taking MCAT late or later?

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IRpremed

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I have 2 options for an MCAT date,
July 8th 8:00am, but id have to drive for 1.5 hrs
or
July 29th at 1:00pm, and I would have to drive for 10 mins.

Im not a morning person, but is it worth postponing my exam till the 29th simply because of the drive and time?
or should i suck it up and wake up at 5am/ get a hotel room for my MCAT

also, would this make me a late applicant?
thanks!

I wouldn't want to wake up at 5am to drive 90 minutes. I don't know about you, but I sometimes have test anxiety problems and I often can't fall asleep. So, if I was having a hard time falling asleep the night before the MCAT, AND I had to wake up at 5am, I'd probably do poorly because I'd be fatigued and not well-rested.

And yes, taking the July MCAT is VERY late. Your scores will not be released until August, which puts you at the end of the line.
 
I'm going to offer a slightly contrarian viewpoint. Everyone on SDN seems to think submitting your app anytime July or later makes you a late applicant and is a death sentence for your aspirations. I think there is even a late app. thread out there where everyone seems to think they were incredibly slack for submitting the first week of Aug. or so. While it's true you may be at a slight disadvantage for some schools submitting towards the end, I feel like this thought process way overblown and overhyped. I didn't take my MCAT until Aug. 5th, and didn't submit my primary until Oct. 13th and I did just fine this cycle. Now I did only apply to 7 schools and so if you are applying to 10+ schools this may make getting the secondaries done a bit tricky and so this is something to consider. But I would personally prefer to only drive 10 minutes to take the test rather than get up at 5 in the morning, and feel that the positive impact this would have on my score would be well well worth the 3 week delay in your scores. Just my thoughts on the matter...
 
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I would go for the later date because I can't imagine waking at 5AM. Better yet, just get a hotel.

If you are taking your test in July, definitely make sure you have AMCAS and everything done beforehand if possible. It is ideal to submit an earlier app.
 
Get a hotel. Take the test in the beginning of July. Starting a month or however long it takes your body to acclimate, start waking up at 8 AM and taking full length MCAT exams.

I didn't take my MCAT until Aug. 5th, and didn't submit my primary until Oct. 13th and I did just fine this cycle.
Maybe you got into your dream school, in that case, congratulations to you. But to the OP, do you really want to take that risk because you wanted to sleep in a bit more? There is really no reason at all to take the test end-of-July.
 
I agree with PedsDoc. I don't know what kind of test taker you are, but if there's any chance at all that being closer to home or in a more familiar setting will help you, I'd take it. Even if you're completely prepared for it, the MCAT is still not an easy test, and it's a good idea to give yourself every advantage possible.

If you're still worried about timing, just have your AMCAS completely filled out so that the scores are the last thing you have to do. An early September submit date might be considered late for SDN members, but there are a lot of people (myself included) who submitted even later than that.
 
I wouldn't want to wake up at 5am to drive 90 minutes. I don't know about you, but I sometimes have test anxiety problems and I often can't fall asleep. So, if I was having a hard time falling asleep the night before the MCAT, AND I had to wake up at 5am, I'd probably do poorly because I'd be fatigued and not well-rested.

And yes, taking the July MCAT is VERY late. Your scores will not be released until August, which puts you at the end of the line.

I haven't registered for my MCAT yet. I'm still hoping for June at the latest. I'd rather travel for the earliest possible date. If that means I have to travel 4 hours away, I'll do so the day before and sleep in a hotel!
 
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