How bad is July 2 mcat?

[cookyjar]

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I don't get my score back until aug 6. I am planning to submit my primary in June. Would it be still bad if I apply to schools that give out secondaries without mcat so that I can get in everything before my mcat score comes out? I have 3.9 plus gpa and good ecs but not absolutely amazing.

 

[pathologyDO]

Yes I would do everything you can while waiting. Every step you have completed will make the process that much quicker.

 

[cookyjar]

Yes I would do everything you can while waiting. Every step you have completed will make the process that much quicker.

So would july 2 mcat be too late for 2013 app cycle?

 

[pathologyDO]

I wouldn't take it in July, just because I have had two friends take it in July and both of them barely made it to interview before the schools had filled their seats completely. Both did get into schools though.

 

[BigBlueBear]

As long as your submit your AMCAS early (by July 1st should be fine) and prewrite all secondaries, you should be fine. You won't be early, but you won't be late either.

But you have to actually get things done. Don't slack after your MCAT is over because then you will screw yourself.

 

[physiologist]

I had "terrible" stats - 3.5, 31 - and took the September MCAT. I applied that cycle, complete late October in most places.

4 interviews at mid-tier schools.

You'll be fine unless you have another serious hole in your app

 

[McNCheese]

Finish your secondary essays while you are waiting to get your score back and submit your primary sometime in June. I'm not sure if schools will send you a secondary application without the MCAT score, but you can always find the essays on SDN.

Most of my applications were complete on August 15th, and I had 6 interviews in October - December.

 

[Mdtichen]

I took my MCAT in late July last year and still got plenty of interview invites and acceptances. I had my primaries and most of my secondaries submitted before receiving my score back. Obviously having an MCAT that late is not ideal, but it certainly isn't a death sentence.

 

[cookyjar]

I took my MCAT in late July last year and still got plenty of interview invites and acceptances. I had my primaries and most of my secondaries submitted before receiving my score back. Obviously having an MCAT that late is not ideal, but it certainly isn't a death sentence.

How good were your scores and where did you apply?

 

[Mdtichen]

How good were your scores and where did you apply?

33 MCAT and I applied to about 20 schools. However, I was already pretty much set on which school I wanted to attend beforehand and I knew I had a very good shot at being accepted (which I was! 😀). This is why I wasn't too concerned about my late date.

I can give you more specifics about my cycle /app and answer some more questions if you'd like. Feel free to PM me 🙂

 

[pre med 2014]

with a 3.9 they'll wait. It's dangerous with a sub par GPA because they could toss your app in the trash before a seeing your MCAT which could potentially be great.

 

[cookyjar]

which schools send out secondaries without mcat if you have everything else in (recs, primaries, transcripts etc.)? Then I can fill them out and be complete as soon as my mcat score come out in aug 6

 

[Mdtichen]

which schools send out secondaries without mcat if you have everything else in (recs, primaries, transcripts etc.)? Then I can fill them out and be complete as soon as my mcat score come out in aug 6

I know there are many that do. I had most of my secondaries turned in prior to receiving my score.

 

[pgoyal]

with a 3.9 they'll wait. It's dangerous with a sub par GPA because they could toss your app in the trash before a seeing your MCAT which could potentially be great.

wait is that true? i thought they'd wait for your score before even touching your application.

 

[von Matterhorn]

The people saying July mcats are too late are just more of the SDN hivemind mentality. You can take the mcat in august and still have a perfectly reasonable chance of gaining an acceptance/interview.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

I don't get my score back until aug 6. I am planning to submit my primary in June. Would it be still bad if I apply to schools that give out secondaries without mcat so that I can get in everything before my mcat score comes out? I have 3.9 plus gpa and good ecs but not absolutely amazing.

The thing people don't realize is toward the end of the cycle almost of all the seats have been filled before they stop interviewing. If they aren't getting your test scores until August you'll be months behind everybody who submitted right when it opens in June. You could end up interviewing later and having lower probability of landing a spot. If your friend has awesome stats though, this doesn't apply. But if they are just average, by the time their application is complete, there will be 10s of thousands of average applications already piled up on the adcoms desk, and being noticed then is much harder than the beginning of June when only hundreds of applications have piled up.

 

[Redpancreas]

Let's eliminate all this variability/anecdotal evidence...if someone has 35+ MCAT, 3.8+ GPA, clinical experience, volunteer experience, research w/ things to show for it, teaching experience, good LORS, a PS that tells a story, and a calm/determined/positive/thoughtful demeanor during their interviews they should get in somewhere and all these factors will mask a late application...Therefore let's just assume a student has a 3.5, 30 MCAT, decent ECs, and has checked all the boxes but isn't a robot...normal/decent guy or girl...


For those of you who have prior experience or a good knowledge of how this AMCAS process works, please choose the most correct answer

a.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd is not a wise decision. This is because your application needs to be coupled with an MCAT in order to be stacked in the "to be read" pile. Then, the applications are read in the order they were stacked. If yours is read later you will be disadvantaged.

b.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will not make much of a difference as long as you time it right. This is because primary applications are stacked in a to be read pile based on the order they were received regardless of whether they have an MCAT attached to them or not. When an MCAT score is assigned, it will automatically attach itself to an application and if an applicant times things correctly, the score can "slip in" conveniently.

c.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will be a drag on an application mainly because the school will send out secondaries to complete applicants (MCAT included) around July 20-something (6-7 wks after ideal primary receipt) and receiving an MCAT score on August 6th will delay the process of receiving a secondary from the score which will put you behind on filling it out. You can minimize this damage by pre-writing secondaries based off of school specific history. If you submit your secondaries 2 weeks after the earliest submissions, it'll be a small difference but not much.

d.) The reason no one has the answer to this question is because the answer is highly school specific. Schools range from rolling admissions (like UMich undergrad) to Columbia's Medical School where early applications are not at an advantage. You'd be best serving by short-listing schools and calling them all up to hear their take on your situation.


e.) None of the above. Please use the space provided to provide your own explanation.

 

[Redpancreas]

For those of you who have prior experience or a good knowledge of how this AMCAS process works, please choose the most correct answer


a.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd is not a wise decision. This is because your application needs to be coupled with an MCAT in order to be stacked in the "to be read" pile. Then, the applications are read in the order they were stacked.

b.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will not make much of a difference as long as you time it right. This is because primary applications are stacked in a to be read pile based on the order they were received regardless of whether they have an MCAT attached to them or not. When an MCAT score is assigned, it will automatically attach itself to an application and if an applicant times things correctly, the score can "slip in" conveniently.

c.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will be a drag on an application mainly because the school will send out secondaries to complete applicants (MCAT included) around July 20-something (6-7 wks after ideal primary receipt) and receiving an MCAT score on August 6th will delay the process of receiving a secondary from the score which will put you behind on filling it out. You can minimize this damage by pre-writing secondaries based off of school specific history. If you submit your secondaries 2 weeks after the earliest submissions, it'll be a small difference but not much.

d.) None of the above. Please use the space provided to provide your own explanation.

e.) The reason no one has the answer to this question is because the answer is highly school specific. Schools range from rolling admissions (like UMich undergrad) to Columbia's Medical School where early applications are not at an advantage. You'd be best serving by short-listing schools and calling them all up to hear their take on your situation.



d.)

 

[HSUReddie]

Let's eliminate all this variability/anecdotal evidence...if someone has 35+ MCAT, 3.8+ GPA, clinical experience, volunteer experience, research w/ things to show for it, teaching experience, good LORS, a PS that tells a story, and a calm/determined/positive/thoughtful demeanor during their interviews they should get in somewhere and all these factors will mask a late application...Therefore let's just assume a student has a 3.5, 30 MCAT, decent ECs, and has checked all the boxes but isn't a robot...normal/decent guy or girl...


For those of you who have prior experience or a good knowledge of how this AMCAS process works, please choose the most correct answer

a.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd is not a wise decision. This is because your application needs to be coupled with an MCAT in order to be stacked in the "to be read" pile. Then, the applications are read in the order they were stacked. If yours is read later you will be disadvantaged.

b.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will not make much of a difference as long as you time it right. This is because primary applications are stacked in a to be read pile based on the order they were received regardless of whether they have an MCAT attached to them or not. When an MCAT score is assigned, it will automatically attach itself to an application and if an applicant times things correctly, the score can "slip in" conveniently.

c.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will be a drag on an application mainly because the school will send out secondaries to complete applicants (MCAT included) around July 20-something (6-7 wks after ideal primary receipt) and receiving an MCAT score on August 6th will delay the process of receiving a secondary from the score which will put you behind on filling it out. You can minimize this damage by pre-writing secondaries based off of school specific history. If you submit your secondaries 2 weeks after the earliest submissions, it'll be a small difference but not much.

d.) The reason no one has the answer to this question is because the answer is highly school specific. Schools range from rolling admissions (like UMich undergrad) to Columbia's Medical School where early applications are not at an advantage. You'd be best serving by short-listing schools and calling them all up to hear their take on your situation.


e.) None of the above. Please use the space provided to provide your own explanation.

I decided on a whim late in the summer to go ahead and apply this cycle, June 29 to be exact. Took the MCAT on August 4. Accepted because the admissions committee at my school doesn't even take a look at anything until November.

 

[music2doc]

Let's eliminate all this variability/anecdotal evidence...if someone has 35+ MCAT, 3.8+ GPA, clinical experience, volunteer experience, research w/ things to show for it, teaching experience, good LORS, a PS that tells a story, and a calm/determined/positive/thoughtful demeanor during their interviews they should get in somewhere and all these factors will mask a late application...Therefore let's just assume a student has a 3.5, 30 MCAT, decent ECs, and has checked all the boxes but isn't a robot...normal/decent guy or girl...


For those of you who have prior experience or a good knowledge of how this AMCAS process works, please choose the most correct answer

a.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd is not a wise decision. This is because your application needs to be coupled with an MCAT in order to be stacked in the "to be read" pile. Then, the applications are read in the order they were stacked. If yours is read later you will be disadvantaged.

b.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will not make much of a difference as long as you time it right. This is because primary applications are stacked in a to be read pile based on the order they were received regardless of whether they have an MCAT attached to them or not. When an MCAT score is assigned, it will automatically attach itself to an application and if an applicant times things correctly, the score can "slip in" conveniently.

c.) Taking the MCAT on July 2nd will be a drag on an application mainly because the school will send out secondaries to complete applicants (MCAT included) around July 20-something (6-7 wks after ideal primary receipt) and receiving an MCAT score on August 6th will delay the process of receiving a secondary from the score which will put you behind on filling it out. You can minimize this damage by pre-writing secondaries based off of school specific history. If you submit your secondaries 2 weeks after the earliest submissions, it'll be a small difference but not much.

d.) The reason no one has the answer to this question is because the answer is highly school specific. Schools range from rolling admissions (like UMich undergrad) to Columbia's Medical School where early applications are not at an advantage. You'd be best serving by short-listing schools and calling them all up to hear their take on your situation.


e.) B, C & D

Source: Worked closely with the AdCom back at my home school's med school and now work for Admissions at my med school. Yes, they save interview spots for the later applicants, but those are reserved for the BEST late applicants with the BEST reasons for being late. In the words of an AdCom member who is also one of my mentoring faculty: "By about [February] we are just getting to the people whose secondaries were complete in November, just about every spot in the class is filled and we are out of interview slots to give out. You sort of feel bad for the people who applied so late, but then for most it was really up to them to apply so late. There are a few who seem to have legitimate excuses, though, so we do what we can to give them a chance anyway."

 

[alpharez]

Submit in early June with 1 school

Add the rest of the schools when you get your score back on August 6.

The first time most schools see your application it will be complete, eliminating the possibility that they "set you aside and forget about you"

get a secondary back from them on... august 8-ish

submit your pre-written secondary on august 8.

????

PROFIT!