August 14th MCAT and secondaries

[sciencegirl1998]

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Hello everyone, due to some circumstances related to COVID-19 I had to move my MCAT retake to August 14th. I know the general rule of thumb is to have everything completed by labor day and I've prewritten most of my secondaries. I just wasn't sure if I should submit them before or after my new score is transmitted. Since all scores will be transferred by 2 weeks, I should have a score by August 28th. I would like to submit my secondaries before that but would school just pre-reject me based on my old score (504)? I just wanted some guidance

 

[LunaOri]

I would submit secondaries as soon as you can.

 

[gogetter898]

How soon do most people get their secondaries after their primary is verified and transmitted ?

 

[deleted889094]

How soon do most people get their secondaries after their primary is verified and transmitted ?

Depends on the school. Some send out the first day, some it takes a few weeks.

 

[akg0119]

@gonnif are schools required to wait to make a decision if you haven't taken the MCAT before? or can they decide to reject even before they see your MCAT?

 

[KnightDoc]

@gonnif are schools required to wait to make a decision if you haven't taken the MCAT before? or can they decide to reject even before they see your MCAT?

OP is talking about a retake. To my understanding, while schools aren't "required" to do anything, they won't even look at an application until it is marked complete, and that includes having at least one MCAT score, so it makes no sense to reject you before they have that score. Of course, if they WOULD reject you without a score, then it is very likely they will reject you once you have the score, no matter how good it is!

What @gonnif is saying is that they don't have to wait for a retake, even though you've told them it's coming, which is different from making a decision with no score at all. This year, many schools are sending secondaries and even IIs without a score due to the pandemic and related delays in taking the MCAT, but I don't think anyone will be rejected (or accepted, for that matter) before their application is marked complete.

 

[KnightDoc]

Technically yes, in reality no. Even schools that send unscreened secondaries will have “screened” primaries by mcat/gpa for priority on evals. Some will be classified subpar or unqualified and be formally rejected almost as soon as secondary is submitted (and paid for).
as @Goro says for many applicants the secondary fee is a tax on the optomistically hopeless

Yes, I did note that above...

OP is talking about a retake. To my understanding, while schools aren't "required" to do anything, they won't even look at an application until it is marked complete, and that includes having at least one MCAT score, so it makes no sense to reject you before they have that score. Of course, if they WOULD reject you without a score, then it is very likely they will reject you once you have the score, no matter how good it is!

What @gonnif is saying is that they don't have to wait for a retake, even though you've told them it's coming, which is different from making a decision with no score at all. This year, many schools are sending secondaries and even IIs without a score due to the pandemic and related delays in taking the MCAT, but I don't think anyone will be rejected (or accepted, for that matter) before their application is marked complete.

.. but was trying to point out that no actual decision would be made before an application was marked complete, which is in contrast to your pointing out that an application could be considered complete with one score, even though another is pending.

 

[Goro]

Technically yes, in reality no. Even schools that send unscreened secondaries will have “screened” primaries by mcat/gpa for priority on evals. Some will be classified subpar or unqualified and be formally rejected almost as soon as secondary is submitted (and paid for).
as @Goro says for many applicants the secondary fee is a tax on the optomistically hopeless

Or the pathologically clueless!

 

[sciencegirl1998]

I would disagree
1) This year is not a normal cycle. Oct 1st is a reasonable date for being complete
2) sending in primary (except for a single throwaway school solely for verification) while waiting for an MCAT, much less a secondary, is very ill-advised
3) Schools do not have to wait for a planned MCAT to make decision

Thank you for this information and perspective! I only sent to one throwaway school for verification and I'm consistently scoring between 512-515 but I don't want a school to pre-reject me with my old 504 so it would be best to just wait until after my new MCAT to submit them right? Thank you again