MCAT - April 19 vs May 10 vs May 23

[CremasterFlash]

please help with a bit of a conundrum for me.

I will be finishing the organic and bio sequences in early June.

I am taking the Kaplan course starting in January.

I'm planning to take the MCAT in either April or May. Obviously later is better (get more of my classes behind me). But if you take the May 23 MCAT, you don't get your scores until June 24, which, I think is pretty late in terms of getting apps in. I believe that applications are readable by the med schools starting around June 15.

Does anyone have an opinion on the tradeoff there? I'm doing well in my classes and feel that I have a good shot of doing well on the test. That being said, I don't want to take it too early, and I don't want to take it so late that it negatively impacts me in the "apply early" category.

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[TexasTriathlete]

I don't know, but you have a great username.

 

[MSTPbound]

I know it's an exercise in futility trying to advise pre-meds to "relax" but let me at least assure you that June 24 leaves you plenty of time to submit your applications early - in fact, submitting your primaries anytime in July, and even early in August, would be considered an early submission.

It's much more important for you to walk into the MCAT thoroughly prepared for the exam, so go for the latest date you can.

Good !

-MSTPbound

please help with a bit of a conundrum for me.

I will be finishing the organic and bio sequences in early June.

I am taking the Kaplan course starting in January.

I'm planning to take the MCAT in either April or May. Obviously later is better (get more of my classes behind me). But if you take the May 23 MCAT, you don't get your scores until June 24, which, I think is pretty late in terms of getting apps in. I believe that applications are readable by the med schools starting around June 15.

Does anyone have an opinion on the tradeoff there? I'm doing well in my classes and feel that I have a good shot of doing well on the test. That being said, I don't want to take it too early, and I don't want to take it so late that it negatively impacts me in the "apply early" category.

 

[MDWannabe2009]

yea they announced that registration begins on Dec 8th or something like that. I think i'm going to register for the Late May test date.

 

[COdoubleMO2theN]

i think its the 5th

 

[unsung]

I'm debating this, myself. My classes don't end until end of May, and I'll also be starting some type of prep course in January. Obviously, scheduling the MCAT right on top of finals in May would be a real foolhardy thing to do... otoh, I really don't feel like I'd be ready by April. The best thing for me would be to take the test at the end of June, after classes are totally done, and after some full-time studying...

But the problem with that is, of course, the sloooow turn around time. It's definitely a trade-off... but I'm not sure how big of a trade off it is. Would submitting my app by end of July/early August totally kill my chances ?

 

[Vihsadas]

please help with a bit of a conundrum for me.

I will be finishing the organic and bio sequences in early June.

I am taking the Kaplan course starting in January.

I'm planning to take the MCAT in either April or May. Obviously later is better (get more of my classes behind me). But if you take the May 23 MCAT, you don't get your scores until June 24, which, I think is pretty late in terms of getting apps in. I believe that applications are readable by the med schools starting around June 15.

Does anyone have an opinion on the tradeoff there? I'm doing well in my classes and feel that I have a good shot of doing well on the test. That being said, I don't want to take it too early, and I don't want to take it so late that it negatively impacts me in the "apply early" category.

I'm really unconvinced that getting your primaries in a few weeks earlier is going to help your application by leaps and bounds. That being said, what IS important is that you fire off your secondaries as fast as humanly possible. Either the same day, or only one or two days after you receive them.

In my opinion, its MUCH more important to be well-prepared for the MCAT than to get it done as quickly as possible. If you need to delay submitting your primary application by a few weeks or a month to be very well prepared for the MCAT then definitely, 100% delay your MCAT. You do not want to end up with a sub 30s score when 1 more month of studying could have gotten you easily in the 33-35 range. It would severely hurt your application.