Should I rush to take the MCAT?

[TheAnonymous]

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I'm registered to take the MCAT on May 31st, however I don't feel as prepared as I would like to be and I'm sure I can do much better if I give myself another 1-2 months. Should I:

(1) just write it on May 31st, so I can apply early and retake in August?

(2) give myself another 1-2 months and write it in July-August and perhaps don't apply this year?


Would appreciate any input. Thanks.

 

[ciestar]

You already know the answer to this. Don't take it before you're ready.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Anytime the words "rush" and "MCAT" appear in the same sentence, it's a bad idea.

 

[TheAnonymous]

You already know the answer to this. Don't take it before you're ready.

Thanks for your reply. What I don't understand is what can I possibly lose if I write it on May? Why is it a bad idea? Worst case scenario I can write it again? Isn't applying with a bad MCAT better than not applying at all?

Sorry if it sounds stupid, I'm just not very familiar with the process. I hear a lot of people saying take your time, but I don't know why writing it can be a bad idea when I can just retake it?

Thanks

 

[Oso]

You already know the answer to this. Don't take it before you're ready.

Everyone who knows anything about the MCAT is going to give you this advice.

Take the test when you're ready, be it June, July, August, or September. If you take the test in June, you could probably still apply this cycle. But taking it later may put your application at a disadvantage, so in that case I would strongly consider a gap year. Rushing to apply, like rushing to take the MCAT, will most likely result in you having to spend more time and money to do it again.

 

[mrh125]

dont take it until you're ready. rushing makes it way harder. Take as much time as you need.

 

[TheAnonymous]

Sorry but can someone clarify WHY it can hurt when I can just retake it again? (Besides the registration cost)? I don't know why I shouldn't write it if I can just retake it again?

 

[Oso]

Thanks for your reply. What I don't understand is what can I possibly lose if I write it on May? Why is it a bad idea? Worst case scenario I can write it again? Isn't applying with a bad MCAT better than not applying at all?

Sorry if it sounds stupid, I'm just not very familiar with the process. I hear a lot of people saying take your time, but I don't know why writing it can be a bad idea when I can just retake it?

Thanks

Because taking the MCAT sucks. Taking it twice would suck even more. It also puts a lot of extra pressure the second time you take it. You should never take the test if you're pretty sure you will end up retaking it. Also, it doesn't really look great to take the test multiple times. Remember that adcoms can see all scores and usually take all of them into consideration in some way. So a very low first score may hurt your chances.

Applying with a bad MCAT, for most people, is worse than not applying at all because you spend money and time applying... and then you have to do it a second time. It's better to take the time to build a solid application. Never rush things related to the med app process.

 

[TheAnonymous]

Because taking the MCAT sucks. Taking it twice would suck even more. It also puts a lot of extra pressure the second time you take it. You should never take the test if you're pretty sure you will end up retaking it. Also, it doesn't really look great to take the test multiple times. Remember that adcoms can see all scores and usually take all of them into consideration in some way. So a very low first score may hurt your chances.

Applying with a bad MCAT, for most people, is worse than not applying at all because you spend money and time applying... and then you have to do it a second time. It's better to take the time to build a solid application. Never rush things related to the med app process.

Thanks a lot for your reply. I understand why you are saying that. What if it's going to be my second gap year? Doesn't 2 gap years look really bad?

Btw to give you some insight (not sure if it helps) by improving I mean going from ~30 to like ~35 (GPA: 4.0) ... 30 is not a bad MCAT but I'm saying that I know I can do much better than a 30

Any thoughts?

 

[Oso]

2 gap years will not look bad, and could even look good as long as you're doing something productive.

If you're ok with having a 30 as your score, then sure go ahead and take it. Maybe you'll get the 30, maybe you'll score a little bit higher. If you think you would be unhappy with it, then no I would wait until your test average is closer to 35. Remember, most people score around their AAMC practice test average. This means average score plus or minus a 1-2 points. Depending on the test day, this means your average of 30 could translate into something between 28-32, with the possibility of an outlier, of course. That's just something to keep in mind. And again, having to take the test twice can be annoying and stressful and discouraging.

However, you still have over a month to study. I would just stay on track and see how you feel closer to the test. You may find that you'll be ready to take it then after all. Good luck.

 

[TheAnonymous]

2 gap years will not look bad, and could even look good as long as you're doing something productive.

If you're ok with having a 30 as your score, then sure go ahead and take it. Maybe you'll get the 30, maybe you'll score a little bit higher. If you think you would be unhappy with it, then no I would wait until your test average is closer to 35. Remember, most people score around their AAMC practice test average. This means average score plus or minus a 1-2 points. Depending on the test day, this means your average of 30 could translate into something between 28-32, with the possibility of an outlier, of course. That's just something to keep in mind. And again, having to take the test twice can be annoying and stressful and discouraging.

However, you still have over a month to study. I would just stay on track and see how you feel closer to the test. You may find that you'll be ready to take it then after all. Good luck.

Thanks a lot for your input, really helped! Thanks...