MCAT Retake and AMCAS submission

[woodside9]

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Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a bit 🙂ninja🙂 but have just joined this forum because I'm in a bit of a pre-med crisis.

I'm planning on retaking it in mid-July, which means that I won't have my new score until mid-August. I'm applying this cycle, so I'm about to complete my AMCAS application and will most likely submit it within the next couple of days. I was wondering if I should either: (A) apply to one school (my state school) just to get my AMCAS verified and then add schools once I get my new score back (I would work on all of the secondaries using the prompts from SDN after my MCAT is over) or (B) apply to all of the schools now and simply mark that I will be retaking.

Will medical schools wait for my new scores to even review my application and/or screen me?

I'm very stressed out because I'm finishing the primary application AND studying for the MCAT so any advice would be tremendously helpful! Thanks in advance

 

[LittleDandelion]

You can add your state school to your AMCAS and just submit it to get verified. Once you get your score back, and depends on how good it is, you can add more schools to your app without waiting to be verified. Just make sure you indicate that you will retake your MCAT on your app so that med schools will wait for your second score.

 

[woodside9]

You can add your state school to your AMCAS and just submit it to get verified. Once you get your score back, and depends on how good it is, you can add more schools to your app without waiting to be verified. Just make sure you indicate that you will retake your MCAT on your app so that med schools will wait for your second score.

Thanks for the response! Are there any disadvantages to adding schools that late (mid-August) in the cycle? I'm just concerned that by the time I add those schools, my chances of admission will have decreased significantly...

 

[Ironmandoc]

Well obviously the later you are at those schools the lesser your chances. They all have rolling admissions...

 

[woodside9]

Well obviously the later you are at those schools the lesser your chances. They all have rolling admissions...

So then would option A be better since I would apply to all of the schools earlier rather than waiting to apply to all but one of them in mid-August?

 

[MDhopeful23]

Well obviously the later you are at those schools the lesser your chances. They all have rolling admissions...

Personally I would apply to all schools depending on ur GPA because a 29 is a pretty decent score and will look fine if ur GPA is 3.7+ and normally u would like to get ur apps out early so with that said I would just submit now esp if u think u did better on ur 2nd MCAT try (at least thats what I believe and what Im doing)

 

[theseeker4]

So then would option A be better since I would apply to all of the schools earlier rather than waiting to apply to all but one of them in mid-August?

No, it won't matter. All schools you apply to will wait to review your application until the scores are released, so it won't matter whether you submit to all of them today, or the day your scores are released. Applying to one and waiting for the scores to add more won't have any effect on your application vs. applying to all 20 or however many schools you want to apply to now. No one is going to do anything with your application until your scores are released (with exceptions always possible). You want to apply to at least one ASAP to get your transcripts verified (which can take over a month later in the cycle) but there is no advantage to applying to multiple schools without your new scores.

 

[pdxjazz]

My view is to wait and add additional schools the day after you have taken the MCAT, and here's why:

Keep in mind that if you wait to add schools after your MCAT score is released, even if you pre-write the secondary applications there will be some delays in getting your secondary applications to the schools. You can't return them if you haven't first received the secondary request from the schools. It could be a short wait for the request, or much longer depending on the school.

Since you already have a prior MCAT score, you should receive secondary applications from schools that have a minimum MCAT cutoff score, as well as those that don't screen at all. The only ones that you will not receive secondaries from are from those that pre-screen your "complete" application. For those schools that you returned secondary forms back you will be officially complete on that MCAT release date. It could save you a few days or even a few weeks as compared to adding schools afterwards.

As to adding all the schools now, some schools give you a time frame to return secondaries and you certainly don't want to be working on them while trying to study for the MCAT. Also the general thinking on this forum is that it is better to return secondary forms within a week or so of the request as it shows a stronger interest in the school.

It's up to you which direction to go, but remember if you don't do well on the MCAT, you will be a reapplicant next year regardless as you will have submitted your primary and have been verified.
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