screened before 2nd mcat score?

[bubbles17]

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hi =)

my overall gpa is a 3.5 and bcmp is 3.3
good ec and should have decent lors
and i just took the mcat for the 2nd time in may and just got my score back and scored below 30! =X

im retaking it again in july. so scores should be out by mid august

i plan on turning in my app by the end of this month(june).
will schools screen me out before my 2nd mcat score arrives? in order words, will i be getting rejections before schools even see my 2nd score? or will my file be on hold until the 2nd score comes out.
i'm a cali resident

 

[Caesar]

hi =)

my overall gpa is a 3.5 and bcmp is 3.3
good ec and should have decent lors
and i just took the mcat for the 2nd time in may and just got my score back and scored below 30! =X

im retaking it again in july. so scores should be out by mid august

i plan on turning in my app by the end of this month(june).
will schools screen me out before my 2nd mcat score arrives? in order words, will i be getting rejections before schools even see my 2nd score? or will my file be on hold until the 2nd score comes out.
i'm a cali resident

hold I believe but I'm not certain.

 

[supertrooper66]

for the most part, but it depends on the school. i called all the schools i'm applying to that screen. their answers were generally the same.

1) a few of them said they will put you on hold till 2nd MCAT comes in.

2) another said they will wait but be forewarned they average your two most recent scores. so in other words, don't do worse.

3) one said they will look at the rest of my application. if they are interested in the rest of my application, then they will wait for the 2nd MCAT to decide. if the rest of the application has problems, then...haha

4) one person was a little reluctant about holding till my 2nd MCAT. they then asked me what my first MCAT was. I said 26R and the guy on the phone said "okay, a 26 and a GPA of at least a B to B- should get a secondary."

hope that helps!
btw, while I thought most schools take your highest MCAT, most of them said they still look at your 2 most recent ones. most put emphasis on your most recent one, even if it's worse. a few said they only care about your highest one, one said they average your highest subscores (haha so cheap), one said they average 2 most recent ones, another said they only take your most recent one, etc. soo yea.

 

[Mobius1985]

If you want to be sure you don't get screened out prematurely, consider submitting your application, but only apply to one school at this time. The day you get your score, add on the other schools you are interested in (and pay for them on-line, of course). AMCAS will submit your application electronically to those new schools within one business day. I applied this way, being unsure of how my score would turn out. When I did well, I added more schools. I then did research in the MSAR, and added a third wave of schools that I thought would consider me. This worked well as I needed to be frugal with my application dollars.

 

[nash103]

I had to retake my MCAT. I submitted my AMCAS before my first score was released, and I ended up getting a 25R 🙁. I registered for another, contacted all my schools and every single one of them put me on hold pending the release of my second scores. As soon as that was released (32S), interview invites began. Being proactive was definitley helpful, as was getting my AMCAS in ASAP for verification.

Just make sure you are ready for the MCAT the second time you take it....GOOD LUCK!

 

[Mobius1985]

I had to retake my MCAT. I submitted my AMCAS before my first score was released, and I ended up getting a 25R 🙁. I registered for another, contacted all my schools and every single one of them put me on hold pending the release of my second scores. As soon as that was released (32S), interview invites began. Being proactive was definitley helpful, as was getting my AMCAS in ASAP for verification.

Just make sure you are ready for the MCAT the second time you take it....GOOD LUCK!

Nicely done! It's inspirational to know it's possible to make such an impressive recovery.

 

[BlackPower2012]

There are a couple of schools that reject before the MCAT scores comes out. I was rejected outright from George Washington two weeks before they received my second MCAT.

 

[supertrooper66]

There are a couple of schools that reject before the MCAT scores comes out. I was rejected outright from George Washington two weeks before they received my second MCAT.

you can easily get around that. just don't submit your secondary to GW till your 2nd MCAT comes in then. if you look up GW in MSAR, it says GW sends the secondaries to everyone. thus, they must have screened you because the rest of your application was complete. they saw something else in your app. they didn't like, so didn't care about your new MCAT score. if you don't give them that secondary before your 2nd score comes in, then they can't screen you before getting that score since they don't touch your file till your secondary is in. 👍

i would definitely submit my primary to GW ahead of time. the few weeks that it takes them to send you a secondary will go by as you're waiting for 2nd mcat. have the secondary completed and ready to submit when that new score comes in. if you do bad on the retake, don't submit your secondary and you've just saved yourself $50+! 👍

 

[korndoctor]

good posts everyone!

so i'm also in a very similiar situation with a 20R and plan on taking it in july..with only 6 weeks left, what's best approach?

Also, i plan on submitting my amcas july 1st to get it verified...My fear is that med schools will throw away my app right away due to the low mcat eventho i SELECT option to expect a second score in july. Is this true? could someone with experience tell me. There's no option to withhold ALL MCAT scores so that it will let me submit amcas without mcat been seen until i get all scores in and submit them all at same time, so it doesnt hold up rest of app. I dont understand why amcas doesnt have this feature. So should i submit all my apps anyways in july or submit 1 and update later when i have my second score?

i'm just curious...once u submit amcas...u should get secondaries almost immediately or whats the average wait time to getting secondaries once amcas primaries has been submitted...

 

[supertrooper66]

good posts everyone!

so i'm also in a very similiar situation with a 20R and plan on taking it in july..with only 6 weeks left, what's best approach?

Also, i plan on submitting my amcas july 1st to get it verified...My fear is that med schools will throw away my app right away due to the low mcat eventho i SELECT option to expect a second score in july. Is this true? could someone with experience tell me. There's no option to withhold ALL MCAT scores so that it will let me submit amcas without mcat been seen until i get all scores in and submit them all at same time, so it doesnt hold up rest of app. I dont understand why amcas doesnt have this feature. So should i submit all my apps anyways in july or submit 1 and update later when i have my second score?

i'm just curious...once u submit amcas...u should get secondaries almost immediately or whats the average wait time to getting secondaries once amcas primaries has been submitted...

if you just want to verify your AMCAS as in verifying your transcripts, they verify them as long as you have started to fill out your amcas. you don't need to hit "submit" to get your transcripts verified.

if you're talking about sending them to schools July 1st, I would ONLY do that to schools YOU KNOW send secondaries to everyone. look them up in the MSAR for that info. altho most schools i talked to said they put your file on hold, some said they will only wait for 2nd MCAT if they like the rest of your file. in that case to be safe, i wouldn't trust those schools who screen pre-secondaries. i wouldn't submit your primary to those schools till your 2nd MCAT gets in.

i'm in the same situation as you, but my 1st score is a 26R so I think that's good enough to get past most pre-secondary screens anyways in case they are lying and do try to screen me out before my 2nd score comes in. your 20R will for sure get cut by screening if they don't wait for your 2nd score, so it's up to you.

 

[korndoctor]

can someone make me a list of schools that do screen and those that automatically give a secondary...i know its on here somewhere but i cant find it.

also, for those that automaticlaly give a secondary...once you submit that secondary...will the app be put on hold, waiting for the second mcat score, or will schools start to look at them right away?

 

[thoffen]

If you want to be sure you don't get screened out prematurely, consider submitting your application, but only apply to one school at this time. The day you get your score, add on the other schools you are interested in (and pay for them on-line, of course). AMCAS will submit your application electronically to those new schools within one business day. I applied this way, being unsure of how my score would turn out. When I did well, I added more schools. I then did research in the MSAR, and added a third wave of schools that I thought would consider me. This worked well as I needed to be frugal with my application dollars.

I'd follow this advice, especially with the low GPA/MCAT combination you have now. Good luck on the new MCAT.

 

[Mobius1985]

if you just want to verify your AMCAS as in verifying your transcripts, they verify them as long as you have started to fill out your amcas. you don't need to hit "submit" to get your transcripts verified.

Why would AMCAS be so altruistic as to go to the trouble of verifying your transcripts when you don't render payment until you push the submit button? Are you sure this is true? Some people fill out the application, but never submit due to low MCAT, realization that the DO pathway is more appropriate, life circumstance, etc.

 

[chad5871]

if you just want to verify your AMCAS as in verifying your transcripts, they verify them as long as you have started to fill out your amcas. you don't need to hit "submit" to get your transcripts verified.

This is not correct. AMCAS will only verify that it has RECEIVED your transcript before hitting the submit button. In order to have them VERIFY your application (as in, verify that the coursework you entered matches what is on your official transcript), you must submit the application. This is because you can change your coursework up until the time you hit submit, and there's no way they'd verify something that would likely be changed, meaning they'd have to re-verify the information.

 

[korndoctor]

I'd follow this advice, especially with the low GPA/MCAT combination you have now. Good luck on the new MCAT.

what is i apply to school that say in MSAR that they send secondaries to all applicants first? and then update later with my new mcat

there arent many schools that prescreen before secondaries anyways