How does taking the MCAT in July or August affect my application?

[jlh19]

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Hey everyone,

I originally planned on taking the MCAT May 8th but after a death in the family I didn't quite prepare as well as I would have liked. I have decided to take the August 21st test and was wondering if it is still worth applying this year with such late MCAT date? Does taking the MCAT this late affect my application? One of my letter writers has told me that they do not wish to write/submit a letter until they know my MCAT score due to my lower GPA. Do you have to have all your letters in right away? Or should I continue my strong trend in my last year of school and apply next cycle? Below is a brief overview of my application.

C/S GPA 3.35
Upward trend of 3.7 over last year and a half
EMT working full time for a year now
Combat veteran (United States Marine Corps)
150+ hours volunteering both clinical and non-clinical

Thanks for the advise and help.

 

[jlh19]

If you read this before I changed around a few things, sorry for the confusion.

 

[DK2014]

If you get a 35+, it most likely wont afffect ur application at all. If u get a 30, it will.

 

[Ismet]

Moving to What Are My Chances forum.

 

[Ismet]

If I were you, I would wait to apply until next year. You are a veteran and your clinical exposure is more than solid, but 3 things do not work in your favor if you are applying late:

1. GPA is low. The earlier you apply, the less a bad GPA will hurt you. As adcoms read more and more applications, people with lower GPA/MCAT start to look less and less appealing.

2. Late letters. While you don't have to submit your letters when you submit AMCAS, you do need your letters in order to be "complete" at schools, which is the step before being considered for interviews. If you take the MCAT on Aug 21, you won't get your score until late September. That is far too late for your letter writers to begin writing your letters, and you won't be complete at schools until at least mid-October.

3. Unknown MCAT score. While AAMC practice tests are good predictors of your performance on the real thing, you ultimately don't know how you'll do. You'd have to get a very solid score in order to make up for the lateness and the low GPA, and that might not even be enough.

The good thing is that all 3 of these things can be completely corrected or improved by waiting another year to apply. You'll be able to boost your GPA a bit more, rock the MCAT, and get your letters, and you'll be very prepared to submit day 1 of the next cycle.