Retaking MCAT in July but applying in June?

[vantheman]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Disclaimer: I have searched for previous threads that are related to my situation, but I still do not feel that I have gained an adequate answer. Any comments/advice would be much appreciated.

Hello everyone,

I took the MCAT last summer and received a 30. Although this is decent, I KNOW I can do better and I have decided to take the MCAT over.

I want to give myself two months of this summer to study the areas I am weak on.

This will put my test date in mid July, yet I will be applying in June.

This leads me to 2 main questions:

1. Will med schools know that I am retaking the exam? Is there a place on the application I can state that I will be retaking in July?

2. Will this cause my application to be reviewed too late in the cycle to have a decent shot of getting in?

Any advice?
Thanks so much.

 

[terp720]

You will indicate on your AMCAS application that you are retaking the exam and when your test date is.

You can apply in June, and your app will more than likely be verified before your exam date. You can add one school and then add more once you know your score, or you could also add schools based on your current score (and then add more depending on how you do). Once the information is released to schools, you will start getting secondaries for the schools you did add (not sure about schools that pre-screen).

I don't think you'll be considered complete at the schools you did add until your new MCAT score comes back, so even if you get those secondaries in earlier, you may not be complete until middle of August. Then of course you may add new schools mid-August. If you're app is already verified, it will automatically be set to them, so there won't be a huge delay before getting most of the secondaries, but you would want to turn them around as quickly as possible.
Personally, I don't think that is too late, but others may have different opinions/experiences.

 

[dancingmate]

As long as you get all those secondaries in ASAP, I think you will be OK. But I would recommend taking an earlier test if possible.