If I take June 18 MCAT, will I still be applying "early?"

[premed21]

I am currently registered for the April 4th test date, but am not close to being completely confident. I haven't taken a FL exam yet, but I have the AAMC exams of 3-8. I haven't finished my content review either.

If I move my test day back to June 18 (because that is the only open test day right now, everything else is all full), will I still be applying to med school early? I will get my test score back July 18. Is this early? Will I be putting myself at some disadvantage by doing this?

Please, I'm am stressing out soooo hard right now its not even funny. It feels like there is not enough hours in the day oh my lord..

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[Marjan Islam]

Whoa, chill! It's probably not TOO big of a deal. I know applying early is important, but this hopefully won't hurt too much. What you must do though is turn in everything but your MCAT score June 5th, and then send in MCAT whenever you get your score. It takes the schools a while to go over the preliminary stuff anyway.

 

[Vihsadas]

No, you won't be at a significant disadvantage as long as your secondaries are in by the end of July. Make sure your AMCAS app is submitted before or a few days after your MCAT exam.

 

[premed21]

Whoa, chill! It's probably not TOO big of a deal. I know applying early is important, but this hopefully won't hurt too much. What you must do though is turn in everything but your MCAT score June 5th, and then send in MCAT whenever you get your score. It takes the schools a while to go over the preliminary stuff anyway.

Will doing this hurt my chances, and if so by how much? Should I just stick with April 4, so I can have my scores back early enough to apply on the first day? I would rather take the test in May, but since the seats are all full, my only option is June 18 at the earliest. I would be much more prepared if I took it at a later date, but then again, I don't want to be late.

I read all these stories of people continually warning that if they had applied earlier, they would have got accepted. I just don't want to make the same mistake.

 

[premed21]

No, you won't be at a significant disadvantage as long as your secondaries are in by the end of July. Make sure your AMCAS app is submitted before or a few days after your MCAT exam.

Thanks for the response. So having your secondaries in before the end of July means that it is an "early" application? What are the exact dates that constitute being considered as "early?"

For example, does primary and secondary have to be in before the end of July to be early? Or does primary have to be submitted the first possible day, and secondaries ASAP to be early? 😕

 

[PlatinumPenny]

Ok I always figured to not turn in your primary app until you have your mcat scores. I was assuming that your app would be at the bottom of the pile if you turn in your primary without your mcat so what's the point in submitting. Don't schools need your complete app (including mcat score) before they send out a secondary?

 

[0Complications]

Ok I always figured to not turn in your primary app until you have your mcat scores. I was assuming that your app would be at the bottom of the pile if you turn in your primary without your mcat so what's the point in submitting. Don't schools need your complete app (including mcat score) before they send out a secondary?

It can take AMCAS anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks just to verify your app. So, if you submit on June 5th and it takes 3 weeks, then when you get your scores back you'll be ready to submit to schools. This should only put you about 3 weeks behind everyone else applying, at the most.

I'm doing this exact thing and don't think it will be much of an issue. But I agree with Vihsadas, you should get your secondaries done ASAP.

 

[Vihsadas]

Thanks for the response. So having your secondaries in before the end of July means that it is an "early" application? What are the exact dates that constitute being considered as "early?"

For example, does primary and secondary have to be in before the end of July to be early? Or does primary have to be submitted the first possible day, and secondaries ASAP to be early? 😕

Everyone wants exact answers. 😛

There are no exact dates. Every school has a different policy, so what constitutes "late" and "early" is different at every school. All I can tell you is that earlier is always better, but "end of July" doesn't seem that bad. From my experience, there were a lot of people last year who were late July submissions that did just fine.

 

[rocketbooster]

Everyone wants exact answers. 😛

There are no exact dates. Every school has a different policy, so what constitutes "late" and "early" is different at every school. All I can tell you is that earlier is always better, but "end of July" doesn't seem that bad. From my experience, there were a lot of people last year who were late July submissions that did just fine.

yeah, if you are a super strong applicant it doesn't matter when you are complete over the summer. being complete June-September won't make a difference for the strongest applicants.

just so you know, you might not have control on when you are complete because of LORs. when does your school send out the LORs? if you're complete on your end by late July, that's cool but if your school doesn't send out the LORs until late August, you won't be complete at the schools until mid September. that's how it was for me last year. I tried real hard to get my secondaries early, but in the end my school still delayed me for a month haha.

this year I have to reapply ehhhhh. however, my LORs from them are already done from last year. so, NOW, i actually can apply early.

early is really considered before August 1st at latest. to be safe, I would say being completely in mid-July is FOR SURE considered early. some schools were giving out interviews to ppl on here at the like the beginning of August I think, which means they definitely had their **** in by mid-July latest.

 

[229141]

My friend just got accepted today and was not complete til october or so. Not the smartest thing at all to do but if you get in who cares

 

[Vihsadas]

My friend just got accepted today and was not complete til october or so. Not the smartest thing at all to do but if you get in who cares

Very true, but you always want to do everything that you possibly can to stack the odds in your favor.

 

[premed21]

It can take AMCAS anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks just to verify your app. So, if you submit on June 5th and it takes 3 weeks, then when you get your scores back you'll be ready to submit to schools. This should only put you about 3 weeks behind everyone else applying, at the most.

I'm doing this exact thing and don't think it will be much of an issue. But I agree with Vihsadas, you should get your secondaries done ASAP.

Is 3 weeks a lot? If 5000 people are applying to a school, how many of the 5000 submit their AMCAS fully completed on June 5th?


Do the majority of people who do really well in the cycle apply the first day that AMCAS allows? Now that I think about it, who the crap will take July and August test date? The people retesting, or people who are taking it super super early for next cycle?

I could risk just taking it on April 4, but the consequences are too dire. My current feeling is that in order for me to really feel confident, I need to take a later test date.

 

[0Complications]

Is 3 weeks a lot? If 5000 people are applying to a school, how many of the 5000 submit their AMCAS fully completed on June 5th?


Do the majority of people who do really well in the cycle apply the first day that AMCAS allows? Now that I think about it, who the crap will take July and August test date? The people retesting, or people who are taking it super super early for next cycle?

I could risk just taking it on April 4, but the consequences are too dire. My current feeling is that in order for me to really feel confident, I need to take a later test date.

I think you're missing a "0" on your number of applicants, but to answer your question, I don't know. I have never seen data that compares early student success with late student success, but it seems to be pretty intuitive that earlier is better.

I think you are stressing clearly defined terms "late" "early" to which none of us can give you an exact answer for. I think the rule of thumb by being complete and submitted by August is a pretty good guideline.

If you know you'll be better off pushing your exam back then I would do that. June 18th is what I would consider the last date to get your app in "early", but that's by my definition of early.

Good luck.

 

[Vihsadas]

One other thing I'd like to add is that in my opinion, the only factor that should determine whether or not you take the MCAT is if you are ready to beat it. It's important enough where you absolutely do not want to have to retake it because you didn't do well enough. IMHO, I would rather wait a year to apply than take the MCAT early when I wasn't ready (In fact, that's what I did. 😛)

 

[premed21]

One other thing I'd like to add is that in my opinion, the only factor that should determine whether or not you take the MCAT is if you are ready to beat it. It's important enough where you absolutely do not want to have to retake it because you didn't do well enough. IMHO, I would rather wait a year to apply than take the MCAT early when I wasn't ready (In fact, that's what I did. 😛)

Why didn't you just take a later test date once you were ready and just apply a little bit later? Does applying a little later matter that much that you had to wait a year? BTW, I saw your MCAT score and it is just amazing. Congrats man.

On a sad note, I just took my first FL which was Practice test 3R and I got a 25...I am so depressed. I developed a schedule which involves studying for like 14 hours a day, every day until April 4th. But it seems kind of rushed. Sigh.