did I just ruin my chances?

[Lola2010]

So after being bombarded by personal drama these past two weeks I moved my MCAT from June to the next available date - which unfortunately was the end of July. I'm very depressed about this as all I hear is "apply early." I thought I would give myself the best chance with more time (I'm not at all where I want to be in practice tests).

I am confident I can send in my primary by the end of the month. However, can I complete secondaries without having an MCAT score released? The score release date isn't until September 1st. If that is all that is left for me, how long before I am officially complete at schools? Is this way too late? I'm freaking out here...thinking about just giving up now and applying next year.

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[longhorn09]

So after being bombarded by personal drama these past two weeks I moved my MCAT from June to the next available date - which unfortunately was the end of July. I'm very depressed about this as all I hear is "apply early." I thought I would give myself the best chance with more time (I'm not at all where I want to be in practice tests).

I am confident I can send in my primary by the end of the month. However, can I complete secondaries without having an MCAT score released? The score release date isn't until September 1st. If that is all that is left for me, how long before I am officially complete at schools? Is this way too late? I'm freaking out here...thinking about just giving up now and applying next year.

I don't think schools will hand out secondaries to you before they receive your MCAT score.

 

[Cyclopentane]

So after being bombarded by personal drama these past two weeks I moved my MCAT from June to the next available date - which unfortunately was the end of July. I'm very depressed about this as all I hear is "apply early." I thought I would give myself the best chance with more time (I'm not at all where I want to be in practice tests).

I am confident I can send in my primary by the end of the month. However, can I complete secondaries without having an MCAT score released? The score release date isn't until September 1st. If that is all that is left for me, how long before I am officially complete at schools? Is this way too late? I'm freaking out here...thinking about just giving up now and applying next year.

I am not sure, but I do not think you will be able to complete your primary without being able to submit your MCATs scores. With that in mind, it takes about another month after you submit your primary for the administrative to confirm your transcripts (depending on how busy they are, it might take 3-6 weeks. Usually it's about a month). So you will probably get your secondaries around October, where most schools will begin their interview process (some schools start interviews in Sept.) And it will take you a couple of weeks to finish your secondaries (depending on how many your apply to. 25 schools ~ avg=1 month to finish all secondaries). Note that each school has their own questions to ask you. Overall, you will be applying really late and your chances will be great reduced unless you have some godly scores. If you have not taken the MCATs yet, I recommend you wait another year and apply.

 

[blueflower77]

Delaying the MCAT is better than bombing it! If you're personal life drama is going to get you a 20 on the MCAT, you did the right thing by delaying it. It's a whole lot harder to explain a permanent bad score than a late application. That score will haunt you for years, while the late application time may or may not affect you depending on the scores as negatively. In the end, as much as no one wants to do this twice, you would reapply with a clean slate. once a score is bad, there's no more "clean slate" sort of speak.

I think you did the right thing. GOOD LUCK and don't listen to negative people... you don't need that right now.