali schools im looking at). no one applies in their third year because they pretty much cant

Yes, there's that too. You should apply during your last year, because you're applying for matriculation the following fall.
 
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