Some Advice on What to Do Would be Nice

[CorgisAreLife]

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Hi
I will be a senior in college this coming fall and plan on graduating this fall as well with a B.S. in Biology and Minor in Psychology.
I am about to take and void the MCAT tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, like with everything I do school related I have procrastinated. I've gone through all of the content whilst taking notes and also completed the 30 minute exams except for physics (after I had completed content review so that it was not fresh in my mind) in the ExamKrackers 2015 Complete Study Guide. According to their scales of their short exams I averaged:
Biology I: 130
Biology II: 128.8
Chemistry: 127.2
Psychology/Sociology: 129.4
Verbal Reasoning: 127.2
I didn't even get to the physics part because I only started doing these questions a few days ago :/.

I started studying after I got out of school in May, but I was not strict with my regiment and so I've come to the point where all the practice I've gotten was with these books and a few hundred questions from mcatquestion.com which has more to do with recall then applying concepts and critical thinking that I've seen from the ExamKrackers. I have NOT taken any AAMC practice questions OR tests OR any full length tests for that matter, although I took a Princeton Review 2015 Practice Exam in person (to get a feel for the exam) as it was offered for free last Fall semester. I had not prepared for that one at all and of course didn't do well.
It would be foolish for me to think that my performance on these exam books will be representative of how I do tomorrow on the 18th. I also know that my definite weak point is CARS and have only had 100 or so questions of practice.

I fully expect to void my exam tomorrow, although I will try of course and see how I feel.
My question to you is:

If I were somehow to land a seat to retake the MCAT on the 23rd of September, the very last day to take it, and submitted my primary application then without knowing what my MCAT score would be, would it be a wrong idea?
I have a 4.0 GPA.
E.C.'s These are approximates but:
~20 hours of shadowing
~40 hours volunteering in an oncology center (I want to become an oncologist.)
~100 hours in a clinic BUT this was only during one summer (the experience was not very medically intensive, the most I did was speak to patients and do an in-take where I took down their medical history)
~100 hours of community volunteering with my community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega
~8 hours a week working for KUMON a Math and Reading Learning Center for elementary school students (I have had this job since highschool)
Awards/Honors
Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior

Some weaknesses in my application that I can already point out:
Lack of leadership position
Lack of meaningful clinical and shadowing hours
No research

I am a UIC undergrad that wants to attend UIC's medical school. I prefer to stay in Illinois and even moreso in the Chicago area. For MD that limits me to NU, UIC, UoC.

Should I apply this cycle? Or should I wait, maximize what I can get on the MCAT and improve my extracurriculars with the year and a half I would have off?

 

[Softballgal96]

Nice GPA! If I were you however, I would wait until next year for sure. The problem with taking the September MCAT is not that you won't do well, but that it is far too late to apply this cycle. Most interview spots will be given away by then. Those practice numbers aren't terrible- if you try your best to study 3-4 hours a day for the rest of this summer and take some actual practice tests, I see no reason why you can't do well in September. With a good score, and some more clinical stuff, you'd be a pretty competitive app next year.
Also, Chicago is nice in that it has 5 med schools - don't forget Rosalind Franklin, Loyola and Rush!

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

This seems like an easy dilemma. First of all, great job on the GPA! That is not easy to get, and therefore deserves some congratulations. Secondly, there seems like a whole lot of holes in this application/ problems that you will need to fix if you want to stand a better chance of actually getting into med school.

I'll detail them out (perhaps as my own way of procrastinating on secondaries)
1. You said yourself that you have procrastinated on the MCAT... clearly you should void that score, as you won't be able to achieve the score that you should/ would in better circumstances. It doesn't sound like you have even taken the AAMC full lengths, or any full lengths at all. Prepare more fully and rock the MCAT when you have ample time.
2. Even if you did rock the MCAT, your primary would be fairly late, which would substantially hinder you in the application process, the remaining spots would likely go to the stellar applicants (of which there are many, just check the What are my chances forum).
3. Relatively little clinical experience. Fix this before you apply
4. No research experience, similarly fix this.
5. No leadership... see the pattern
6. Limited to a small geographic area. That is not a recipe for success.

No offense meant, but I would recommend a year, or probably two, and apply to a good number of schools without the label of reapplicant.

 

[CorgisAreLife]

Thank you guys for replying and thank you for the compliment!
Lots of sleepless nights let me tell you, especially for organic labs because I would do the report the night before -.-.
I have a clear problem with procrastination as you can tell. I knew the deadline was in November, but only recently faced with the fact that I may not do well on the MCAT did I decide to look up similar situations and found out admissions are on a rolling basis.

I think with what I've seen on these forums and what you personally told me I will void my MCAT push back my MCAT date to a later day perhaps in the winter of this year or this upcoming year and look toward improving my application.
Since I plan to graduate this fall and have not held any leadership positions in organizations at school how should I go about demonstrating I can be a good leader out of school during my year and a half off?

Oh, and thanks for telling me about the other Chicago-area schools and that I should be more open to a variety of schools in different areas.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

It's amazing how stats driven the process is (but also makes complete sense, as adcoms look for proven academic excellence). Try to not have regrets in the process, oh I wish I had done this or that to prepare, go in to the MCAT and the application knowing that you have done everything you could.
School is one of the easiest ways to find leadership, but finding an initiative and executing it would be an excellent way of showing leadership. Some very successful applicants start their own foundations/charities, or you could cultivate a club and lead it... there are a lot of different ways.
I would say the number of schools that people apply to varies widely, but most people I have seen apply to around 20-30. Applying to 3 schools is almost unheard of.

 

[Lilo_007]

Just wondering, why are you planning on taking it if you are just going to void it? Either way you lose your money, but if you take it tomorrow you just have to waste eight hours taking a test that you can't review. I feel like it would be most beneficial to just skip it and spend the time taking a practice test so at least that way you can review it when its over, unless I am forgetting something about the MCAT policies.

 

[CorgisAreLife]

Thanks man, for the advice. I needed this wake-up call.

Just to get a feel of the real exam. Had I come to realize the situation I was in earlier I would have rescheduled. Since I plan on pushing it back all to winter the 8 hours does seem insignificant.