Help with schedule till the date of MCAT and acceptances

[rdolma]

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I'm a second year pre-med student at Stony Brook University and I'm a linguistics major.

Summer after freshmen year:
I've volunteered at a hospital (around 100 hours)
I'm did SMDEP (summer medical and dental education program)
Shadowed a family care practitioner for about a week.
Fall of sophmore year:
Taking orgo, Bio introductory lab, and other requirements for my major and to graduate on time.
Winter 2010:
Thinking of working since I'm going on a trip to India.
Spring 2011:
I applied to volunteer for the school's hospital for the whole semester alongside classes (i know its gonna be hard but I really wanna volunteer)
Summer 2011:
Going to India on a vacation. Oh yeah, I'm going to volunteer at a hospital in India for about 2 weeks.
I'm also gonna take classes that I haven't taken my freshmen year such as Writing and work.
Fall 2011: Classes and hopefully get to become an RA. Volunteering and possibly shadowing if I do happen to meet physicians I wanna shadow.
Winter 2011: Thinking of studying abroad or if not start prepping for MCAT.
Spring 2012: Classes and extra-curricular or maybe Research if I'm lucky enough
Summer 2012: Intensive MCAT prepping.
Fall 2012: take the MCAT and (Do i start the primaries then or earlier)
Summer 2013: wait for acceptances??? (not quite sure)


When is the best time to take the MCAT? And When should I start writing my personal statement if I plan on going to med school right after college (2013) and the primary applications?

Any comments or suggestions on my planned schedule till I get acceptances would be very helpful!!!
P.S: I don't have that great of a G.P.A but I'm doing pretty well this semester and my counselor told me that a lotta people struggle with their G.P.A their freshmen year.

 

[image187]

if you want to go to med school the fall after you graduate college you need to take your MCAT in the spring (preferably april) of your junior year (2012) so you can submit your application by the June deadline. You'll be interviewing hopefully during the fall and spring of your senior year (2012-2013) and accepted for the fall of 2013.

 

[Astarael]

I was all set to come in here and point you straight to the MSAR and then leave. But since you have a decent plan already, that means you've thought about it. Which means I can give you advice.

First of all, your schedule mostly looks good. The areas that you want to hit for extra-curriculars (shadowing, work, volunteer clinical and non-clinical) seem to be all represented. Becoming an RA will be a great leadership experience. Keep in mind that most schools like to see lengthy commitments to a single project with differing levels of involvement (such as volunteering for a while, then becoming a volunteer coordinator) rather than a month here and a month there. Anything is better than nothing, though.

If you plan to matriculate in the fall of 2013, then the MCAT must be completed before Sep 2012, but the best time to take it is right after you finish all of the pre-reqs for admissions (English, Physics, Chem, O Chem, and Biology), since that is when you'll know the material the best. I would recommend taking the MCAT early in the summer of 2012 (think April or May) so you can retake it if you need to. You will then ideally submit your primary application in June/July of 2012, submit secondaries as soon as you receive them, and then play the waiting game until 2013.

Buy the MSAR for your application cycle, it'll be a lifesaver. Maybe even check out an earlier edition at your library, since it has a lot of good information for planning your application effectively.

Edit: Two clarifications. You should not study for the MCAT any more than three months in advance, because you will forget what you studied at the beginning (without knowing you have done so).

I would also like to add a comment to image's post (which I hope image does not take disrespectfully, as that is not my intent). June is not the deadline for applications, but rather the earliest you can submit your application. Since there is a good chance that applying early makes you more likely to succeed in your application, you should get it in is early as possible, which is June.

 

[image187]

I would also like to add a comment to image's post (which I hope image does not take disrespectfully, as that is not my intent)

haha its cool no offense taken, but yeah I meant that June is when you can begin submitting applications. You should definitely try to get them in as early as possible to up your chances of getting in somewhere

 

[rdolma]

Thnks so much and I'm getting a copy of MSAR soon 🙂