applying this June but without MCAT

[Nasem]

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Hi,

Is it Ok to apply early (begining of June) but not have an MCAT score ? I ask because My MCAT date is July 31st, I work a fulltime job and am Still a post-bacc student, its just impossible for me to do any kind of MCAT preparation until this coming may (when my last post-bacc semester ends)

I figured from May till end of July is a good time to self study for the MCATS... am I screwing myself over?

 

[scaredoflife]

Well as far as the applying date, you information will not move on until you get a MCAT score so basically you applying June and taking the MCAT July 31 will not help you. They won't move your application further without the MCAT and you application will just be waiting for about 3 months after you apply since you won't get your scores until a month later from July 31. So if you applied around July I doubt it would hurt you any.

As far as the MCATs May, June and July seems good as long as you don't have anything going. Because you will need to foucs for those 3 months. Focus on practice tests the last month and half.

Cheers to you, those are my two cents!

 

[Nasem]

Thanks for your replay,

Thing is, I am quitting my job in 2 weeks just so I can focus 100% into my upcoming (and hopefully) last post-bacc semester which consists of 17 credits of upper level sciences
* 461 biochemistry I
* 341 Genetics
* 343 Genetics lab (3 credit lab)
* 350 Intro to human pharmacology
* and finally 250 Intro to physiology (only reason Im taking 250 level is because the actual 400 level course is only offered in Fall at my school; MSU)

Based on the schedule I just posted, I HIGHLY doubt I can do any MCAT preparation along with it. This posted semester starts January 12th and ends first week of May, right after it, I will start my MCAT preparation for 3 months straight (Until my dooms day, July 31st)

However, from what you just told me, If I take the July-31st MCAT, my test scores will not come out till September 1st, so basically if I apply to schools in June or August, it gives me the same effect.

Should I even apply this cycle? It seems that med schools will not even look at my application till September and everyone around here tells me to apply “as early as possible”…. September doesn’t sound early at all.

 

[SN2ed]

September is kind of late. Go ahead with devoting yourself to the MCAT to get a good score. Once you have a good MCAT score, apply early next application season. If you want, after you study for the MCAT, you could get a head start on your primary and secondary essays. By the way, secondary essays usually don't change too much, or at all, from year to year. Finally, come time for the next round, you'll have everything lined up. Not only will this be less stressful, you'll be among the first applicants at all of your schools.

 

[Nasem]

Oh man, this really strains my plans for 2010 cycle,

There are a few options I am now thinking about:

1) Instead of the july 31 Mcat, take the earliest July MCAT, meaning, I am only going to have from May till early July to prepare, its probebly not enough, but oh well...

2) Take a lighter semester this winter (instead of 17 credits, take 14, or maybe even less, like 10 or 11), and focus all my energy on the lighter semester and MCAT, this will enable me to take the June MCAT (which I think puts me at a good shot for this cycle)..... HOWEVER, with the lighter semester, it sorta hurts my post-bacc status, since I really wanted to show schools I can handle alot of upper level sciences because of my poor undergrad degree in 2004 (Overall GPA 3.01 back then)

3) Continue with my current plan (where I take the July 31 MCAT and the heavy winter semester) and on top of that, even though my application woun't get to Med schools till september, apply to 35+ schools (combination of both MD and DO)..... I am seeing this as the best option for now. If I don't get in this cycle, well, like SN2ed said, I'll be SUPER ready for next cycle.

Can I hear some opinions please?

 

[scaredoflife]

September is late but I mean it is doable. If you have a good score and you live in average mcat medical college area then I think doing everything by september is not bad. It all goes down to numbers in the end. Time is good to think about but if you get 30+ than you have a better chance than some applying with 25+. Idk!

 

[Nasem]

As far as my numbers go...

I finished as a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics in 2004, overall GPA was about 3.01 and MD-science about 3.15... Total 136 credits.

Started doing post-bacc in January 2007, and ever since that time, i have taken 32 credits (while staying at my fulltime job as a software engineer) and managed to 4.0 all 32.... which now brings my overall to about a 3.19 and my MD-science to about a 3.53.... so my numbers, as you can see, are low, but I am showing a strong upward trend (not sure how helpfull this will come out to be)

So now, I am debating, should I take 17 credits in winter-2009 and hopefully do really well and take the July 31st MCAT, OR.... drop the semester to only 10 credits and start preparing for the MCATs today and take the June MCAT

Based on my GPA & numbers, I am leaning towards the July 31st MCAT

 

[RySerr21]

Well as far as the applying date, you information will not move on until you get a MCAT score so basically you applying June and taking the MCAT July 31 will not help you. They won't move your application further without the MCAT and you application will just be waiting for about 3 months after you apply since you won't get your scores until a month later from July 31. So if you applied around July I doubt it would hurt you any.

As far as the MCATs May, June and July seems good as long as you don't have anything going. Because you will need to foucs for those 3 months. Focus on practice tests the last month and half.

Cheers to you, those are my two cents!

Thats not true at all. Submitting in June does have its advantages, if the OP submits in June w/o an MCAT then at least his/her application is getting verified. If you wait til end of august/early sept, there could be up to a 4 week wait...

OP, I'd recommend submitting your primary app as soon as you can in the summer, even if you havent taken the MCAT score. Trust me. Youll be very happy b/c when you get your scores back, you won't be waiting for verification from AMCAS, your app will be sent out that next day and you will start getting secondaries soon after. You dont need to wait til september to submit your primary application.

 

[Nasem]

Please tell me what do you mean by MD science? you do know that every single math course counts in your BCPM GPA because you are told to list all courses within their given categories and those that are natural sciences, math, physical sciences, biol, chemistry, etc. will be considered right??? Or are you referring to diff. between counting comp. sci and non comp sci courses??

How many credits of postbac will you have when all is said and done? How many semesters?

When I said MD science, I meant BCMP..... Reason I said that is because there is a difference between the allopathic and osteopathic science GPA, I think one of them doesn't count Math.

When my post-bacc is all finished, I am aiming for 49 credits (that is if I take 17 credits this coming winter term)....

as far as semesters go, lets see, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, 1 summer term 2008, Fall 2008, and finally winter 2008 (upcoming) .... 6 semesters

 

[take the shot]

Thats not true at all. Submitting in June does have its advantages, if the OP submits in June w/o an MCAT then at least his/her application is getting verified. If you wait til end of august/early sept, there could be up to a 4 week wait...

OP, I'd recommend submitting your primary app as soon as you can in the summer, even if you havent taken the MCAT score. Trust me. Youll be very happy b/c when you get your scores back, you won't be waiting for verification from AMCAS, your app will be sent out that next day and you will start getting secondaries soon after. You dont need to wait til september to submit your primary application.

I completely agree with this. I submitted my application on July 1 and because of work/school schedule, didn't take the MCAT until 8/22. By the time I got my scores back one month later I was completely verified and my letters of recs were all in. It was great not to have to worry about my application when I was studying for the MCAT or even after since I was so drained! It didn't really seem to impact getting interviews since a lot of the schools are just finishing up early admission decisions.

I would also recommend to you that you stay in close contact with the schools you are applying to and let them know when you get your scores, that your application is now complete, etc...

 

[Nasem]

I completely agree with this. I submitted my application on July 1 and because of work/school schedule, didn't take the MCAT until 8/22. By the time I got my scores back one month later I was completely verified and my letters of recs were all in. It was great not to have to worry about my application when I was studying for the MCAT or even after since I was so drained! It didn't really seem to impact getting interviews since a lot of the schools are just finishing up early admission decisions.

I would also recommend to you that you stay in close contact with the schools you are applying to and let them know when you get your scores, that your application is now complete, etc...

I appreciate all of your advice about applying early, or at least early enough to get my application verified before my MCAT score is out…

As for right now, I am trying to decide if I should move down my MCAT date to July 17th (scores will be out August 18th….. which is better than Sep 1st I guess)

If I move the date to 17th, then that gives me EXACTLY 10 weeks of preparation time for the whole thing, I feel 10 weeks might not be enough, I feel 12 is more ideal, where the first 10 weeks are used mainly on the review components of EK and BR and the last 2 weeks are spent taking actual MCAT CBTs.

Either way it goes, I am going to apply to about 35 schools, approx 20-25 allopathic and 10-15 osteopathic