I am a reapplying this year and will be taking the August MCAT. I will be submitting AMCAS day 1, but have questions about checking the box staing I'm taking the August MCAT. If I check no.... they(state school) see my old scores( not so hot;25), but I get reviewed sooner. If I check yes.... I'm afraid they'll hold up my app and I'll get reviewed later in the cycle. Thoughts?
Check AMCAS box for August MCAT?
- Thread starter drlatina
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Check the box. Otherwise you may get rejected before your new scores come out.
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ShyRem said:
I have heard that its better to not check the box. Otherwise you have to wait soooo long (late October) for your app to be complete. If you do get rejected, can't you petition the rejection with your August MCAT score?
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Check the box. Petitioning post-rejection, if it is even an option at the particular school, may take even longer.MamaKat said:
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i have am friend in the same position except she has a 32 mcat.. her gpa is low enough that she thinks she'll need about a 36 (which she is confident she can do) on the mcat. should she not check the box, then fill out all of her apps, and then send in the scores to schools when she finally gets them?
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I'm very interested in this topic too. When do schools start rejecting people if you apply early? I applied late last year (I checked the august MCAT box) and I believe my first rejection came in december.If scores come out in october, it should be enough time to show it to the schools if they wouldn't start rejecting before october. Anybody can share their experiences with early rejections when they applied early?
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If you do a search in Pre-Allo from last year, you'll find rejections start pretty early. I definitely remember fellow 2006 applicants/non-August mcaters posting about rejections weeks before my scores were released mid-October. I think it was as early as beginning of September?TeNa said:
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yeah i have that question as well. how significant is your advantage for your application to be reviewed early in june? ideally i should take the august mcat because i do not feel ready for the april mcat, would that significantly decrease my chances or should i just try and take the april test? this is my first time on the student doctor network so thank you guys so much for all this info! 🙂 this is a great site 😎
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njbmd
drlatina said:
Hi there,
If the MCAT was the only thing that kept you out of medical school last year, then checking the August MCAT box is not going to be that much of a problem for you unless you do poorly on the August MCAT.
I took only the August MCAT but it was quite evident that my application had been reviewed by three of the six schools that I applied to. By October 20th, I had received three interview invitations and by October 25, all of the six schools had invited me for interview. I was eventually accepted by all six medical schools but I had my first acceptance letter in hand by November (which is still fairly early).
Now that I sit on an admissions committee, I review applications as I receive them. I might place your application in a pile for "hold for interview until MCAT scores are released" but I will have read everything in your application before that time and likely send you a secondary to fill out. Once your MCAT scores are released, unless they are very poor, I will then send out an invitation to interview. (Do keep in mind that my medical school has rolling admissions).
For the poster who is NOT ready for the April MCAT: Do not take the MCAT until you are ready for this exam. Ideally, you only want to take this exam once and do well. If you have taken it and done poorly, you need to do a significant review and do much better on the second take. Two mediocre scores are far worse than one. Since the August MCAT is the last paper MCAT, it might be far better not to take the MCAT until you are fully prepared.
The chances are that your application is going to be reviewed anyway MCAT scores or not. Being asked for interview later is not a problem because later acceptance is better than NO acceptance. The only time applying early is an advantage is if the school has non-rolling admissions and all of the interview slots are taken before you can get your application in. That is why we always tell applicants to file the AMCAS as early as possible and check the August MCAT box. Non-rolling schools will reserve a number of interview slots for August MCAT takers. If you wait to file, then you may miss the reserved slots because it often takes weeks for the AMCAS to certify your application. You may even miss the deadline if you made a mistake on your application that delays certification.
The bottom line: file AMCAS as early as you can. Check the August MCAT if you are taking this exam in August. Prepare for the August MCAT as completely as you can; take the test and do well.
njbmd 🙂
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Hi everyone
I'm new to studentdoctor.net and reading all your posts are helpful. I am also in the same boat as being a re-applicant and deciding whether to check the august mcat box.
My first time applying in 2004 didnt go so well and my tests scores for both times didnt werent so great also. I recently took the april one and got a 25O and now I'm debating whether it will do any good to check the box or even to apply this year with the scores I got? I'm in desparate need of advice and help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!!
I'm new to studentdoctor.net and reading all your posts are helpful. I am also in the same boat as being a re-applicant and deciding whether to check the august mcat box.
My first time applying in 2004 didnt go so well and my tests scores for both times didnt werent so great also. I recently took the april one and got a 25O and now I'm debating whether it will do any good to check the box or even to apply this year with the scores I got? I'm in desparate need of advice and help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!!
N
njbmd
drlatina said:
Hi there,
I took only the August MCAT when I applied to medical school. My application went in very early but my scores did not arrive until October 15th. I had an interview invitation in my hand by October 20th. Obviously my application had been reviewed before October 15th.
Even as a reapplicant, your previous MCAT score and attempts will be submitted to the schools that you apply to. Check the box and let them know that you are striving to raise that score.
njbmd 🙂
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njbmd said:
I see what you're saying and it makes sense, but I'm feeling very uncertain about checking that box. Last year I checked the box, and my scores were not too good when they came out in October.
I did get one interview, and I don't know if they are really worth anything, but 3 schools had me as a "possible interview".
Now my April scores turned out to be only 1 point better, but still my best 3 scores total a 25.
If I check the box, I'm essentially in the same situation I was in last year. If the scores in Oct come back no better, I've done NOTHING to improve my application over last year, except 1 point improvement.
If I don't check the box, maybe a school that had SOME interest last year will show a little more since I'm reviewed earlier in the cycle, instead of waiting??
