July MCAT Late?

[NigerianBull87]

Hey guys I am currently registered for the June 13th MCAT, but am worried that one month time is not enough preparatory time to get an optimal score on the exam. Do you guys feel that if I were to reschedule the exam to the first date in July it would be to late in the 2008 application cycle? Here is an overview on myself:

GPA: 3.54 BCPM: 3.5
2 Years of intense research
Hours of Shadowing
Volunteering, etc..

What are my chances guys?

June (1 month prep) or July (2 months of prep)?

Looking for above a 30.

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[172858]

Hey guys I am currently registered for the June 13th MCAT, but am worried that one month time is not enough preparatory time to get an optimal score on the exam. Do you guys feel that if I were to reschedule the exam to the first date in July it would be to late in the 2008 application cycle? Here is an overview on myself:

GPA: 3.54 BCPM: 3.5
2 Years of intense research
Hours of Shadowing
Volunteering, etc..

What are my chances guys?

June (1 month prep) or July (2 months of prep)?

Looking for above a 30.

Just a word of advice:

Your stats look good thus far, and you look to be in good position to matriculate somewhere. The last hurdle, as it seems, is that pesky MCAT. Personally, I took a semster long Kaplan course and took both Kaplan and Princeton Review Practice tests every day for a month leading up to the exam to break the 30+ barrier.

You know your abilities better than anyone. But I would say that if you're scoring well above 30+ consistently on timed practice exams leading up to the test, take it ASAP (in June). If you're not, give yourself more time until you are.

Also, there is no shame in taking it twice (such as taking it again in August if needed). But if you wait until July or August to take it, you get one shot and have no room for error.

So make sure you take all that into account. But at the end of the day, it's the comfort factor that matter most (in my opinion). Whenever you're knocking down practice tests left and right, got get'em!

 

[da me ka don]

Taking it twice is a little bit dangerous, if you do not have enough time in between the takes to study.
In my opinion, taking it in July is not late at all. Start your application as soon as AMCAS opens in June. You will even get secondaries from schools who do not screen. Fill all of them out and send in your recommendations. By the time your results come out in August, if it is about that 30+ mark, you begin to get interviews the next week.
I applied in June/July and took my exam in September, although I was unable to clinch the 30 mark cos I was working full time. I still got a fair share of interviews.

 

[Cestmoi]

I would recommend taking it in July, regarding your concern about study time. I personally think retaking the MCAT could be more stressful than the first time around and God forbid you do worse. I had do this as I voided my first score, I didn't think I performed my best - more prep time would've been helpful. Give it your all in one shot, allow adequate prep time so you're fully confident. I mean don't push it back till September but July is still early enough.

As dam ^^ said get your apps and everything else in earlier so your score is the last thing the schools receive. All said, Good luck on your MCAT and other preps.

 

[devilpup]

Taking the MCAT in July is NOT too late at all. I took my exam in August and submitted my primary application in mid June to be verified by early July. Within two week of submission I began to get many secondaries which kept me busy until I took the MCAT.

Some schools will send you secondaries even before you sit for the MCAT, and others will wait (some UC schools tend to do that). But in my case, since I had several secondaries completed by the time I took my exam, as soon as the schools received my scores, I got interviews as early as October (the same month my scores were released).

In short, if you feel that the extra month of prep study will help you, then take the extra month and rock the MCAT. From my personal experience, taking the MCAT in August did not affect me negatively since I was already interviewing by October. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the earlier you complete things, the better - specially if you have a good GPA and EC's to show.

Be proactive, take the MCAT very seriously, and do not procrastinate during the application process.

 

[CuyahogaMD2B]

I would take the MCAT when I felt most prepared if I were in your shoes. That test is no joke and you want to have as much in your favor as you can. You should be prepared to submit your AMCAS as soon as you can and not wait for MCAT scores as that would delay your verification. Early is the best with AMCAS. Good luck and study hard!

 

[mbe36]

One month of prep is not enough.

 

[starseeker]

July is not too late at all especially if you listen to the advice above and submit your AMCAS before you get your scores instead of waiting for them to be released. I think it's better to take it in July and feel more prepared than to rush and take it in June for fear that your applications will be late. I don't think 1 month is enough time to get above a 30 (although we do all have different experiences with the MCAT). I would just wait until July. In this case the positives outweigh the negatives.

 

[lilcherry2]

wow...im in your same position..i actually posed the question in another thread...i plan to take in June 13th myself, but I want to push it back to July 8th...my pre-med advisor begs to differ...but ill like to be super confident as well..for a week now ive been studyin 6hrs a day...im givin myself to June 1st to really decide..good luck

 

[princess22]

wow...im in your same position..i actually posed the question in another thread...i plan to take in June 13th myself, but I want to push it back to July 8th...my pre-med advisor begs to differ...but ill like to be super confident as well..for a week now ive been studyin 6hrs a day...im givin myself to June 1st to really decide..good luck

I have taken 3 AAMC practice tests and scoring 11s on my PS and BS but my verbal is killing me :3, 5, 4. I signed up for june 18th and i think I should wait, practice VR and take the test on july 30th.
My gpa 3.8, bcmp: 3.9 and shadowing/volunteer etc..

Any sugestions. I want to do well and score around 33 -35 range and I def wanna work on my verbal. Any suggestion? Should I reregeister my exam date??? Would I be at any disadvantage?

 

[19nbj58]

I have taken 3 AAMC practice tests and scoring 11s on my PS and BS but my verbal is killing me :3, 5, 4. I signed up for june 18th and i think I should wait, practice VR and take the test on july 30th.
My gpa 3.8, bcmp: 3.9 and shadowing/volunteer etc..

Any sugestions. I want to do well and score around 33 -35 range and I def wanna work on my verbal. Any suggestion? Should I reregeister my exam date??? Would I be at any disadvantage?

You should NOT take the mcat until you are at least consistently scoring an 8 or so in verbal on practice exams. You've done so well up until this point--dont let verbal hold you back. I suggest reading the MCAT subforum for verbal advice. I would definitely hit up Exam Krackers 101 verbal passages for practice. Good luck.

 

[njbmd]

I have taken 3 AAMC practice tests and scoring 11s on my PS and BS but my verbal is killing me :3, 5, 4. I signed up for june 18th and i think I should wait, practice VR and take the test on july 30th.
My gpa 3.8, bcmp: 3.9 and shadowing/volunteer etc..

Any sugestions. I want to do well and score around 33 -35 range and I def wanna work on my verbal. Any suggestion? Should I reregeister my exam date??? Would I be at any disadvantage?

If you wait to submit your AMCAS until your scores come in, you are going to be too late. If you NEED an early submission and a low verbal with that uGPA would suggest huge grade inflation from your undergraduate institution unless your humanities coursework is low. The question that you need to answer is, "is that low verbal score an accurate reflection of your verbal reasoning"? If this is the case, you should not take the MCAT until you make some improvements. A lopsided score, especially with your uGPA, would put you at a disadvantage. If you are not a native English speaker, you would be at significant disadvantage as communications ability(yes, we the MCAT is considered a measure of this) is a huge deal for medical school. A verbal lower than 8 or 9 would send up a "red flag" even with double digits in everything else.

 

[princess22]

If you wait to submit your AMCAS until your scores come in, you are going to be too late. If you NEED an early submission and a low verbal with that uGPA would suggest huge grade inflation from your undergraduate institution unless your humanities coursework is low. The question that you need to answer is, "is that low verbal score an accurate reflection of your verbal reasoning"? If this is the case, you should not take the MCAT until you make some improvements. A lopsided score, especially with your uGPA, would put you at a disadvantage. If you are not a native English speaker, you would be at significant disadvantage as communications ability(yes, we the MCAT is considered a measure of this) is a huge deal for medical school. A verbal lower than 8 or 9 would send up a "red flag" even with double digits in everything else.

I passed the deadline to change my date. Considering the amout I spent and not even getting any refund, I am planning to sit for the test and then void it. How bad is it voiding. Also would it benefit me or should I just cancel it to make sure that I can get the earliest date. on the other hand its only a week from now. How much difference could it make to get the next available date? Any suggestion?

 

[redlight]

applying late can be very dangerous. the thing is there are way more qualified applicants than seats, so applying early maximizes your chances of getting in. also, you dont want to shortchange yourself by appyling with a mcat score lower than your potential and lower than (generally) competitive numbers (30, with at least 9 or 10 in each section).

your 11s in the sciences are good (congrats, keep taking those practice tests and shoring up on holes and you can score even higher), so why let verbal screw you over? schools that screen usually have numerical cut-offs (minimum 8 in each section, obviously 24 overall)

so generally, i think the advice here is dont take the mcat until you are scoring higher in verbal. don't rush the process; apply with your best foot forward.

 

[princess22]

applying late can be very dangerous. the thing is there are way more qualified applicants than seats, so applying early maximizes your chances of getting in. also, you dont want to shortchange yourself by appyling with a mcat score lower than your potential and lower than (generally) competitive numbers (30, with at least 9 or 10 in each section).

your 11s in the sciences are good (congrats, keep taking those practice tests and shoring up on holes and you can score even higher), so why let verbal screw you over? schools that screen usually have numerical cut-offs (minimum 8 in each section, obviously 24 overall)

so generally, i think the advice here is dont take the mcat until you are scoring higher in verbal. don't rush the process; apply with your best foot forward.

Thanks for the advise but my question was how about voiding the june 18th mcat. I passed the deadline to change my date, the only way I can change is by cancelling the registration for june 18th without any refund and then register again. Since, I am not benefittinf money wise, I am thinking of just taking the mcat and then voiding it. Just trying t get something out of the money I spent. or should I just cancel it anyways and register now? Its only a week from now.

 

[redlight]

it's your call. id get my money's worth. just dont forget to void..lol

 

[Anotherface]

Though your application would not be complete until late in the cycle if you took MCAT in July, I think improving your mcat score a few points is worth applying late. I myself took the MCAT in July last year, applied late by SDN standards, and had a successful cycle.

 

[America]

Taking the MCAT in July is NOT too late at all. I took my exam in August and submitted my primary application in mid June to be verified by early July. Within two week of submission I began to get many secondaries which kept me busy until I took the MCAT.

Some schools will send you secondaries even before you sit for the MCAT, and others will wait (some UC schools tend to do that). But in my case, since I had several secondaries completed by the time I took my exam, as soon as the schools received my scores, I got interviews as early as October (the same month my scores were released).

In short, if you feel that the extra month of prep study will help you, then take the extra month and rock the MCAT. From my personal experience, taking the MCAT in August did not affect me negatively since I was already interviewing by October. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the earlier you complete things, the better - specially if you have a good GPA and EC's to show.

Be proactive, take the MCAT very seriously, and do not procrastinate during the application process.

Thank you very much for the one of the few pieces of solid advice that seem to be posted in these threads. So many tend to reply with personal opinions as opposed to actual experience. So thank you, and please keep posting.

 

[GOMERE]

verbal is the easiest part! u don't even have to know anything or study anything. u go in, read their passages, and answer it. i got a 14 on it! it's not one of those u can really study for, but u can keep practicing.

 

[Haislip]

How did you study for verbal? Are you an avid reader?

 

[melaortiz23]

Is applying for July still ok? Taking into consideration the change in the exam?