Total MCAT Virgin in need of advice

[Kussemek]

Hey, I have been lurking around for a bit and now I finally have a question. I am a Sr. at UC Berkeley looking to take the MCAT this coming April. A few problems, I have no idea where to start. I will be taking physics, which is the last of my pre-med pre-req's, this year and am hoping to apply for admission for the fall of 2004. Can anyone help me out?

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[Jason110]

Fall 2004? It's too late for that if you haven't taken the MCAT yet. You need to apply this summer for medical school for admission for fall 2004.

Your best bet is to take the April MCAT, apply summer 2004 for fall 2005 admission.

In order to study, there's many ways to do it. Basically, if you are self-motivated, buy a couple of MCAT books and do the assignments. However, if you're like me (and a slacker at heart), I would recommend taking a prep course like Princeton Review or Kaplan.

The MCAT covers material from: Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, and General Chemistry classes. There are also verbal and writing sections. More information can be found at: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm .

Hope this helps,

Jason

 

[Kussemek]

Thanks! It definately was of help! I am looking at applying to a few schools with really late application deadlines, I should have stipulated that in my earlier post.

 

[ice_23]

Kussemek,

It is very difficult, I hear, to get accepted if you apply so late (i.e. with your April 2004 MCAT score for that fall's acceptance). Are you sure that you want to try this?

Taking a year off would greatly boost your chances of acceptance. Unless I am misunderstanding what you are trying to do?

-Ice

 

[IndyZX]

ive never heard of anyone taking the mcat with the intent of going to med school that same year.

i would recomment that you take the april 04 mcat and apply over the summer of 04 after you graduate.

explore opportunities for your year off, im sure you wont regret it.

 

[zinjanthropus]

are there really any schools that have june application deadlines? if you take the exam in april that is when you will receive your scores and the school's aren't going to review an application until then. As a matter of fact, if you look through the threads on this board, you will quickly realize that pretty much every school has very very full waitlists by june with people anxiously awaiting news and movement.

 

[Dr.Linus]

I have not seen any schools which use April MCATs of the same year to accept students for the same year fall. Even taking August MCAT the previous year puts you behind somewhat.

I think you would be better off taking a year off, doing something interesting, and applying to medschool. If you are in Berkeley, I would suggest, Berkeley review for MCAT, they are the best.

 

[Clipslicer]

So are you really a virgin?

 

[lyragrl]

heard of a med school where you can take the April MCAT and matriculate four months later. Most schools are winding down their admissions process for the year (or at least the non-waitlist part of it) by the time the April MCAT is administered. Besides, it takes two months to get your MCAT scores. It ain't like the GMAT where you can sit for the test and get your scores the same day...

 

[lyragrl]

heard of a med school where you can take the April MCAT and matriculate four months later. Most schools are winding down their admissions process for the year (or at least the non-waitlist part of it) by the time the April MCAT is administered. Besides, it takes two months to get your MCAT scores. It ain't like the GMAT where you can sit for the test and get your scores the same day...

 

[Kussemek]

The program I am referring to is a foreign school.

 

[zinjanthropus]

are you planning on applying to foreign schools before you even give american schools a shot? i wouldn't apply to foreign schools just so that you can start med school in 2005, i would think of them as more of a back up plan as opposed to a convienence....besides, many of the foreign schools follow the same admissions cycle as american schools, if not even earlier (UK and Australia for example)

 

[Kussemek]

im just weighing out all my options...i know that i dont want to apply to a million med schools and that i have a few that really interest be both here and abroad.