Early July MCAT too late?

[tndoc12]

Hey guys and gals. I am scheduled to take the MCAT on July 8, 2010 (not oficially). Is this too late to apply for this coming cycle? If not should I submit my application early then report my score when it comes in? I appreciate the feedback!!

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[RevMD]

Will this be your first test date? If yes, then I would say taking it this late is somewhat risky. Unless you have a really busy semester and cannot find time to properly study for the mcat until the summer, then I would try to take it sometime in May and keep July as a retake date. Adjust your study schedule accordingly. Also, you can always submit your AMCAS early in June before getting back the MCAT score since most med schools do not require the score to send you a secondary app.

 

[skiddoc]

I took my MCAT on July 30th, and don't think it's hurt me too much. Obviously, it would have been nice to have acceptances by October 15th, but we reap what we sow.
Make sure to have your LORs in order by the the time your MCAT score is ready.

 

[Everglide]

It's not too late in terms of secondaries however it doesn't leave a whole lot of room in case you desire a retake after you receive your scores. Basically make sure you kill it the first time around.

 

[Ilvcurst]

I took my 7/31 so don't worry about it! It really depends, if you have great GPA and everything else than NO it's not too late at all! But if you have a lower GPA and not enough ECs and good LORs than it could hurt you, but in that case, if you took it earlier it might not help either. Simply MCATs is only a part of your apps so it really depends on what else you got going on.

 

[WhiteTiger]

Hey guys and gals. I am scheduled to take the MCAT on July 8, 2010 (not oficially). Is this too late to apply for this coming cycle? If not should I submit my application early then report my score when it comes in? I appreciate the feedback!!

Yes, dude, July really is too late. You should be ready to send your applications on the first day possible, and this means a May MCAT at the latest...

 

[BlueElmo]

It's kind of late, I mean a lot of people will already have started on secondaries. And you still have to wait a month to get your MCAT scores back.

 

[vanasme]

I think that if you're fairly certain you'll do well on the MCAT (32+) than an early July MCAT won't be the end of the world. If, however, you think you'll be on the border of the average matriculant's score (below 31), it would be better to take it early... unless of course taking it early would be the reason for your score to drop.

 

[roaming]

try to take it earlier. i took it july 17th of my application year, and i submitted my primary the weekend after that, and then was a nervous wreck waiting for scores because i didnt want to submit secondaries if i didnt do well.

you have tons of time to study. i started studying around june 5th or so, and took the july 17th exam. i did ok (33). the only thing is you shouldnt wait to submit your primary. i started submitting my secondary the minute i got my mcat score, but it still took me a little while to get it all organized and sent. i got interview offers for oct, nov, and dec, and acceptances in dec and jan.

it is doable, but youll be worried for that month waiting for scores and wondering what would happen with a retake. i would take it latest early may or something like that so you have room for a retake if needed.

 

[tndoc12]

This will indeed by the first time for me to take the MCAT. I have 3.5 sGPA and a 3.5 cGPA, so I need to do well on it. As far as EC's I am great. I'm also an EMT and have worked in the medical field for years.

Back to the MCAT...I am doing the 3 month study and planned on starting to study at the first of April. This semester I am taking Organic II, Physics II, Genetics and some other classes but those are def. my toughest. Should I focus on completing them and THEN studying and continuing on my current plan. Or...should I start going through the books right now even though i havnet completed those classes and take the MCAT at the first of June?

Im also retaking Gen Chem I in June so that score wont be reported on my transcripts until the end of June anyways. Let me know what yall think.

 

[WhiteTiger]

This will indeed by the first time for me to take the MCAT. I have 3.5 sGPA and a 3.5 cGPA, so I need to do well on it. As far as EC's I am great. I'm also an EMT and have worked in the medical field for years.

Back to the MCAT...I am doing the 3 month study and planned on starting to study at the first of April. This semester I am taking Organic II, Physics II, Genetics and some other classes but those are def. my toughest. Should I focus on completing them and THEN studying and continuing on my current plan. Or...should I start going through the books right now even though i havnet completed those classes and take the MCAT at the first of June?

Im also retaking Gen Chem I in June so that score wont be reported on my transcripts until the end of June anyways. Let me know what yall think.

Just study everything at the same time, man. Its really not too difficult to do.

Just turn yourself into a hermit for this semester, don't mess around with drinking or being overly social and hit the books hard. If you do this, then an extra month or two or prep really won't matter much.

 

[RevMD]

This will indeed by the first time for me to take the MCAT. I have 3.5 sGPA and a 3.5 cGPA, so I need to do well on it. As far as EC's I am great. I'm also an EMT and have worked in the medical field for years.

Back to the MCAT...I am doing the 3 month study and planned on starting to study at the first of April. This semester I am taking Organic II, Physics II, Genetics and some other classes but those are def. my toughest. Should I focus on completing them and THEN studying and continuing on my current plan. Or...should I start going through the books right now even though i havnet completed those classes and take the MCAT at the first of June?

Im also retaking Gen Chem I in June so that score wont be reported on my transcripts until the end of June anyways. Let me know what yall think.

I guess this answers my earlier question. I still strongly recommend taking it in May. If you are following SN2ed's 3 month plan like I am, you should be more than ready to take by May. In my case, I will be deviating from it slightly by taking an extra day or two breaks as needed for midterm studying. But again, even after factoring these extra break days, you should be ready. Waiting until July will more than likely cause you to start running out of practice material or even start forgetting stuff.

 

[tradgirl]

Just to play devil's advocate, I took the MCAT July 2 last year and still had 2 September interviews, one of which resulted in an acceptance on October 15. And I didn't submit my AMCAS until after I took the test. So taking it in July wouldn't be the end of the world, although if you had to retake it later, that would be less than ideal.

 

[IDoIt4Love]

I took the august mcat, submitted my amcas app after i got my results in september with fairly average stats and have gotten 3 interview offers so far, with possibly 1 more coming pretty soon. So no, it's not too late. Don't be intimidated about all this "apply early" stuff people are saying. I was lucky I only had to take it once, but if you freeze up or something on test day and must take it again, it might be a bit late (but I suppose you could squeeze in a September date?)

 

[docta123]

If you could take it once before, that would be ideal. Taking it in July doesnt leave room to retake. That's the real con to this, imo.

I would say to start your primary and turn it in before you take your mcat so that once you finished taking your mcat, you can already start secondaries and finish them by the time your score is released. It really is to your advantage to finish those asap. it really can hurt you to wait.

 

[avatarftw]

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[slowbutsteady]

I took the august mcat, submitted my amcas app after i got my results in september with fairly average stats and have gotten 3 interview offers so far, with possibly 1 more coming pretty soon. So no, it's not too late. Don't be intimidated about all this "apply early" stuff people are saying. I was lucky I only had to take it once, but if you freeze up or something on test day and must take it again, it might be a bit late (but I suppose you could squeeze in a September date?)

No offense, but couldn't your story be considered an example of the risks of applying late? Three interviews and no acceptances in January isn't exactly a big success story.

I am sure it will work out for you in the end, but maybe you would have more interviews and an acceptance or two by now if you had applied a couple of months earlier.

Just sayin'.

 

[tndoc12]

I ended up moving my test date to June 17th instead of July. Hope it well help me when it comes to applying!

 

[PrinceVersed]

I ended up moving my test date to June 17th instead of July. Hope it well help me when it comes to applying!

This is the test date I want too. I wish they would open it up so I could go ahead and register. I don't expect above average scores nor am I an above average applicant. However, I hope taking the test a bit later will help me get a better MCAT score.

 

[Marcus Brody]

That's a fine date to take it, in fact you could probably take it as late as August or September depending on the schools. But you better be ready to nail it and there will be added pressure knowing there are no second chances.