Disadvantages of August MCAT?

[KASKAC]

I was just wondering if anyone could fill me in about the disadvantages I will have taking the MCAT in August. Should I wait to turn my application in until after I get my MCAT scores? How late will this be? How soon after you turn in your application do you start to receive secondaries? Will I be way behind? Thanks! I appreciate any advice.

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[bubabugster]

I was just wondering if anyone could fill me in about the disadvantages I will have taking the MCAT in August. Should I wait to turn my application in until after I get my MCAT scores? How late will this be? How soon after you turn in your application do you start to receive secondaries? Will I be way behind? Thanks! I appreciate any advice.

So, if you take the August MCAT, then you willl only receive your scores in October. Med schools only look at your app when it is complete. Then, you would get secondaries, which are time consuming and ideally you should turn them in no later than the end of November. However, people that applied in June with the April MCAT score (good MCAT scores) will be getting interviewed as early as August and know where they're going to school much earlier. Med school apps are based on a rolling admissions so it's basically first come first serve, with peopel applying early having a greater advantage. Also, if you're still in school I think it will be stressful working on secondaries, while having to study for classes and upcoming finals.

 

[EMH]

Chuck Norris takes the MCAT in August, wrecking the curve for everyone else. Other than that, it makes it hard to apply early.

 

[abyssinianson]

Chuck Norris takes the MCAT in August, wrecking the curve for everyone else. Other than that, it makes it hard to apply early.

The reason why the MCAT is only offered twice a year now is because the AAMC felt it was unfair for students to be subjected to Mr. Norris' uber-perfect scores too many times during the year. Back when the test used to be offered much more frequently, Chuck Norris would take the tests for fun because he needed something else to occupy his time after he was done with the crossword and reading the daily funnies. He is the only person in MCAT history to score a 46 on the MCAT. He felt the 45 was too easy so he wrote an extra section and answered it.

 

[SweetMelissa]

Are you guys serious with this Chuck Norris stuff?!!! WOW...

 

[heeseop]

from viewing the percentile on aamc, august curve is slightly (very slightly) tougher. for example, if you're in the 96-97% in april, then your score would be around 36. You would need to be in 96.5-97.5% in august to score the same.
In addition, I personally think that the august crowd is a little more prepared since they have the whole summer to themselves, rather than worrying about school work etc.
these are just my speculations tho...

 

[SweetMelissa]

from viewing the percentile on aamc, august curve is slightly (very slightly) tougher. for example, if you're in the 96-97% in april, then your score would be around 36. You would need to be in 96.5-97.5% in august to score the same.
In addition, I personally think that the august crowd is a little more prepared since they have the whole summer to themselves, rather than worrying about school work etc.
these are just my speculations tho...

Hmm...that's inetersting considering that I've heard the exact opposite about the August test.

 

[ShyD33]

Hmm...that's inetersting considering that I've heard the exact opposite about the August test.

so basically its a bad idea to wait until you get your scores in october (to look at them) and then decide to apply via AMCAS?

this apparently forces the applicant to submit AMCAS stuff early (in hopes of getting a good mcat score) (in hopes of not having to retract an application if an MCAT is bad)

this is a double standard. april MCATers have a complete advantage

 

[DrBowtie]

so basically its a bad idea to wait until you get your scores in october (to look at them) and then decide to apply via AMCAS?

this apparently forces the applicant to submit AMCAS stuff early (in hopes of getting a good mcat score) (in hopes of not having to retract an application if an MCAT is bad)

this is a double standard. april MCATers have a complete advantage

The advantage is that April MCATers can be complete during the summer while Augusters will be complete in October. By October, a lot of people already have interview slots taken.

 

[SweetMelissa]

so basically its a bad idea to wait until you get your scores in october (to look at them) and then decide to apply via AMCAS?

this apparently forces the applicant to submit AMCAS stuff early (in hopes of getting a good mcat score) (in hopes of not having to retract an application if an MCAT is bad)

this is a double standard. april MCATers have a complete advantage

You are right about April test takers having an advantage in terms of the application process. I was referring to the "curves."

 

[ShyD33]

The advantage is that April MCATers can be complete during the summer while Augusters will be complete in October. By October, a lot of people already have interview slots taken.

What is the only option for a remedy? just wait a year? start studying in january --> april?

this is my predicament. i dunno if i will have enough time to get the score i want with only july and half of august to study.

 

[notdeadyet]

The advantage is that April MCATers can be complete during the summer while Augusters will be complete in October. By October, a lot of people already have interview slots taken.

This is the difference between the two. AAMCAS has stated again and again that the way the curve is laid out, there will be no difference between which test date you take as it impacts your score.

As for the disadvantage of applying late, you can either send in your application in June (in which case you can fill out a majority of secondaries as they're sent to you, as many schools do not screen primaries); schools will not send you an interview invite until your scores arrive in mid-October, but may shortly thereafter, or you can wait to apply until you get the scores in mid-October. This would be bad. The only advantage would be if you're thinking of not applying at all and want to save app money if you get a bad score.

If you're planning on applying this cycle and are taking the August MCAT send off your application with everyone else in June.

 

[medschool22]

if you're a good applicant, it doesn't matter when you apply. It starts to matter when your stats aren't on par with everyone else.

 

[freshandclean]

what if you have already takenthe mcat, and check the "im taking the august test" box
will some schools whose mcat requirement is met by your initial scores send you an app before getting your new august scores?
thanks!

 

[ShyD33]

what if you have already takenthe mcat, and check the "im taking the august test" box
will some schools whose mcat requirement is met by your initial scores send you an app before getting your new august scores?
thanks!

my same situation. (ears open...)

 

[remo]

what if you have already takenthe mcat, and check the "im taking the august test" box
will some schools whose mcat requirement is met by your initial scores send you an app before getting your new august scores?
thanks!

From what I hear "checking the box" will cause your app to be held up until the August scores are in. I'm sure there are a few schools that are different but in general they just wait until everything is final before they even bother looking at it.

 

[freshandclean]

From what I hear "checking the box" will cause your app to be held up until the August scores are in. I'm sure there are a few schools that are different but in general they just wait until everything is final before they even bother looking at it.

thanks for the info..
so im wondering, would it be better to not check the box, have the schools review you (with your current numbers) and send you secondaries. and then when you send in the secondoaries you send it with the note, "oh yea, im taking the august test?"

last year i was complete close to the start of july, and then starting receiving secondaries through july and august. the rejections began around mid september...

i guess the reason i am asking this, is that im planning on reapplying, and if possible id like to at least start secondaries in the summer and not the fall. i guess ideally, im hoping that my secondaries and everything are sent in, and october 15, as soon as schools get my mcat scores, is when i am all set..

sorry if this didnt make any sense!

 

[ND2005]

from viewing the percentile on aamc, august curve is slightly (very slightly) tougher. for example, if you're in the 96-97% in april, then your score would be around 36. You would need to be in 96.5-97.5% in august to score the same.
In addition, I personally think that the august crowd is a little more prepared since they have the whole summer to themselves, rather than worrying about school work etc.
these are just my speculations tho...

That makes no sense. The curves are set individually for the 3 sections of the MCAT; the slight change in overall distribution (i.e. 96th percentile vs 96.5th percentile for a 36) means nothing about the "difficulty" of the curve,as it is a function of the groupings of the three individually curved sections.

As has been said over and over and over, there is no validity to the "august MCAT is harder b/c people get to study more" concept. It doesn't make sense statistically, and it doesn't even make sense commonly (b/c if hypothetically "everyone" is more prepared, then you are also more prepared, so the "harder" curve won't matter).

 

[ssh18]

who is chuck norris? and is this true..sorry, i'm not a regular on SDN...if there is such a person messing up the curve..well, that makes me sad and scared and worried

 

[SweetMelissa]

who is chuck norris? and is this true..sorry, i'm not a regular on SDN...if there is such a person messing up the curve..well, that makes me sad and scared and worried

I know!!!!!

 

[EddieIndy]

If I were you, I wouldn't even mention his name. If he finds out about it, he might get mad and delete the internet...

 

[heeseop]

That makes no sense. The curves are set individually for the 3 sections of the MCAT; the slight change in overall distribution (i.e. 96th percentile vs 96.5th percentile for a 36) means nothing about the "difficulty" of the curve,as it is a function of the groupings of the three individually curved sections.

As has been said over and over and over, there is no validity to the "august MCAT is harder b/c people get to study more" concept. It doesn't make sense statistically, and it doesn't even make sense commonly (b/c if hypothetically "everyone" is more prepared, then you are also more prepared, so the "harder" curve won't matter).

it is reasonable to conclude that people, ON AVERAGE, will have more time to devote to an august mcat than an april one. this, as you have mentioned, shouldn't affect the curve since everyone, including yourself, is more prepared. but the statement itself indicates that you DO have to spend more time on the august mcat.

we all know mcat is curved (and test makers always achieve a bell-shaped distribution curve of scores). thus, for example, group A who performed average in april will have the same exact score as group B who performed average in august. however, group B will need to spend more time studying for the same score than group A to be on par with their august peers.

although my earlier example with a score of 36 has only a .5 percentile difference, a score of 26 has a 3 percentile difference and it gets even higher as the scores go down - i dunno about you but trying to be in the top 51 percentile of my peers to get a 26 is easier than a 54 percentile (if you compare the april and august statistics, you will see that august consistently requires higher percentiles to achieve the same score -http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/pubs.htm)

i know that many ppl ask the difficulty of april vs august mcat and it is highly debated. in the end, i agree with most posters that if you're a good applicant, it really shouldn't matter. i just wanted to let ppl know that there is a consistent difference, although quite small and essentially negligible.