Will AAMC do anything for me or am I out my $225?

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crazydiamond

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I'm scheduled to take the MCAT on May 28th, so just a few days away. Saturday I suffered a personal tragedy and was the worst day of my life. As a result, the emotional suffering I'm going through is so immense that I can barely breathe, let alone eat, sleep or take the MCAT.

I can physically take the test but I will not do well. I feel like there's no point in trying. Ideally, I'd like to reschedule for a later test date.

According to the MCAT Essentials, they won't do anything for me because it's less than 14 days from the test date. I can write to them and ask them officially cancel me (but with no refund), I can choose to just not show up, or I could take the test and void my scores.

I don't want to waste $225 of money I don't have, but their policy seems pretty unforgiving. Do you know if they will do anything for me? If not, what should I do?

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Very tough situation when tragedy strikes so close to the test date. I didn't experience this so only you know what is best but if I were you I would probably go to the test... take it... if I felt like I wasn't all there and could have done better..VOID. If I somehow felt like I pulled through and understood a lot...SCORE and be done with it.
 
i hope you get through the worst of it.

I agree with the above suggestion. Just take the test and void if you think feel it.

AAMC is known for its evil money grabbing ways and its no refund policy.
 
Let them know right up front in the centre and send a message off to the AAMC via email immediately. They may get back to you in time.
 
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Let them know right up front in the centre and send a message off to the AAMC via email immediately. They may get back to you in time.

I'll second the comments above, my sympathies for ur tragedy.. If u can physically go to da test, worst case scenario is that u take an expensive AAMC practice test..

On a sidenote...
I cancelled twice already n lost $550 ..ouch but this makes me think why AAMC doesn't come up with a way of swapping test dates b/t students. Tons of students decide to sign up/reschedule late and all seats are filled up then , however AAMC locks people in (post deadline) who ain't gonna show and would die to reschedule, given that there's both supply n demand to barter test-dates b/t students i can't get why AAMC won't do this.... oooohh their financial interest im charging broke students multiple registration fees gets in da way.. that's IT MONEY!! IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY :mad::mad::mad:
 
Let them know right up front in the centre and send a message off to the AAMC via email immediately. They may get back to you in time.

So the person at the desk of my testing center will send a message to AAMC? What happens then? What kind of response can I expect to receive?

Thanks everyone for the kind words. It's been a trying time and it's going to take me a long time to recover, but hopefully in a month or so I'll be in a better mindset to take the MCAT.
 
No, YOU send them a message, NOW. Also tell them at the centre. It's never a bad idea to tell people everything. I doubt they will be able to do anything for you at the centre (they're just peons) but it's always worth it to see..
 
I had a situation quite similar. I was scheduled for a retake of the MCAT, had studied religiously and was scoring mid-30s consistently during the previous three months. Ten days before the test our home burned to the ground, and my son and I barely made it out alive. Originally I was going to try to sit the test anyway, but when I started driving through red lights and struggling through simple things in life, I went to talk to my advisor, who suggested I write in and cancel the test, giving them the reason. I did so, and received a 50% refund.

There is no guarantee, but at the time it was such a relief. I would encourage you to ask for a partial refund rather than just sitting the test and voiding your score - although each person is different, this test is to pivotal to your future, you will want to do very well.

Best of luck whatever you decide!
 
Thanks for everyone's responses. And wow, so sorry for your tragedy, JRRSEhope! That's awful!

I decided to just take the exam today anyway. I was doing well enough yesterday and got a good night sleep, so I figured I'd go and take the test and see how things went. They didn't go too badly and I ended up having the test scored.

So, it might have worked out OK in the end. I didn't really do any prep this past week, but I did look over some notecards this morning, so at least formulas and such were fresh in my mind.

And if I totally bombed, well, I'll just retake it. The school I want takes the highest score anyway, so I guess it won't be the end of the world if I don't do well. At worst, it was a pricey practice test.
 
Can you hear me? I am cheering for you! (I even busted out some of the old "spirit fingers" and "jazz hands" from the old cheerleading days in h.s.) Let's hear it for the moms, huh? :thumbup::xf:
 
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