<p>...then the best time to take the MCAT is during junior year, is this right?</p>
<p>I would say Senior year would be better. It's recommended, for instance, that people applying their Junior year of college to also take the MCAT the Spring of their Junior yr.</p>
<p>Terminology here is confusing. Medical school applications for those who wish to take no time off should happen during the summer between junior and senior year, in which case the MCAT should be taken before that summer.</p>
<p>you're supposed to take it the march/april date of your junior year. i read that in the "168 best medical schools" by princeton review, which is (a) probably pretty reliable and (b) a very interesting read. i learned that u of colorado med school is $8,000 in-state and $72,000 out-of-state.</p>
<p>While there is a big difference between in-state and OOS for Colorado (as there are for most states), the AAMC doesn't show the gap being that large:</p>
<p>AAMC</a> Tuition and Student Fees Reports</p>
<p>Also, many students find that Mar/Apr of Jr year is a difficult time to prep and take the MCATs since they are also doing course work. The summer after Sop and Jr year are also recommended times to take the MCATs, depending on when you finish certain (but not necessarily all) of the premed courses.</p>
<p>OP, see the sticky at the top of this forum and do a Search as there are many threads about timing of the MCATs, and it's not necessarily a one size fits all.</p>
<p>I found that USN's tuition data was comically off. Wouldn't surprise me if other sources are as well.</p>
<p>I will have finished all of my pre-med reqs except for physics if I were to prep for the MCAT the summer between my sophomore and junior year. How large is the physics portion in the MCAT? Would it be wiser to wait until after I finish physics?</p>
<p>Here's the breakdown - I don't think it's been changed in a couple years, but take these as approximates.</p>
<p>Physical Sciences
-50% Physics
-50% Gen Chem</p>
<p>Verbal Reasoning
- no definitive breakdown but assume you'll get at least one passage from social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences each...from there, it'll vary from exam to exam the splits between those categories.</p>
<p>Writing Section
-2 essays with prompts from a variety of categories, this is a crapshoot.</p>
<p>Biological Sciences
-75% Biology
-25% Organic Chemistry</p>
<p>Wow, I didn't realize the physics portion was so large.</p>
<p>This has probably been asked a good number of times, but how important, would you say, is the writing section? I enjoy writing immensely, but I've found that I have trouble doing it under a time limit (Particularly, from taking the SAT). I imagine the format is more or less the same as the SAT essays...</p>
<p>Not very, and the format is extremely different.</p>
<p>The writing sample is not very important at all and is more a test of thinking than writing. Usually when people end up with obscenely low writing scores, it's due to a) not following directions or b) some logical fallacy they made in their examples/synthesis rather than due to the writing itself.</p>
<p>Yeah just don't get anything around a J (lowest writing score) and you'll be fine - while the writing score isn't all that important, a ridiculously low school like that would set off some red flags.</p>