Taking the MCAT in Late May

[coramDeo]

Hey guys,

I just had a quick question about scheduling the MCAT!
Ideally, I want to take the MCAT in May, and the current choices are the 18th and the 31st of May.
I would prefer to take it on the 31st, as I'm in school right now, and though I'll begin my studying this coming week, I'll have finals in April, and would like some more time to study post-finals.

My worry is that, if I take the MCAT on the 31st, if my submission to AMCAS will be relatively late, and put me in a disadvantage. Also, I'm wondering if I take it on the 31st, if I'll have to build my school list without my MCAT score?

All in all, maybe I'm just being neurotic(but I've been told you're not really a pre-med if you aren't neurotic lol), but I'm wondering if taking it on the 31st is too late. I would love to hear some advice! Thanks 🙂

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[CyngusX-1]

Just from my experience, I took my MCAT late July and I am doing fine. I was neurotic like yourself but I do think that if your stats are worthy for the schools your are applying to then you will be fine as long as you take the MCAT sometime within the summer. Put more of the focus on doing well on the test, and making sure you get all of your stuff in for your schools committee letter (they took a while to write mine which slowed me down).

 

[coramDeo]

@CyngusX-1 did you have to make your school list without your MCAT score? My school doesn't have a committee so won't have to worry about the second part at least :/

 

[CyngusX-1]

So I went ahead and made a school list based on what I anticipated my score to be. Once I got my scores back I was able to cut some of the schools out and then I applied to the rest of the schools based on my score. Since you don't have a committee just make sure you go ahead and let the professors that are writing your rec letters know ASAP that you need them by May. Guarantee they will wait until the last minute to write these, it sucks but as long as you plan ahead and ask early it will be okay.

 

[mindlight1]

I would wait to May 31st because you are better off giving yourself time to do well on the MCAT. You don't have to wait for your score to come back to submit the primary - you can apply to one "throwaway" school to get the verification process started. Just recognize that filling out the primary is time consuming, and may take up a good part of June anyway if you don't have a head start on your personal statement, course list, activities/essays, etc.

 

[boundlesscorpuscle]

I wish someone had told me (as gonnif has) that I could submit my AMCAS without MCAT scores! Would have saved a ton of heartache. I ended up pushing my test date to early July, finalized my school list and submitted AMCAS after I got my scores back in August, and wasn't verified until September. That means some of my secondaries weren't complete until October (and I'll admit, some I pushed off even later once school started again). Needless to say, I thought I was kind of delusional going through with submitting my apps that late in the cycle. In a sense, I kind of was, but ultimately I think my stats saved me.

In that regard, taking the extra time to study and get a really great MCAT score has been worth it, for me, this cycle. If you take the MCAT May 31st and meanwhile get your AMCAS app verified, you should be complete at most schools with plenty of time to take advantage of the interview schedule.

 

[theKingLT]

May 31st sounds like a great schedule as follows:

1. Spring semester- study content and question banks
2. After april finals- dedicated mcat study; 2 full lengths a week
3. Sit for exam may 31st if practice tests are good
4. Take a week or 2 after exam to write up a perfect primary app. No errors.
5. Submit primary app early june with throwaway school and wait for mcat results. Start pre-writing secondaries to state schools and schools you're pretty sure will be on your list
6. July- Receive mcat score, make school list, submit schools.
7. Write secondaries
8. Interview prep and interviews
9. become a doctor

Good luck!

 

[Blanky]

May 31st is fine so long as you have your PS, LOR, etc all in line and app submitted when your score comes in on June whatever.

 

[coramDeo]

@gonnif @theKingLT somehow your posts slipped through my notifications; but thank you for such insightful answers! I think I have a good grip on what kind of timeline I need to have for this cycle 🙂.

Would you advise that it would be good to work on my PS/EC's while studying for the MCAT/in school, so that soon as I'm done with my exam, I can submit AMCAS then begin to work on secondaries? (I'm a Canadian so the school list is almost pre-determined for me anyways..)

 

[theKingLT]

@gonnif @theKingLT somehow your posts slipped through my notifications; but thank you for such insightful answers! I think I have a good grip on what kind of timeline I need to have for this cycle 🙂.

Would you advise that it would be good to work on my PS/EC's while studying for the MCAT/in school, so that soon as I'm done with my exam, I can submit AMCAS then begin to work on secondaries? (I'm a Canadian so the school list is almost pre-determined for me anyways..)

Your focus must be the MCAT first. If you are able between now and then to work on PS and ECs without impacting your MCAT prep then fine.

Personally, I recommend applicants take the MCAT the summer before application year or certainly have their MCAT score by now in order not to have these overlapping tasks. Then they can make a school list and start working on secondaries before AMCAS. Then they can better develop strong themes in AMCAS

I agree with this 100%. Taking the MCAT the summer before applying is really a godsend. OP, since at this point that's probably not an option you're considering, just do as the wise gonnif said and prioritize MCAT first, then primary app. It's better to submit a few weeks later than rush either of those things.

 

[chlorocruorin]

I can understand your pain, but after going through this process, I would've taken the MCAT in June...you won't submit your secondaries until mid July anyway. My first secondary was on june 29th...It really will not matter if you wait a week or two for your app. After looking back at my past self I realized how neurotic I was about the so called "timing" of my app

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Yeah please do not fall into the trap of thinking everything needs to be in exactly on the first day it is available. It is better to be a little bit later (Read: not late, just later than the day it opens) and have it be the best it can be. I took my MCAT June 30 and did just fine.

 

[coramDeo]

@Matthew9Thirtyfive @theKingLT @gonnif @chlorocruorin thank you all for your advice 🙂