august mcat for 2007 matriculation???

[QuantumMechanic]

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One of my housemates just decided to take the August mcat instead of the april mcat because he finally got around to taking a practice test this past week and saw that his score would have been a joke. I agreed with him that he should wait to take the august sitting of the mcat (I took the august mcat last year and am sure I wouldnt've been able to do as well on the april one). Yet, he still has his heart set on not going to his state med school (he has an inferiority complex and needs a "big" name school to quell some insecurities) and he refuses to wait another year to apply ("I just want to go, I'm ready"). I told him that I thought he was putting himself in a big disadvantage for most schools due to the fact that his application will be read at such a later date, and that his strong record (3.6 gpa with plenty of leadership/volunteering) might not be enough to overcome this.

I think he's gotta be crazy to apply some Ivies and Top 10s when he isn't taking the mcat until August. Any thoughts from people who know more than I do????

 

[PhillyRA]

I got a 35 on the August MCAT 11, 11, 13 and have only been accepted at one school, Waitlisted at 3 and rejected by the rest. He may have a different experience than me, but I had no luck at any big name schools after the august MCAT. The timing really puts you in the position of an uphill battle.

Just one man's experience.

 

[Withnail]

One of my housemates just decided to take the August mcat instead of the april mcat because he finally got around to taking a practice test this past week and saw that his score would have been a joke. I agreed with him that he should wait to take the august sitting of the mcat (I took the august mcat last year and am sure I wouldnt've been able to do as well on the april one). Yet, he still has his heart set on not going to his state med school (he has an inferiority complex and needs a "big" name school to quell some insecurities) and he refuses to wait another year to apply ("I just want to go, I'm ready"). I told him that I thought he was putting himself in a big disadvantage for most schools due to the fact that his application will be read at such a later date, and that his strong record (3.6 gpa with plenty of leadership/volunteering) might not be enough to overcome this.

I think he's gotta be crazy to apply some Ivies and Top 10s when he isn't taking the mcat until August. Any thoughts from people who know more than I do????

For non-rolling schools I honestly believe it doesn't make a bit of difference. Rolling schools are a different story. I took the August '05 MCAT and got into a top 10 Ivy this year and I know alot of other people who did also.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I got a 35 on the August MCAT 11, 11, 13 and have only been accepted at one school, Waitlisted at 3 and rejected by the rest. He may have a different experience than me, but I had no luck at any big name schools after the august MCAT. The timing really puts you in the position of an uphill battle.

Just one man's experience.

any lacking part of your application though? like a bad gpa or lack of clinical exposure?

 

[NapeSpikes]

For non-rolling schools I honestly believe it doesn't make a bit of difference. Rolling schools are a different story. I took the August '05 MCAT and got into a top 10 Ivy this year and I know alot of other people who did also.

This is true. If your (the OP's) friend has the app to get into an Ivy, an August mcat won't hurt him much since many of the big names (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc.) are non-rolling.

 

[riceman04]

For non-rolling schools I honestly believe it doesn't make a bit of difference. Rolling schools are a different story. I took the August '05 MCAT and got into a top 10 Ivy this year and I know alot of other people who did also.

That whole rolling/non-rolling thing is a joke

When Ivies say they are non-rolling they are referring to those who have been interviewed and not to those who are competing for an interview. The interviews are rolling...so if you apply later in the cycle your application will get reviewed fewer times....thereby reducing your chances of getting an INTERVIEW.

 

[PhillyRA]

any lacking part of your application though? like a bad gpa or lack of clinical exposure?

Below average GPA (3.3) from a top-20 University, 3.5 graduate GPA, 10- abstracts accepted for presentation/publication by interantional surgical societies and a year as a clinical research assistant for one of the top laparoscopic surgeons in the country..

I really am at a loss, really the only sub-par part of my application is my undergraduate GPA, and maybe my personal statement...

Trying to decide whether to apply again or go to USUHS.

 

[goodcook]

.

 

[NapeSpikes]

I'm in the same boat. I have decent EC's but a below ave. GPA, 3.3. I've been getting 19' and 20's on practice mcats. Should I hope for a high score and apply early or just wait until August? I'm taking another practice mcat saturday, we'll see how that goes.

Wait.

 

[relentless11]

I'm in the same boat. I have decent EC's but a below ave. GPA, 3.3. I've been getting 19' and 20's on practice mcats. Should I hope for a high score and apply early or just wait until August? I'm taking another practice mcat saturday, we'll see how that goes.

Practice exam scores should be +/- one or two points from where your real exam score lies. Given that in the worse case scenario, you don't want anything low than an average section score of 8 (total of 24), I suggest you wait as well. Of course a 24 will most likely not get you very far. So i'd take the real MCAT when your score is around or above the national average, which is probably a 28-30. Hope is relatively useless in this process. Whats more beneficial is actually doing something rather than hoping. Because you can't really quantify hope on the application..haha 😉

 

[goodcook]

thanks for the input...I guess I won't be studying abroad this summer then 🙁

 

[Saluki]

I have some regrets about taking the MCAT the August before I began applying... I know people with lower MCATs and similar ECs who got interviews at schools that I never heard from... If I had to do it over again I might have taken a year off to do research or go overseas and volunteer. But, I got interviews at my top three choices so I'm not that heartbroken over it...

 

[dbhvt]

Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, and Duke are non-rolling... and even though, yes, they have to make some decisions as things go along, if you interview in Feb, you're not dealing with a class that is already full. It's far easier to get an interview than to get a spot in a class, so I don't see the 'rolling interview' theory having much impact.

In my opinion, if you're a strong applicant, you'll do fine with August (if you can handle the wait). If you're app is questionable for some reason, it might be good to get it in earlier in the cycle.

 

[gossmer]

Tell you friend to wait, not that he'll listen. I'm still waiting for an acceptance and I'm only on one waitlist, which isn't great for mid-April. My stats are solid, I really think my big problem was the MCAT timing. I have a feeling I would have gotten more interviews with an April MCAT score.

 

[87138]

Tell you friend to wait, not that he'll listen. I'm still waiting for an acceptance and I'm only on one waitlist, which isn't great for mid-April. My stats are solid, I really think my big problem was the MCAT timing. I have a feeling I would have gotten more interviews with an April MCAT score.

To be fair, you have to factor in WHERE you guys are applying. I just looked at your list, and it's full of quite a few top tier schools . . . .

 

[Saluki]

If you want to go to the top ten schools, I would wait a year after taking the August MCAT to apply... But that's just my opinion...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

well he wants to goto a top 10 school, but even yesterday he was insisting that he is going to go ahead and apply this year.

To give you some background he has a 3.6(but his gpa has steadily been going down since a 4.0 his freshman year), he's fine on the EC/research end, but the rub is that he was scoring something like 6-8 on mcat verbal. That scared him, but he's very stubborn. I'm just glad, I'm not in his shoes...

 

[notdeadyet]

So i'd take the real MCAT when your score is around or above the national average, which is probably a 28-30.

Boy, you'd think so from reading SDN.

The actual average is 25. A 30 is somewhere near 85th percentile...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Boy, you'd think so from reading SDN.

The actual average is 25. A 30 is somewhere near 85th percentile...

he probably meant the national average for matriculants...

 

[notdeadyet]

he probably meant the national average for matriculants...

Ah. Well, he'd be right then, wouldn't he? My bad.