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MCAT date
- Thread starter ?doctor
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Nope. Having applications complete by Labor Day will considered on time everywhere. You'll have your scores back around a month after you take the exam. If you submit your application with a throwaway school sometime in May or June, you will be able to be verified and complete at all schools by Labor Day with a June test date. If you can push up into early or mid May, you'll have your scores back by mid June, and you won't need a throwaway school.
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You apply to throw away school because it takes few weeks to process your AMCAS application. By applying to a throw away school, you don’t have to worry about the wait, when you’re applying to schools that you actually are interested in or have a chance at getting in.
forgive me I think I might still not understand, are you saying for the purpose of getting your AMCAS processed without waiting for your MCAT score? why not just apply to your whole school list, why just 1 'throw away school'? can it be a school I want to go to like my state school?
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Hopefully this will clear it up -- the wait you are trying to avoid is the wait to verify your transcripts, which could take 6-8 weeks at the height of the cycle. So, you apply to a throwaway school, which is a school you totally don't care about, in order to get your application verified while waiting for your MCAT score, to reduce or eliminate delays after receiving your score.
You should NEVER submit to a school you care about without knowing your MCAT score.
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A throwaway school is a school you have no interest in getting in to so it won't hurt if you get rejected. You just submit your application with that school so you can get verified earlier. You then add the schools you want later. A throwaway school is basically a school you're willing to sacrifice not getting into because your app isn't complete yet, but is close to being so. In this case if you're missing an MCAT score.
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The reason why it is called a throw away school is because it is a school you do not care about and you are submitting your application prior to receiving your MCAT score. When you submit your primary application without an MCAT score, you do not how well you will do on the test. It is a hedge in case you receive a lower score than you anticipate. The reason for this is once your application is complete, it is automatically transmitted to all schools on your list. If you were to submit your primary application with all schools you were interested in, and then receive a low MCAT score that would be detrimental to your application, it would be sent to all schools. Should you decide to retake the MCAT and improve, and you apply to those same schools, you would be considered a reapplicant based on the prior application. Should this happen with a throwaway school, a school you have no intention of ever attending, it doesn’t matter. For throw away schools, look at programs that will not admit you because of residency requirements such as some schools in NV, NM, AZ, etc.
Its simply a strategy to get your application in queue for verification prior to receiving your MCAT score. Now, should you score as anticipated or better than you anticipated, you would go back and edit your school list to add programs that you do want to apply to.
Its simply a strategy to get your application in queue for verification prior to receiving your MCAT score. Now, should you score as anticipated or better than you anticipated, you would go back and edit your school list to add programs that you do want to apply to.
