Indicating a Future MCAT

[hiworld233]

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Hi! I got my MCAT back, and I am thinking about a retake in mid-July. I have finished my application and is ready for submission. I am not as worried about not having enough time to write secondaries because I pre-wrote a lot of them already.

1. Should I indicate on my app that I will retake it? I heard that some schools will screen you based on your first mcat regardless of having a planned mcat. What if I don't end up retaking it for some reason (let's say that I dont improve significantly)? Or should I just submit my entire app later?

2. What is "late" for submitting my application? Will I get secondaries very soon if I submit it today?

Thanks!

 

[wysdoc]

Hi! I got my MCAT back, and I am thinking about a retake in mid-July. I have finished my application and is ready for submission. I am not as worried about not having enough time to write secondaries because I pre-wrote a lot of them already.

1. Should I indicate on my app that I will retake it? I heard that some schools will screen you based on your first mcat regardless of having a planned mcat. What if I don't end up retaking it for some reason (let's say that I dont improve significantly)? Or should I just submit my entire app later?

2. What is "late" for submitting my application? Will I get secondaries very soon if I submit it today?

Thanks!

AMCAS does not transmit verified apps to schools until the end of June.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What is "late" for submitting my application? Will I get secondaries very soon if I submit it today?

Read

The Time is Right: Prehealth Application Timelines | Student Doctor Network | SDN

What is the best timeline for applications to health professional schools? HPSA/SDN breaks down our application experience survey results.

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[eigen]

You don't give a ton of details, so I'm going to give you the more general advice I give my students when they apply.

1) Assume that there's going to be at least some informal "averaging" of MCAT scores. Don't do this for just a minor bump: you should be shooting for around 6 points of improvement (score bands are 3 points, a 6 point jump will "average" you to one score band improvement).

2) Give yourself enough time to study for the retake such that you know you can get a significantly better score. Getting another score in the same range removes all doubt that your score might be an under-representation of your ability.

3) Submitting when you don't know the scores / you have a score you don't want to use isn't wise. You can either create your school list around the score you have, or you should hold off on finalizing your school list until you have your new score. And if you're going the former route, then I'd ask yourself if you really need to re-take the MCAT at all.

4) If you want schools to only consider your app with the new MCAT, you need to hold of on submitting until you have it in place. You can submit a "throwaway" primary with a single school, and add other schools after verification when your MCAT scores come in, and they will transmit almost immediately.

Because of all of the above, my take is that a July MCAT is rushing it for this cycle. Generally, the latest I'll advise one of my students to take the MCAT is May. After that, my advice is going to be to wait until the next application cycle, and take the additional year to gain more experience for a stronger application. You're going to be pushing to study for the MCAT in a short time period when you're also working on other important parts of your application, and there's going to be a lot of internal pressure to stick to that date even if your practice scores aren't where you want them to be.