When should I submit amcas?

[resiroth]

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[MedPR]

June 1 wih pending MCAT

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[hunterjumper14]

Also-just a heads up: med schools won't see your transcript (or the note). You will have to enter every college-level course and your corresponding grade. AMCAS will verify these and med schools will simply see the course listings on your application, not your original transcript. So I think (someone jump in and correct me if I'm wrong!) that your GPA will show up as a 3.8 if you have an official grade for that class.

That's an interesting situation! I've never heard of a school doing that. That professor must have been pretty crazy!

Great GPA, by the way. I agree that you should submit ASAP. It's not uncommon for people to submit before getting their scores. And the scores are sent out to the schools automatically so there's no added work for you! Some schools will send you secondaries without your MCAT, too.

 

[lovesfall]

June 1 wih pending MCAT

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+1. I held out until late July on submitting my primary because I was nervous about my MCAT score and didn't want to "waste money" submitting the primary if I bombed the MCAT. It REALLY put me behind and stressed me out. Even with secondaries submitted in early September, I was too late for at least one of my schools (they even said so - after taking my secondary fee, of course). I would take the earliest possible MCAT so in case you do need to retake, it's still possible to retake this year. If you really think that taking it in another state will ruin it for you, I guess that's something you need to consider for yourself.

You CAN send updates to schools so not having it all in at the time of your application doesn't mean you'll never get to tell them about it. If you need to highlight future experiences somehow, can you include your plans in your PS or in the descriptions of your activities?

 

[Bru]

Based on your description you will be trying to cram in all your shadowing and clinical experience in the last semester before applying. Seems a bit half-assed IMO and frankly with the minimal ECs you have outlined, I'd consider waiting a cycle.

 

[amad01]

When should I submit the amcas given my minimal (at present) EC?
Stats:
GPA: 3.8 (3.9 if you discount a class I took which will have a note on transcript as saying it was run by a crazy person)
Research: 1 year + summer
Minimal EC: a club or two
Planning on: Shadowing over Spring break, volunteering this semester and continuing to shadow/volunteer from early May onward through the summer.

I have yet to take the MCAT. Should I take it in June 20th in my own state or May 30th in another state? (might be worse score-wise in another state).

Depending on which date I take the MCAT, when should I submit my AMCAS? Two possibilities: June 1st, or June 21st (after MCAT). If I take it on May 30th I would have everything processed by around July 1st I think, if I take it on June 20th it would be done by July 20th?

Question is: do I stand to gain from applying a bit late around June 20th just so I can have more clinical experience to put on my application or is it best to be early (and shoot for the may 30th MCAT date) even though my clinical experience would be lacking a bit?

Can you show from experience why you want to be a doctor and that you know what it takes to become/be one? ....... not that I care, but that's the point of clinical exposure... and having your first experiences in a hospital a month before applying to medical school, some adcoms might not take you seriously.

 

[resiroth]

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[MedPR]

My advisor said they would mention it in their letter so that might count? Fortunately I know i won't be screened out with a 3.8 but if they're at all on the edge the letter might help. My school never changes course grades unless the professor initiates it. A teacher once failed a whole class (serious personal issues) but they just added it in letters/on the transcript.

I know my problem is my lack of shadowing/clinical but there are reasons behind it that I plan to include in my PS. I do have two really big experiences which I feel like I can draw on in terms of why idealistically I wanted to be in health services, and then in terms of what being a doctor is actually like I'll have a good amount of clinical experience (nothing by SDN standards of course) by interview time. Do you really gain a new perspective from 1000 hours that 300 hours would not give you? I think not (personally). Before I apply I should have ~ 50-100 hours shadowing and ~50-100 hours hospital volunteering depending on June 1 vs June 20 and by interview time easily 300. I'll also have shadowed in different states/hospitals.


So is the consensus that I attempt to:
A: Take the mcat on May 30th in another state so that I can apply June 1st
B: Take the mcat on June 20th and apply June 1st
C: Take the mcat on June 20th and apply June 20th to allow for more EC
I am a little confused why I should submit the AMCAS on June 1 if I'm taking the MCAT on June 20th, do a lot of schools send out secondaries before receiving the MCAT? Will mentioning that I plan on continuing volunteering/shadowing over the summer have the same effect as actually having another 3 weeks of volunteering/shadowing under my belt?



I'm also not shooting for a high-end medical school, I'll take whatever I get (if anything)!

20 more days of ECs isn't going to matter at all. My vote is A if you're ready for the mcat by then.

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[resiroth]

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