May 30th Mcat Full in California Already?

[resiroth]

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[Narmerguy]

Tough break man, that definitely sucks. It happened to me in Cali as well though, and taking the test in a different state actually isn't so bad. I don't think you should bank on a spot opening up later or something like that--just choose a nearby state that has the date you want. Ideally, try to choose a place that has direct flights from your nearest airport and try to pick a test date that offers a 1:00 pm time so you don't have to worry about waking up early and getting a cab from your hotel to the testing center. That happened to me and I nearly missed my test because the cab was over 30 freaking minutes late from when they said they'd pick me up (then the dude tried to talk to me during the ride as if I felt like talking...thankfully I kept myself civil and did the small talk while trying to glare a laser through the back of his seat).

Anyway, the takeaway:
*) give up hope of a Cali testing center. Too many premeds in California.
*) Find a place with a direct flight
*) Look up the location of the testing center and find a hotel within 1-3 miles from the center. The closer the better, spend the money for the peace of mind.
*) Ideally find a testing date with a 1:00 test time so you don't have to worry about accidentally over-sleeping or the hotel alarm not working or your wake-up call not happening, etc etc.
*) Try to arrive early evening the night before so you don't have to rush to bed to get a full night's sleep but don't also have so much free time to kill that you just start working yourself up.

I chose Phoenix.

 

[resiroth]

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[Narmerguy]

Should I try to wait and register for the Mcat on June 20th when that comes available or do they fill up pretty much instantly? I am worried about taking it in another state mostly because I have slept on memory foam the past 8 years and sleeping in a regular bed makes me feel absolutely horrible. Plus it's hard to get a feel for which hotels have good beds or not, maybe I'm just sensitive.

I don't want to seem like a princess or something but it'd suck to have a horrible night of sleep and compromise 4-6 months of work. Also: may 23rd/may30th only are at 8am =/. I calculated that if California had a proportional amount of testing centers it would have around 150, instead of the 20 or so it has now. I can't believe they get away with this.

Might end up going the phoenix route, or virginia as that is where I go to school (I'd have to try and stay at someone's house for a couple weeks before the test though).

TLDR: May 23rd/30th only are at 8am, also I sleep very poorly on non-memory foam beds and don't want to screw everything up at the last moment. June 20th registration isn't open yet, question is can I get it or does it fill up within a few minutes?

Hmm, I don't know how quickly they fill (minutes vs days). Unless someone here has some experience, that may be the kind of thing you would inquire about to AAMC. For example, try to see if you can find out when the date will be made available. If it's within under two months from when you could sign up for Phoenix, I would just get the Phoenix now. If it'll be longer (which I expect it will) I bet you could wait it out and just try to see if you can snag the June date.

As far as the memory foam, sadly there's not much you can do about that short of trying to get a luxury hotel room or something. If you can afford it, go for it. Otherwise, especially with an early morning test time, you'll just have to do the best you can and not think to much about it when you wake up. Some people go for sleeping pills to help them go to sleep before a big event (though that's usually because of feeling anxious/nervous). I'm not recommending it as I don't know much about how they make you feel when you get up (groggy?) but throwing it out there as another things you could explore.

The best thing you can do is put your warrior face on and be prepared to take whatever the test day/weekend throws at you. It may not be perfect but you just have to be ready to roll with that and not let it become a distraction or a crutch.

 

[resiroth]

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[nisarg2010]

Thanks again NarmerGuy, I'll definitely email the AAMC about the date it might open up on (or maybe I'll just call). I've heard tentatively Spring. I could also potentially take the MCAT on may 11th potentially although preparatory wise that might be cutting it a bit short (~3 months of prep, I have a lighter load during the school year but I'm trying to also make up for my lack of clinical experience at the moment). Not sure if the MCAT really needs 3 months to prepare for or if that's just SDN being SDN.

Recently I've been sleeping surprisingly well (waking up after 6 hours refreshed naturally w/o alarm) with magnesium citrate so things might be okay on that front.

The one thing I'm confused about is what you meant by the whole 2 months thing. Are you saying that I should sign up for phoenix if I cannot sign up for the California date within the next 2 months?

Thanks again though, seriously. This is an extremely stressful process to begin with excluding weird MCAT stuff and you've done a lot to restore my sanity.

Yes, YOU NEED 3 MONTHS!