what do you think of this plan?

[JRock310]

i posted this once before a LONG time ago in the pre-allo forum, but wanted to know what you guys think.

i dont post on SDN very much, but i definitely lurk almost every day! i consider myself a non-trad because i have an almost 4 year old daughter and am part of a single parent program at my college. although i am 21, i definitely do not have the "traditional" situation or college experience!

with that being said...i am applying to medical school THIS YEAR! as in, for the class of 2010.

here's the thing...i am planning on taking my MCAT in mid july 2009. at that point, i will have my AMCAS 100% complete except for my test scores, but i forget...are you allowed to submit it to schools even before your scores come in?

now...what i wanted your opinion on...everything i read says "APPLY EARLY!!!" as in taking the MCAT in april or may. the thing is, i don't get out of school until the 2nd or 3rd week of may. i am taking organic chem and physics this year (taking I right now, will take II in the spring), and then my pre-reqs are done. i realize that july isn't the time that everyone says to do...but i have my daughter, and there's no way with all that i have going on i will be able to take them any sooner.

when im done with school, i plan on not working this summer (already talked to my family and they are going to support me during this time). therefore, i will have a good 8-10 hours a day for 8 weeks (from when i get out of school in may until july, when i take the test) that i will be able to study for the MCAT, without having to worry about $ or jobs, etc.

i guess my question is, do you think i will be ok? i am getting so nervous about taking the MCAT early, but i still think i am taking it pretty early? and i guess i look at it as...if i take it any earlier, i would not be prepared, so i dont think i would do as well.

any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated. my school does not have a very strong pre-med program (as in, it's best not to take the advice of advisors), so i am really 100% on my own for this and have relied heavily on SDN!

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[Ishiguro]

So obviously applying early is the best possible option. That said, you have great grades so far, and it sounds like you have a solid plan for the MCAT.

True story: my SO is at Hopkins Med. He took the MCAT in September and didn't complete AMCAS until October. That's, like, horrifically late in the game. It hurt him at a few schools, I think, but he wound up OK in the end-- and this is with a very good but not earth-shatteringly spectacular application. Meaning, he had a coherent story and an interesting set of experiences (much like you) and good grades and a solid MCAT, but he hasn't cured cancer here. Compared to that, I can't imagine that you'll be too bad off with a summer application, especially if you get everything set up and ready to go before the MCAT. You aren't giving yourself wiggle room, so just prepare super well.

This coming from a close observer of the admissions process who hasn't yet even started her postbac. But all I'm saying is, don't let people freak you out about the timeline.

 

[NTF]

I agree that the July MCAT is fine. But here's my advice:

1)Make sure you have all your other ducks in a row - LORs, transcripts, AMCAS (you can submit it before the MCAT), secondaries, etc. This way you'll be complete at schools as soon as your scores come in. Mid/late August completion is still early and should put your app in the running for the first wave of interview invites.
**Be aware that it can take AMCAS up to 6 weeks to verify your transcripts - so shoot for getting your trancripts and AMCAS submitted by late June (or earlier)**
2)Work on your secondaries before you get them. Most schools don't change their essays from year to year and the prompts are readily available on SDN. This way as soon as you get the secondary invites you can send them out pronto.

Alot of my advice is about giving you the best practice for your application season. Realize that if life gets in the way and you apply later than the above timeline, you can still have a very successful application process. I applied early (complete at all schools by mid/late August) and I can tell you I'm much less stressed than some of my compatriots. I have 3 acceptances already, will have completed almost all of my interviews by mid November. It really does beat waiting in limbo until winter/spring the next year.

The only downside to the July MCAT is if you don't get a score you're happy with and feel the need to retake in August or September. But given that you're giving yourself alot of concentrated time to prepare I think you'll do great. Good Luck!

 

[student1799]

now...what i wanted your opinion on...everything i read says "APPLY EARLY!!!" as in taking the MCAT in april or may. the thing is, i don't get out of school until the 2nd or 3rd week of may. i am taking organic chem and physics this year (taking I right now, will take II in the spring), and then my pre-reqs are done. i realize that july isn't the time that everyone says to do...but i have my daughter, and there's no way with all that i have going on i will be able to take them any sooner.

when im done with school, i plan on not working this summer (already talked to my family and they are going to support me during this time). therefore, i will have a good 8-10 hours a day for 8 weeks (from when i get out of school in may until july, when i take the test) that i will be able to study for the MCAT, without having to worry about $ or jobs, etc.

i guess my question is, do you think i will be ok? i am getting so nervous about taking the MCAT early, but i still think i am taking it pretty early? and i guess i look at it as...if i take it any earlier, i would not be prepared, so i dont think i would do as well.

I would URGE you not to do this. I was in the exact same situation as you this year, took the MCAT in July, and I've lived to regret it.

Just like you, I was taking heavy-duty classes my last semester (orgo, bio and orgo lab), and knew there was no way I could start studying for the MCAT until they were over. (BTW, I'm also a parent: I have 2 kids in elementary school.) I, too, thought that a July MCAT would allow me enough time to study for it and do well. Based on the advice of other students at my school, I signed up for the Kaplan online course and studied 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day from May 15th until July 7th (the day before my exam).

The problem is, **** can happen, and with a July test date you won't have much time to regroup. In my case, I did extremely well on all my practice MCATs (35 average, and my range was 34-36), but the real test was a different story. I got an incredibly hard PS section--much harder than any of the practice tests I'd taken--and was very nervous to boot, and ran out of time without finishing all the questions. In retrospect, I really should have voided, but I had no idea what score I'd get, and I could tell that the other sections of the test had gone well. When I saw my score, I was shocked to see I'd gotten a 7 in the PS. (I'd gotten 10's and 11's on all my practice exams.) My total score was 30S: 7 PS 12 VR 11 BS. Although the total score wasn't bad, that 7 was a disaster, because many schools will screen out anyone who scores below an 8 in any section of the MCAT.

Luckily, I'd had the sense to register for a retake and start studying for it right after the July exam. I chose August 15th, the earliest date after my July score would be released. In the meantime, I filed my AMCAS application (late July).

Although I thought the second MCAT went much better, I was wrong. I got a 7 in PS again! (I went up a point in verbal, so my second score was 31S.) But by the time I saw this score (9/16), it was too late to take the test again in 2008--the last administration was 9/13. And since I'd already filed my applications by then, I had to go ahead and apply with that 7 in PS, which will really sink me at a lot of schools. (In fact, because of that, I added a whole bunch of schools to my app which accept students with relatively low stats, just to increase my chances of getting in somewhere.)

The moral of this story is that things don't necessarily go according to plan with the MCAT, but there's no way to know until you actually take it for real. I'm admittedly a strange case, because I have always done extremely well on standardized tests in the past, but the MCAT is unlike any test I've ever taken. In fact, I'd call myself living proof that the unexpected can indeed happen. Hopefully it won't happen to you, but you need to be prepared in case it does.

So, what am I recommending you should actually do? It depends heavily on your individual situation. Possible scenarios:

1. Everything other than your MCAT--GPA, ECs and LORs--is uniformly strong. In this case, I'd say you could get away with your original schedule, because if your first MCAT score turns out to be mediocre, the rest of your application may be strong enough to outweigh that.

However, I would NOT file AMCAS until you get your first score back. (Have the essay written and your transcripts sent to AMCAS, but don't push the button until you see your MCAT score.) If you're unlucky enough to get a really bad score your first time, I think it would be wise to put off the application process until the next year, to give yourself time to improve your score. (See scenario #2.)

2. You have at least one significant weakness in your app (low/uneven postbacc GPA, "baggage" from the past, weak ECs, etc.). In this case, I'd recommend applying a year later, to give you plenty of time to tackle the MCAT and get a stellar score. (This is what I'd have done myself, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.) In this case, I'd sign up for an August or September exam rather than July, to give yourself plenty of time to study and take practice tests. If you score well the first time, great; then you can spend a few months really honing your personal statement for the AMCAS application, lining up LORs and transcripts, etc., so you'll be ready to apply in JUNE. (I too thought this was exaggerated when I first heard it, but if your application is anything short of perfect, applying early is MUCH, MUCH better than applying later.)

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to save another nontrad from some of the mistakes I made.

Good luck, no matter what you decide.