MCAT after done with pre-reqs or after Junior year?

[VitaminVater]

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So I'm currently a sophomore in college and will be done with all the pre-reqs by this semester, then taking more advanced biology/chemistry classes for spring(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major).
I'm wondering if it seems like a good idea to take the MCAT late summer after my sophomore year? If I do stay in school over summer I'll just be doing research and have a lot of relatively free time, plus the material would still be kinda fresh. However I have heard some say I might as well take it after Junior year because I'll have learnt a lot more in the classes I'll be taking but I also don't want to get too swamped with MCAT studying and classes/research/AMCAS.
Are there any big drawbacks to taking the MCAT so early in my college career?

 

[Aerus]

So I'm currently a sophomore in college and will be done with all the pre-reqs by this semester, then taking more advanced biology/chemistry classes for spring(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major).
I'm wondering if it seems like a good idea to take the MCAT late summer after my sophomore year? If I do stay in school over summer I'll just be doing research and have a lot of relatively free time, plus the material would still be kinda fresh. However I have heard some say I might as well take it after Junior year because I'll have learnt a lot more in the classes I'll be taking but I also don't want to get too swamped with MCAT studying and classes/research/AMCAS.
Are there any big drawbacks to taking the MCAT so early in my college career?

I recommend taking the MCAT after the summer of your sophomore year, if you're done with all prereqs.

Pros:

-Material is more fresh in your mind
-You will give yourself more time for a retake, in case something comes up.
-You will have the summer to truly dedicate enough time to preparing.
-You won't burn out from all your other school work.
-You will be more fully rested by the time you take the MCAT.
-If you do well, you will have a lot less stress junior year, so you can focus on keeping up with your grades and EC's.

Cons:

-You won't have as many upper division courses to give you a bigger understanding of the material. (no big deal).
-As insignificant as it sounds, you'll be more mature and possibly wiser by your junior year. (sort of silly sounding, I know)
-Scores are only valid for three years. If you mess up your application cycle more than once, you'll have to take the MCAT again. (Probably the biggest concern for taking it early)

Pros outweight the cons by far, in my eyes.

 

[VitaminVater]

Thanks for the reply Aerus, I will be taking more in depth courses spring of sophomore year(Biochem, eukaryotic cell function, still deciding between pchem, analytical chem and genetics) so those might help. I already know Junior year will be my toughest, especially since I'll be rushing to buff up my application as much as possible(didn't do many ECs freshman year), so taking the stress of the MCAT out of that time would be best I think, just hoping nothing bad happens in the foreseeable future to make my score not as good or possibly invalid.

 

[Aerus]

Thanks for the reply Aerus, I will be taking more in depth courses spring of sophomore year(Biochem, eukaryotic cell function, still deciding between pchem, analytical chem and genetics) so those might help. I already know Junior year will be my toughest, especially since I'll be rushing to buff up my application as much as possible(didn't do many ECs freshman year).

Take biochem and genetics. Eukaryotic cell function may be useful as a background course, but it's less significant.

Pchem and Achem are not necessary as neither will show up, nor do I personally recommend you take them, unless it's purely out of academic interest or for your major.

 

[blueshockey]

If I were in your shoes I would likely take the test after sophomore year. If I had been done with my pre-reqs before my junior year I absolutely would have taken it early and saved myself the headache. I will say that I felt biochemistry helped me (not in terms of concepts, just integrating systems and difficult material), so I wouldn't really have an idea of how the test would go if I hadn't taken biochem. Probably wouldn't have affected things too terribly. Besides, if you do poorly, you can always take it again the next year after you've taken the more advanced sciences if you feel those would be beneficial.

 

[VitaminVater]

Would you say to really give it my best on one go(I'm shooting high, 35+),I should I try to avoid also having class along with research? It'll be over summer so the workload won't be as great I'm thinking.

 

[487806]

Would you say to really give it my best on one go(I'm shooting high, 35+),I should I try to avoid also having class along with research? It'll be over summer so the workload won't be as great I'm thinking.

Try to avoid having class over the summer just to stay focused on the MCAT. Research really doesn't affect the study matter, so you could do research in the summer.

 

[Aerus]

Would you say to really give it my best on one go(I'm shooting high, 35+),I should I try to avoid also having class along with research? It'll be over summer so the workload won't be as great I'm thinking.

Honestly, if people can get a 35+ while studying during the school year, so can you. It's all how much you can handle.

I highly recommend NOT taking a class during the summer if you're going to be using it to study for the MCAT, though. If you're shooting for a 35+, giving yourself as much study as possible will maximize those chances.

If you have a lot of free time after studying, honestly, even going out for a jog or catching a movie with friends is better than taking another class, since you won't be mentally fatigued/hate life.

 

[amad01]

So I'm currently a sophomore in college and will be done with all the pre-reqs by this semester, then taking more advanced biology/chemistry classes for spring(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major).
I'm wondering if it seems like a good idea to take the MCAT late summer after my sophomore year? If I do stay in school over summer I'll just be doing research and have a lot of relatively free time, plus the material would still be kinda fresh. However I have heard some say I might as well take it after Junior year because I'll have learnt a lot more in the classes I'll be taking but I also don't want to get too swamped with MCAT studying and classes/research/AMCAS.
Are there any big drawbacks to taking the MCAT so early in my college career?

This is my plan. I'm a sophomore and will finish pre-req's next semester. I'll be taking the MCAT in August. Like Aerus says, pros definitely outweigh the cons. Study full time May-August without other classes to worry about. I feel the benefits of taking more upper-division classes aren't much. Everything you need to know will be in the study materials. The full summer to study will be much more beneficial.

Worst case scenario you do poorly in August then you can retake in January or even May... but think of how good it'll feel to get a good score in August, have it over with, and focus your entire jr. year on polishing your application....

 

[karkatvantas]

I took the MCAT the friday before my junior year started. I highly recommend doing something similar. Devote your entire summer between your sophomore and junior years to the MCAT, and you will never have to take that exam again. This means you can focus on excelling in your classes, volunteering, shadowing, finding people to write your letters, and writing your personal statement (which I would recommend you basically spend all of your junior fall semester/winter break doing), without that exam hanging over you. The rest of the application is time- and energy-consuming enough without a massive standardized test to add to it. I have some friends who studied for the MCAT while taking full course loads their junior semesters and while they still did well, they were significantly more stressed than I was. Plus you'll probably get some recruitment letters if you do well, which is always encouraging.

 

[PennDippody]

1+

I cannot stress enough to take it the summer of your sophomore year. If you have finished Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and have had at least 1 semester of Orgo, there is no reason to wait any longer. The MCAT does not expect you to know any material outside the scope of those introductory subjects and when it does, its in passage format - something you have to draw from text anyway.

I did this and was able to take a few months during the summer to study for it. I took all the practice exams and read through the EC and Kaplan test prep books (EC is by far my favorite) The prep materiel helped me focus on only what I needed to know for the exam as well as bridge a few knowledge gaps. I was able to walk in and take the test knowing that there was no pressure should I choose to void it. By the time I was done, I had taken enough practice exams to know about how well I did and submitted. The score I got was pretty much how I predicted it would be.

It was really nice to have this load off my back for the remainder of my college career. Do it. Do it right. And you will not regret it.

 

[kickster]

Absolutely take it the summer after your sophomore year. This is what I did and I'm extremely happy I did. It allowed me to pursue other things during my junior year (ie going abroad) and I had nothing to worry about while all my premed friends were freaking out about the MCAT. It also gives you more time to retake if you need to.

The one caveat here is that I took Physiology during my sophomore year, which definitely helped (~80% of the BS is physio). Also, you can only take 1 year off, max.

And Aerus, you're a freshman in college, where do you come off giving all of this advice as though you've been through it...?

 

[PennDippody]

Taking it after your sophomore year? I wouldn't personally recommend that. But I can see where you're coming from, all of your pre-reqs will be fresh in your mind. But wouldn't it be hard to study for the MCAT while lets say taking physics, organic chem, and calculus? I'm doing that this year and contemplating taking it the end of junior year or summer before senior year.

The idea is that you study for and take the test during the Summer break after having already completed the pre-reqs by the Spring semester of your Sophomore year. Studying for the MCAT really doesn't take more than a month or two if you're not taking classes. I'm telling you - it was very worth it.

P.S, calculus, english, orgo lab (and most of orgo lect) is unnecessary for the test and thus don't all have to be completed by then.

 

[amad01]

Taking it after your sophomore year? I wouldn't personally recommend that. But I can see where you're coming from, all of your pre-reqs will be fresh in your mind. But wouldn't it be hard to study for the MCAT while lets say taking physics, organic chem, and calculus? I'm doing that this year and contemplating taking it the end of junior year or summer before senior year.

This is the point.........................................................................

Study April-August WHILE NOT IN CLASS... take test in August...

 

[Aerus]

Taking it after your sophomore year? I wouldn't personally recommend that. But I can see where you're coming from, all of your pre-reqs will be fresh in your mind. But wouldn't it be hard to study for the MCAT while lets say taking physics, organic chem, and calculus? I'm doing that this year and contemplating taking it the end of junior year or summer before senior year.

That's exactly the reason why taking it the summer after sophomore year is such a good time. He will have a whole summer to focus in on studying, as the other time commitments he will have are EC's.

He'll take the MCAT around August, right when school starts/is about to start.

And Aerus, you're a freshman in college, where do you come off giving all of this advice as though you've been through it...?

I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I said that this advice was coming from personal experience. Because I didn't. I gave general advice and reasons why I believed in that advice to back it up. Was there something inherently wrong with my advice? If so, please speak up! If not, then that's that.

Regardless, he can choose to take that advice or not. It was just information. Should I not tell someone to not jump off the cliff of the Grand Canyon for fun because I, myself, have not done so yet and thus would not know of the consequences?

 

[Gauss44]

So I'm currently a sophomore in college and will be done with all the pre-reqs by this semester, then taking more advanced biology/chemistry classes for spring(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major).
I'm wondering if it seems like a good idea to take the MCAT late summer after my sophomore year? If I do stay in school over summer I'll just be doing research and have a lot of relatively free time, plus the material would still be kinda fresh. However I have heard some say I might as well take it after Junior year because I'll have learnt a lot more in the classes I'll be taking but I also don't want to get too swamped with MCAT studying and classes/research/AMCAS.
Are there any big drawbacks to taking the MCAT so early in my college career?

Yes, MCAT score might expire after 3 years. Confirm that though.

 

[Geebeejay]

MCAT expires after three years, so I would recommend taking it not long before you apply, just in case god forbid you don't get in, take a year off to improve your app, and then reapply, you won't have to take it again. Hopefully that won't happen, but that would be pretty rough not only getting rejected, but having to retake the MCAT.

 

[amad01]

MCAT expires after three years, so I would recommend taking it not long before you apply, just in case god forbid you don't get in, take a year off to improve your app, and then reapply, you won't have to take it again. Hopefully that won't happen, but that would be pretty rough not only getting rejected, but having to retake the MCAT.

And then not only have to retake the MCAT, but retake the NEW MCAT.....

But you'd have to get rejected 2 years straight... 🙁