MCAT/app. timeline for '12 entrance

[anide]

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Because of feeling unprepared, I'm thinking to postpone my MCAT from July 6 to Aug. 5 (in the meantime taking an intensive mcat course).
Is taking the MCAT at the beginning of Aug. getting too late for the application pool for '12 start? The scores in this case will not be released until the end of Aug...which is nearing 3 months after the open date of June.

Any thoughts or insights would be much appreciated.

 

[whiteshadodw]

Because of feeling unprepared, I'm thinking to postpone my MCAT from July 6 to Aug. 5 (in the meantime taking an intensive mcat course).
Is taking the MCAT at the beginning of Aug. getting too late for the application pool for '12 start? The scores in this case will not be released until the end of Aug...which is nearing 3 months after the open date of June.

Any thoughts or insights would be much appreciated.

most people on SDN are neurotic and will say you are super late. if you don't apply june 1 you are late. june 2? late. august? "past the deadline" however, if you apply to schools that don't do rolling admissions you might not do bad. also, it might be interesting to consider that some schools don't even start interviewing until september/october. so if you get your secondaries in by sept early september and maybe land a couple interviews you aren't too late. if you apply in sept/oct you are pushing it and will probably be super late.

don't forgot the cost of all this. if cost isn't prohibitive, then by all means go for it. but realize that tons of schools love to send out secondaries just to collect money for turning in your secondaries. then if you factor in interview cost (maybe like $300-500 per interview for airfare, food, etc) you end up spending a lot of money. you only want to do this once if you can avoid having to do it 2x or more.

 

[Donald Juan]

Yes, applying that late will put you at a disadvantage, so you just need to ask yourself if putting back a month is going to help out enough. I think if that month will certainly up your score then you should wait to take the mcat.

 

[anide]

thanks for your insights.

the other suggestion i received was to take it in July, and then again in Aug., just so my application is active and viewed, since i plan to submit all the app components by the end of next week.
i've also been told that many schools will send out secondary parts to the app. upon receiving the primary, even if the mcat score is pending...
thoughts?

 

[Donald Juan]

thanks for your insights.

the other suggestion i received was to take it in July, and then again in Aug., just so my application is active and viewed, since i plan to submit all the app components by the end of next week.
i've also been told that many schools will send out secondary parts to the app. upon receiving the primary, even if the mcat score is pending...
thoughts?

You wouldn't want to take it in July and then August just to submit your application, because then schools would see your July scores and could make decisions based off of them, unless you specified to them that you were retaking the exam.

Yes, you can submit the application and get everything verified and get some secondary materials before your mcat score is in. Just remember when doing this to only apply to the schools (initially) that you are certain you will apply to, no matter what your score is, since you can't exactly take it back. You can add more schools when you get the score in, and since your app will already be verified the process will be quicker.

 

[anide]

@Donald Juan: thanks!

 

[music2doc]

Yes, that would probably hurt you. However, if you're not prepared, you're not prepared. It's better to do well and apply late or wait a year than to screw yourself over with a poor score and, from experience, even if you feel REALLY confident, the real thing is tough! I was averaging 37 on my MCAT practice tests and I'm estimating low 30s for the real thing. I had 1 passage I really felt weak on and another that I totally blanked on. The former was one that everyone seems to have gotten their butts kicked by. It's a tough exam. That's all I'm saying.

 

[edge of desire]

which schools don't do rolling admissions? i thought most did...

 

[leafs2012]

I am in a similar situation and would appreciate any advice.

I'm scheduled for July 6th, but am thinking about moving it to July 28th/29th, and was wondering how it would affect my chances? I feel that if i write it on the 6th I could hit about 31-33, but hoping that by the 28th,29th i could hit 35-36 since my verbal is way weaker than the sciences. Is the score improvement worth delaying my application?

I know that on AMCAS you can also submit your apps and signal that your mcat scores are to be submitted soon, however I scored really poorly on my 1st MCAT last year, and so I was wondering whether schools would see this score and sort of frown upon it and push it to the side without really waiting for the next score? I was planning to submit my app after i got my scores which would be about Aug 31st/Sep 1st, but if my assumption is way off than I would probably submit it before i get my scores in.

Im also a canadian applicant and so rolling admissions and AMCAS is pretty new to me.

Thanks!