Should I take the MCAT June 1 or May 24th?

[kgamon8]

I'm planning on studying this winter, next sem until school gets out in May and then taking the MCAT and applying.

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[PizzaTime]

6 days will make zero difference in your score. Choose whichever date you like.

 

[kgamon8]

is June 1st too late?

 

[SLU Student]

It makes 0 difference, and no the later date is not "too late."

 

[Highdrogen]

Preferably take in on May 24th over June 1st. If this cycle has taught me anything, the sooner you get to work on your application and submit it to AMCAS the better.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Wouldn't it be better just to apply next year? Gain experience and work on the secondaries ahead of time so you're not overloaded? I know we all want to go to med school, but it's not a race.

 

[Professional Student]

Should I tie my left shoe first or my right shoe first?

It makes no difference and neither date is too late by any means. Just be ready to submit you primary as soon as you score comes out the first week of July, or have already submitted it to your state school and add schools based on your score when it comes out.

 

[Piglet2020]

I took the mid-june mcat ~16/17th and had plenty of II’s thus far.

My friend took it the end of June and still got II’s.

 

[monty522]

1) Since the MCAT score is vital to medical school admissions success, you should spend near 100% of time, energy, and focus on it
2) Since a highly polished AMCAS is a vital school admissions success, you should spend near 100% of time, energy, and focus on it
3) Having these two items overlap in time can cause conflicting priorities
4) while the ideal would have the MCAT complete prior to application season beginning, you are well ahead of the game to plan this out
5) I would slowly work on AMCAS from now until a month or so before MCAT, you can certainly develop EC and PS well ahead of the application opening
6) Push aside AMCAS and Focus on MCAT as you get closer to test date (1-2 months)
7) pick up AMCAS after you have taken MCAT; AMCAS needs to highly polished narrative showing motivation, commitment and achievement in a coherent, concise, and compelling manner for PS and EC. Having a connecting "theme" or "focus" across these items is my general advice.
8) Do not rush to submit an AMCAS: you dont get in because your application is first, you get in because your application is good
9) Do Not, repeat, Do Not submit AMCAS without knowing your MCAT score except to single "throwaway" school for verification
10) when you get score back, you can add schools and be transmitted within a day.
11) Submitting July 1st, getting verified and Transmitted by August 1st is still early.
12) In your case, you should consider medical school application a fulltime job from now thru next September as you have school, MCAT, AMCAS, and some 15-30 secondary applications

Personally, I think that AMCAS shouldnt be open to an applicant without having an MCAT score first. I find far too many applicants who spend that spring term 1) Completing hard coursework like Ochem and Physics; 2) prepping for the MCAT; 3) writing PS and EC for AMCAS, all of which can leave you task saturated and not do well in them all.

Yes. 100% this. The summer after I graduated was MCAT time. This gave me a perfect psych section score. The summer after was AMCAS time. The personal statement was so stressful that I'd probably jump off a bridge if I had to teach myself biochem simultaneously while writing it.

 

[jazzmetal]

As a current applicant who tested in late May this year, I'd say take the MCAT on the date when you feel you can get your best score. If six extra days will help you clear your head from finals and get more immersed into the testtaking mindset, then take those extra days, because a higher score will be worth a lot more than applying six days earlier. Be aware, though, that testing in May/June leaves little margin for a retake; studying for a retake in June/July would definitely conflict with getting your application in early. Some last-minute events made my test day go a lot worse than I expected, but I had no wiggle room left to delay so I had to go with a score that I'm not that happy with. If I were younger, I would definitely have held off for another cycle.

You really do want to submit as early as you possibly can, for most schools. There are some that don't care as much about timing, but there are others, e.g., Tulane, that reward getting your application in on Day One. See the school-specific threads to figure out which ones are which.

No matter when you're scheduled to take the test, be sure to order your official transcripts early. Order one set for yourself toward the end of April and send another set to AMCAS in early May. That gives you all of May to make sure they are received and logged by AMCAS, and to enter all of your courses and grades so that AMCAS can start verifying them just as soon as you submit your primary. Everything on your primary has to be done before AMCAS will put your application in the queue for verification, which is basically proofreading your course/grade data entry against your official transcripts. It takes less than a week to get to the front of the line if you submit on the first possible day, 2-4 weeks if you apply by mid-June, and a lot longer after that.

If I were just finishing up undergrad, I would absolutely take my time applying. Finish spring semester, study for the MCAT that summer, take the test in September, and take a gap year OR TWO to build on my research, clinical and volunteering experiences. Being a nontrad definitely made my application a whole lot richer, especially the secondaries.

My two cents. Best wishes for a successful cycle for you!

 

[kgamon8]

is it okay to submit to my state school without my score or not? Are you saying May vs June doesn't really matter as long as I'm prepared?

1) Since the MCAT score is vital to medical school admissions success, you should spend near 100% of time, energy, and focus on it
2) Since a highly polished AMCAS is a vital school admissions success, you should spend near 100% of time, energy, and focus on it
3) Having these two items overlap in time can cause conflicting priorities
4) while the ideal would have the MCAT complete prior to application season beginning, you are well ahead of the game to plan this out
5) I would slowly work on AMCAS from now until a month or so before MCAT, you can certainly develop EC and PS well ahead of the application opening
6) Push aside AMCAS and Focus on MCAT as you get closer to test date (1-2 months)
7) pick up AMCAS after you have taken MCAT; AMCAS needs to highly polished narrative showing motivation, commitment and achievement in a coherent, concise, and compelling manner for PS and EC. Having a connecting "theme" or "focus" across these items is my general advice.
8) Do not rush to submit an AMCAS: you dont get in because your application is first, you get in because your application is good
9) Do Not, repeat, Do Not submit AMCAS without knowing your MCAT score except to single "throwaway" school for verification
10) when you get score back, you can add schools and be transmitted within a day.
11) Submitting July 1st, getting verified and Transmitted by August 1st is still early.
12) In your case, you should consider medical school application a fulltime job from now thru next September as you have school, MCAT, AMCAS, and some 15-30 secondary applications

Personally, I think that AMCAS shouldnt be open to an applicant without having an MCAT score first. I find far too many applicants who spend that spring term 1) Completing hard coursework like Ochem and Physics; 2) prepping for the MCAT; 3) writing PS and EC for AMCAS, all of which can leave you task saturated and not do well in them all.