Is it possible to get into a med school with just the August MCAT score?

[Cooolguy]

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hey guys, im applying this summer for a spot at a texas med school in the 2007 class. Problem is I do not have an mcat score and will not have one for a while since I am taking the august mcat. i have excellent gpa (3.78 overall, 3.85 science), excellent LOR's, all that good stuff. They tell you to apply with an april score, have people gotton in with only an august score or no? Anything helps, thank you!

 

[NapeSpikes]

Yes, that's fine. Your app will be a little late is all.

 

[MAC12383]

yeah, it's no different than anyone who is retaking in august because of a bad april score.

 

[Cooolguy]

yeah, it's no different than anyone who is retaking in august because of a bad april score.

just wondering but then why are they always saying to have ur apps and score in early and stuff? will it make a big difference?

 

[MAC12383]

just wondering but then why are they always saying to have ur apps and score in early and stuff? will it make a big difference?

well it makes a difference, how big depends on a lot of things. They say to have your apps in early because it's BETTER to only have to take the april test, because once your secondaries and LORs are in, your app is complete. but if you take the august test, you have to mark on your amcas that you're planning to take it. So even if your secondaries and LORs are in really early, like july/august, they won't review your application until october when the august scores come out.

EDIT: it puts you at a slight disadvantage, but it doesn't mean you're not competitive at all. I didn't even submit my amcas til october, LORs were sent mid november, and I did alright

 

[Rogue Synapse]

Yeah, getting your app in early really does give you a leg up, especially at schools with rolling admissions. You appear more eager and on-the-ball if your app is at the top of their stack, and for the purposes of rolling admissions (which is, I think, now a major type of admissions process), your app will have more chances to be admitted. That said, I think adcomms understand to a degree that some people can't take the MCAT until august. Be prepared, though this is an outside chance that it will ever get mentioned, to explain why you had to wait to take your first MCAT until the fall.

 

[Law2Doc]

hey guys, im applying this summer for a spot at a texas med school in the 2007 class. Problem is I do not have an mcat score and will not have one for a while since I am taking the august mcat. i have excellent gpa (3.78 overall, 3.85 science), excellent LOR's, all that good stuff. They tell you to apply with an april score, have people gotton in with only an august score or no? Anything helps, thank you!

In a rolling admissions process there is an advantage to getting your apps in early, as schools start giving out the interviews as folks are complete. Lots of people do take the Aug MCAT and get in, but if you have borderline stats, your chances of getting an interview tend to be best earlier on when there are more interview spots to be given out. With a 3.8 I wouldn't worry -- just score well on the August MCAT. I also am not sure how Texas works since their match system is not really rolling, though.

 

[snobored18]

I honestly wouldn't worry about how "eager" you appear...I may well have been the laziest applicant in history by SDN terms in that I sat for the MCAT the first time in August, waited until I got my scores to submit my AMCAS and turned some secondaries relatively close to the deadlines...I honestly don't think it hurt me, but I also made sure to steer clear of schools that really give preference to those who apply early (ie MCW, NYU etc.). I wouldn't tell you to take this path if you can avoid it, but I wanted you to know that it as long as you have a BALANCED application, which it looks like you will there is no need for concern. Now of course someone will post something saying how I am an anomaly in the process and that the bulk of the "data" they pulled out their ass suggests taking this route is a huge disadvantage, but bear in mind others have pulled off what you are looking at doing, we are just in the minority compared to our eager beaver peers.

 

[KAI1927]

If you are confident on getting a real high score (37+) the schools with non-rolling admissions don't make offers until march anyway, although interviews are scheduled much earlier than that. Rolling admission schools have more spots earlier than later so you are at a disatvantage taking it in august no matter how you slice it. Alot of people on this forum have taken the MCAT in august and gotten into great places, it just seems like an additional hurdle in an already very difficult process.