<p>USNWR online access is $30. Peanuts compared to what the application cycle is going to cost you!</p>
<p>[2013</a> US News Medical School Compass](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/medical_school_compass.htm?src=sear]2013”>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/medical_school_compass.htm?src=sear)</p>
<p>@plum. Yep. I’m a first year.</p>
<p>Fellow 2013-14 applicants, because of increasing time commitments, I will no longer be posting to College Confidential. It’s been a long haul. I started here the winter before I started college and CC helped me navigate my way through that stressful period. But I have different needs now, so I will spend what little online time I have mining SDN for as much useful information as I can find. If anyone wants to carry on existing communication, you can find me there under the same name. Best of luck to everyone, and I hope we all get into our dream schools 
Goodbye.</p>
<p>Plumazul…</p>
<p>We’ll miss you. Best wishes for you!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>OK, PS completed and fully revised, submitted to letter committee, waiting for committee interview to be scheduled.</p>
<p>First of her rec letters uploaded to Interfolio.</p>
<p>WOWM–you seem to have lots of good information. I just checked the MCAT site and it said that summer mcat testing dates are posted in spring. Is there a specific date those come online and if so when (or are they already online)? DS needs a late summer MCAT test date–will he be able to get one??</p>
<p>DS needs a late summer MCAT test date–will he be able to get one??</p>
<p>And he’s applying this next cycle? How late will he be testing? </p>
<p>The app process is very stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. If the testing date is late (mid July or later), you may be creating a situation where the student ends up with no IIs or no acceptances. </p>
<p>Why is he testing in late summer?</p>
<p>I think VAmom2015 has a son that is applying for 2015.</p>
<p>MCAT dates become available on AMCAS in mid-October for the following year.</p>
<p>The dates for 2013 are here:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/258544/data/2013-mcat-exam-schedule-us-canada.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/258544/data/2013-mcat-exam-schedule-us-canada.pdf</a></p>
<p>If he plans to test in 2014, then test dates and registration for those dates will open in mid-October 2013. (He’ll need to check the AMCAS site to see exactly when registration goes live.) </p>
<p>The MCAT is not offered during Oct - Dec.</p>
<p>As for will he be able to get the test date he wants. It depends. Some locations have lots of pre meds who want to test on specific date. If he is flexible about his date (willing to take the exam on Thursday instead of Saturday, for example, or willing to consider any Saturday in August rather than a specific one) and willing to travel a bit farther from his campus, he should be able to schedule a test date close to the one he wants.</p>
<p>*I think VAmom2015 has a son that is applying for 2015.
*</p>
<p>Ahh…do we need a new thread for those applicants so things don’t get confusing?</p>
<p>Sad to see you go, Plum.</p>
<p>In committee interview news, I’m apparently a terrible interviewer (my words, not theirs). An introvert to the core, I thought that I at least gave an average effort during my interviews today. One of my interviewers even remarked that I seemed uncomfortable and stiff. Can you really tell the future pathologists this early? :(</p>
<p>No, what really mark a future pathologist is when they faint when trying to give an injection to a live mouse. (Honest to god true story! MD/PhD student, btw.)</p>
<p>actually that’s probably better suited for radiology. Lot’s of fine needle aspirations and biopsies to be done as a pathologist.</p>
<p>I was asking because he plans to take the MCAT this August. I read the following FAQ on the AAMC site:</p>
<p>Why are there no seats available for the June through September exams?
The MCAT program releases each year in two blocks. The seats for the first block include January through May and are released in the fall of the calendar year prior to exam. The second block of seats is for June through September and those seats are released in the spring of the calendar year of the exam. We will normally announce on our website a week in advance as to when we are going to open those seats.</p>
<p>Do they release in two blocks or all the dates open now? You have to have an account to view dates, and I’m not planning on taking the test! 
DS will have finished the classes he needs to take the exam and he’s planning on studying abroad next spring, so this summer is his target for taking the MCAT.</p>
<p>Hmmm… according to this page:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/reserving/261800/deadlineandscorerelease.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/reserving/261800/deadlineandscorerelease.html</a></p>
<p>Registration for July thru Sept test dates opened Feb 13, 2013.</p>
<p>I was asking because he plans to take the MCAT this August. I read the following FAQ on the AAMC site:</p>
<p>Is he applying this cycle? If so, that’s very late. He won’t have his scores until Sept.</p>
<p>^^no, her DS is currently a sophomore, but will be doing a study abroad during spring semester of his junior year. So he’ll be applying during the 2014-15 cycle.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. Looks like the FAQ’s are out of date. Hopefully DS is on top of this, but since he’s doing things a little out of cycle he may not be fully informed! I’ll remind him he better look to see what’s available.</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>My DS took the exam in August last year, just before beginning his junior year (a practice recommended by his university for those who have completed all premed math & science requirements by the end of sophomore year). However, he did not sign up for the exam until late May or early June, and as a result found himself locked out of all locations in our area. He (and we) ended up traveling two hours across the state the previous evening to be there in time for the exam. Given this experience, if your DS is sure that he’ll take the exam this summer, signing up sooner rather than later would give him more freedom of choice.</p>
<p>Thanks kristin and BDM for the recommendation-getting advice. I had an advising appointment with the professor who taught me the first bio class (he’s also an advisor in the dept.) and causally brought up the med school app process, timelines and interviews. At the end i asked if he would be willing to write me a letter (he knew me very well since freshman year and I always went to him to schedule classes), and he said yes, but I would be the very last person he would write for this cycle. I was amazed; he said I should’ve probably started asking around Dec. or Jan. since he has a very busy schedule and that I was lucky I asked him now. </p>
<p>He will write a strong letter though, and asked for my resume and a draft of the personal statement, because “I don’t want to write that you just got an A in my class and that it was hard.” So I’m very glad I secured him, and will try to get on my PI as well as a humanities prof next week before spring break.</p>
<p>Just goes to show that not all the advice you from ‘advisors’ get is sound!</p>