DELICATE Application Timeline Dilemma--Expertise Needed

[ErikLen]

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I have run into quite the dilemma:

I have a low GPA and therefore need to DESTROY the MCAT on my second attempt. I have registered for the July 30th test, but feel this may be late, considering many advisers stress the importance of applying early. (All other test dates earlier have been fully booked).

If my MCAT score is released around September 1st, and I submit my primary application at this time along with my secondaries about 1-2 weeks later, will I be 'late' in the application process. As it is my GPA is low, but my extra-curricular very solid, and thus I need all the advantages I can get while avoiding any disadvantages.

There are two possibilities the way I see it:

1) Since I have a previous MCAT score, I could submit my primary early (let's say around mid-june) and write that my second MCAT score will be coming September 1st. This way, I can start working on my secondaries and have them in early as well.

This may seem like a good plan but it have 1 major flaw: If I submit the primary early, without the second 'strong' MCAT score, the adcoms will see my primary with the low GPA, low MCAT and might 'chuck' my application before September 1st (when the second MCAT score gets there) or even before my stellar letters arrive/secondaries. Does anyone have any idea as to whether this line of reasoning is correct?

2) This second possibility is I wait until I receive my MCAT score at the beginning of September. This way, I submit my AMCAS on or around the first week of September (with the strong MCAT supporting the low GPA). Then, I submitt my secondaries about a week/week and a half later and call it a wrap.

The shortcoming to this is the fact that my materials are submitted in September, which is very late! As it is I am tredding on thin ice and submitting my materials with this plan may just be a lost cause all together, especially if my MCAT comes out to 36+ and I want to go to a top 20 school.

Any advice on this matter would be deeply appreciated. I have limited knowledge/expertise on the inner workings of adcoms and how they file/stagger their interviewing schedule.

Thanks a lot!

Erik.

 

[Mattabet]

Of those two options, I'd take #1. Apply early. AMCAS allows you to mark somewhere that you're taking a future MCAT and the date, so adcoms can be on the lookout if your MCAT score is all that is stopping your app from further consideration.

There is a third option though. Unless you're dead-set on applying this year, you might consider taking an extra year. That will allow you to apply early with the 'destroyed MCAT' score, and possibly take a few classes to raise the GPA, as well as possibly continue and expand on the extracurriculars you're involved with. You would be a better applicant across the board; a year of life experiences has that effect. It's worth thinking about.

 

[mvenus929]

If you submit September 1, it'll take more than a week or two to verify your application. You're looking at closer to a month around that time.

 

[Wheee]

You could also mark down only one medical school initially so you can get your application verified and all that, and then add more later once you get your new score. Then it'll be a really short turnaround time.

But I too think a good idea might be to take off a year. I'm not telling you you should, but you might be able to strengthen your app, plus then you won't be as stressed for time.

 

[witness23]

I'd go with the extra year.

so you have taken the MCAT once?

 

[pietachok]

Just submit it early and mark that you are going to retake the MCAT. There is a chance that in spite of your intentions, you will not "destroy" the MCAT, and then waiting would feel really stupid in retrospect. If you have lowish GPAs, then the last thing you want to do is submit late...I've done that before, it's not good.

If you really can't stand the thought of submitting it with your first score, then I would consider waiting until next year to apply. If you have a low GPA, this would hopefully give you the opportunity to get more clinical experience to bolster your application.

Being late is just such a killer. When I had to reapply, I was so annoyed; I was already "off track" since I'd done a post-bacc, and initially, I was so irritated at the extra time elapsing. Now, in hindsight, I'm glad for the time I took off. I'm so much more comfortable and confident around patients than I would have been entering med school at 21. And I really value the clinical exposure I got.

 

[student1799]

1) Since I have a previous MCAT score, I could submit my primary early (let's say around mid-june) and write that my second MCAT score will be coming September 1st. This way, I can start working on my secondaries and have them in early as well.

This may seem like a good plan but it have 1 major flaw: If I submit the primary early, without the second 'strong' MCAT score, the adcoms will see my primary with the low GPA, low MCAT and might 'chuck' my application before September 1st (when the second MCAT score gets there) or even before my stellar letters arrive/secondaries. Does anyone have any idea as to whether this line of reasoning is correct?

Your worries are unfounded. When you fill out the AMCAS application, your existing MCAT score will already be in there, but there will be a checkbox asking if you have an "additional MCAT date in 2009." If you check Yes, then you will get a box to fill in the date of that future test. Your primary will be verified regardless of MCAT scores, but when schools receive your application with a future MCAT date indicated, they won't mark you complete until that score has been received. Thus, your app won't be read until the second score is out, but you'll be complete as soon as it is reported (assuming your LORs and secondaries are already in). Only then will the schools start to look at it.

It's a good thing the schools treat it this way, because they are only willing to look at your app once, and if they did so with the old score they could end up rejecting you. Better to wait until your second score is in hand.

 

[WaterBird]

Some schools don't pay much attention to updates (so you'd be stuck with the first score if you submit before it is released), and other ones won't process your app until your second score is in (which will make you really late).

Wait a year if you're not confident in your first score.

 

[pianola]

OK, here's what I would do:

1. Submit AMCAS early, early, early, early and have it verified. Unless your GPA is <3.0 I'm gonna bet that you'll get secondaries. There are very few schools ("top 20" or otherwise) that screen pre-secondary. Get AMCAS in early. It takes time to get it verified.

2. Start working on the secondaries for ALL schools you are considering ASAP. Work on secondaries for a range of competitive/non-competitive schools depending on how you felt your MCAT went. For example, I estimated that my MCAT was going to be between 31 and 42 and I guessed a 37 (which was close -- I ended up with a 36). I applied to 7 schools that I felt would look at me with a 31 and then 12 others that I thought would look at me with a 37. Turns out they all looked at me with a 36 🙂.

3. Once you've gotten your score and confirmed that you didn't make an 11L or 9N or 4K, submit all of the secondaries ON or shortly after September 1st. Hopefully your estimate won't be too far off -- if you think you're in danger of scoring in the teens then forget about applying. If you think you're in danger of scoring in the low 20s then just apply as conservatively as possible. But at any rate, you don't have the luxury of sitting around and mulling over which schools to apply to much after September 1st.

People on SDN will tell you that September isn't late. It's not horrible, but it's not early either. I submitted 2 secondaries in September and they both got back to me around December with interviews -- which was about 2 months after my earlier interviews. But the bottom line is, the schools DID get back to me and I got accepted to one of them. So to some extent you have to forget about "late" and "early" and just run with what you've got.

I would say September secondary submission is your best bet unless you're thinking of taking a year off (which, hey, I took off 2 years -- nothing wrong with it).