<p>I don’t think he will be published until spring of his senior year so even though he will have research, a first or second author would make a difference. As it is, he will be a thrid author on one paper and will only have a poster presentation. If he wants to apply to a research-heavy school. I think it might make a difference. He feels a gap year is a failure, so I am sure he will simply study on his own. To me the added stress is the lack of information on the test. While he knows what is supposed to be on the test and has some test prep, he has been bombarded with comments about how difficult the biochem questions were on the experimental section last year. </p>
<p>When is he planning to take MCAT 2015? </p>
<p>LizzyM says 30.2 and 3.72 for IU. Not sure how many are admitted but 40% of In State students are matriculating (273/684). My suggestion would be to take the very last old MCAT in January to see how well he does if he does not want a gap year.</p>
<p>He wants to take the new MCAT in May or June. He will get verified right away pre-write his secondaries while waiting for his scores. He has no desire to try for the old test. Besides, he is a psych major, so he is looking forward to the new psych section.
When is your DD taking the test? </p>
<p>Registered for mid September. She is in a lab during summer and so prep is proving to be difficult.</p>
<p>" don’t think he will be published until spring of his senior year so even though he will have research, a first or second author would make a difference. "
-No requirement of being published at all. Most are not published anyway. And another thing - everything that is in PLAN for the senior year that applicant believes might make a difference, SHOULD BE INCLUDED in application. Stating that the manuscript is submitted for publication is good enough. It is also possible to update your application. Publication or not should not hold you back. It there are other considerations, then you have to assess them separately, but publication is not the one. D. and all of her pre-med friends did not have anything published and had good choices of Med. Schools, including top 20s.
I am not familiar with the MSTPs requirements where Research / Publication may have a heavier weight in application.</p>
<p>@texaspg is your child a rising junior? Mine is registered for end of August MCATs. He’s doing kaplan prep on line which was probably not necessary. But it provides structure for his studying. And if the end result is high score then it was worth it. He’s also doing some medical research and shadowing. So a really busy summer. He was complaining the other day that all his non premed friends are making money this summer while he’s working 2 jobs and studying and making no money. But we told him that that’s a path to becoming a doctor. A lot of years of no wages or slave wages. </p>
<p>@momworried Yes, rising junior. Mine gets paid by the research program but it basically covers room and board.</p>
<p>Just wanted to note the average age of matriculation for medical school in the US is now 25, so a gap year is not recognized as being a failure.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf</a></p>
<p>If I am not reading incorrect, median age is 23 not 25 (second table).</p>
<p>It is interesting to see 75% of all men made it at 25 and 75% of all women made it at 24 while the average says it is 25.A Apparently many older people are entering medical school thus skewing the average.</p>
<p>I think that is true to some extent, @texaspg I know that my general practitioner is in her middle to late 40’s and has just been done with her residency for 5 years or so. She did her residency right after she finished med school, so probably started in her early to mid 30’s.</p>
<p>Bumping this because AMCAS has put out a document with pofficial policies listed by specific school:</p>
<p><a href=“Register for the MCAT® Exam | Students & Residents”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/398586/data/mcatexampolicy.pdf</a></p>
<p>thanks wowmom. Looks like only LSU is proving to have oddball administrators thus far?</p>
<p>Thanks! What does everyone think about the schools that prefer 2015 but will accept both? Do you guys think a student will be at a big disadvantage applying with old MCATs? It seems like our state schools is one of those and my son will be taking the MCATs in 2 weeks. Should he even bother applying there next year?</p>
<p>I would be surprised if those preferring 2015 will get many scores, at least in time.Everyone has to plan to take it in April, make sure they do well and also have no idea how the scores will compare to other 2015 for a baseline for the school they are applying to.</p>
<p>It is really bad timing. The test should have been introduced in January to have any meaningful planning for the colleges to claim a preference.</p>