Dilemma please help

[LakerFan888]

I am a third year pharmacy student and I decided that I want to apply to medical school in the fall. I have the following extra curricular activities

clinical volunteering 300+ hours
tutoring
club soccer
shadowing ~40 hrs
intramural sports

Long story ahead sorryy

Heres my dilemma. I haven't taken the MCAT yet and I was thinking about taking them in September but I read on here that this is not a good idea because I will not get my results back until October and this is very late to apply. I decided to take it in August maybe the 17th or the 23rd latest.

I just found out that my school is sending students down to Equador from July 31st to August 9th. A bunch of doctors are going as well and we are going to villages to help vaccinate and donate things. Overall it will be a great experience and will be a plus point on my application. However, this would mean I would have to come back and have only a week more to review for the MCAT if I want to take it on the 17th. The 23rd is very late and I dont want to take it then.

Should I take the MCAT on July 27th before I go... I will have May, June, and July to study for it. Is it worth it to rush the MCAT a bit to go on this trip? Will the trip really add to my extracurriculars? The trip is 2000 and I will also be doing research in May and June while studying also to add to my resume as well. What do I do??

Thanks for all the help SDN!

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[StoicJosher]

Should I take the MCAT on July 27th before I go... I will have May, June, and July to study for it. Is it worth it to rush the MCAT a bit to go on this trip? Will the trip really add to my extracurriculars? The trip is 2000 and I will also be doing research in May and June while studying also to add to my resume as well. What do I do??

Thanks for all the help SDN!

1. Three months is enough time to prepare for the MCAT. So no - it won't be a "rush MCAT".

2. The overseas nature of the trip probably won't help (or hurt).. It is just going to be an addition to your clinical experiences.

3. I would recommend you take the JUly 27th MCAT. By taking the MCAT at the end of August, you are going to be pretty late.

 

[Ismet]

Are you against taking a year off and applying in 2013? You can take the time to study for the MCAT and have some kind of longitudinal research project instead of just 2 months.

I wouldn't suggest taking the MCAT the week after the Ecuador trip. You will be exhausted from the trip, and that is the opposite of what you want to be a week before the MCAT. You should also not rush to get the MCAT done before if you are not going to be ready to take it then. If you start studying now, you should have enough time to study for the July 27th test, but if you are not ready by then, don't take it!!

For the trip, if you will be doing things that you are not trained/licensed to do, like giving injections, that will be looked down upon by schools.