Post BAC timeline question

[Ace Rimmer]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to get some advice here as my post BAC advisor is somewhat lackadaisical in his approach (his response as to when I should take the MCAT: "eh, just cross that bridge when you get there.").

I am starting my second semester in getting my science requirements, Reasonably I should be finished with all my requirements in spring of 2012.

My question to you, dear Non-Trads, is when should I expect to take the MCAT and subsequently try for interviews?

A hearty thanks in advance,

Ace

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[DrMidlife]

There's a piece between the MCAT and interviews that's called AMCAS (or AACOMAS for DO or TMDSAS for Texas).

These apps open in May and June. The app services verify your transcripts and package your assets for medical schools. Medical schools can do whatever they want with this package, whenever they want, but they generally will not look at your app before your MCAT score is in it. Your chances are maximized by having a complete package as early as possible, such as the day the app opens. With less competitive numbers the advantage of an early app is that it might actually get considered before it's in a pile of 5000 or 13,000 other apps. In my opinion, applying MD in August or later is gambling, not planning.

Thus, having an MCAT score when you apply, and applying as early as possible, is ideal.

It takes 4-6 weeks for your MCAT score to be reported after your test date. That score report date is effectively the earliest your app can be complete.

Your premed adviser has a reasonable point, in that you should *not* try to take the MCAT before you're ready to get your best possible score. If you "lose" a year because you can't take the MCAT in time for an early app, that's just the way it goes. Retakes are demoralizing and inefficient and only rarely result in a better score. The emotional and financial cost of an unsuccessful app year are substantial.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

That's some helpful information, thanks. So then, would it behoove me to take the MCAT after completing orgo and my other requirements, or should I take it during my post BAC?

I don't have a strict timeline for applying; I've seen others in my program cramming way too many classes in at once in hopes of becoming a doctor faster, but that's not how I want to approach it.

 

[phltz]

The standard post-bac timeline that people most often follow is like this. Assuming you finish your science prereqs in the spring of 2012, you'll probably want to take the MCAT in the late spring or early summer of 2012. You'll do you primary AMCAS application in the summer, and your secondaries hopefully later in the summer/early in the fall. For the 2012-2013 academic year you'll need to find something else to do - an entry level job doing grunt work for some sort of research project is a popular choice - while you're going through the application process. With luck you'll have interviews that fall and winter. In the spring of 2013, you'll have to make your decisions about where you'll go, and hopefully you'll start school in the fall of 2013.