MCAT test date

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I am a junior majoring in biology and I am planning to apply to college this summer but I have a doubt, when do med school start reviewing applications?</p>

<p>I once went to a pre-med info session and I was told that most of them start on August.. I am asking this because I want to know when I should take the MCAT, the latest would be the better but I don't want to hurt my chances just because of the delay of my score.. If you could give me some insight, I would appreciate it. Thanks</p>

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<p>I assume you meant med school here?</p>

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<p>You can start filling out the application (AMCAS) usually around the first week of May, but you can’t submit it until the first week of June. After you submit, it gets reviewed by AMCAS and then sent to the schools.</p>

<p>You should aim to take the MCAT by mid-May if you want to be among the first applications considered at the schools you apply to. But really, the earlier the better, so you have time to consider your score, select schools based on that, decide to retake, etc. before AMCAS opens.</p>

<p>thanks for your reply.</p>

<p>Yes, I meant medical school! </p>

<p>Well I was just thinking it that it would be better if I have at least 1 month to prepare while I am not in school… </p>

<p>And I just have a doubt… can the AMCAS review my application even if they don’t have my score yet? I think they will take about 2-3 weeks to review my app so then I could take the mcat in june… </p>

<p>Any more thoughts?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert-2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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At least in one state, it will take much longer then 2-3 weeks before the medical school even starts to look at your application. For this application cycle, it is rumored it will take close to 2 months (officially, it is 10 weeks.)</p>

<p>If you consider the basic unit of wait time at each step is a month, not a week, it may be close to the reality: After you take the mcat, you need to wait one month or a little bit longer to get the score. After you submit your application to tmdsas (amcas is a little bit more efficient here), you need to wait 2 months for them to finish verifying your data and ready for the medical school to download your application file. You then need to wait, say, one month (up to 3-4 months) to receive an interview invite. After you receive the invite, the interview date is likely one to 1.5 month away. After the interview, you wait a month or even 3-4 months to get the result. The basic unit of wait time between two milestones is a month, not a week.</p>

<p>Mcat2,</p>

<p>yes I understand that the process is very long… but I was just wondering whether or not the AMCAS can verify my transcripts before they get my mcat score. </p>

<p>For instance,</p>

<p>I submit my application by the first week of june, send my transcripts and fill the application. Then I take the mcat on june 16, get my scores on july 19. </p>

<p>Would the amcas wait until they get my score (july19) to verify my transcript? or can they do that while they wait for my score, then once they get my score, they can send my application to med school right away?</p>

<p>I am sorry if I am not very clear but I really would like some insight.
Thanks</p>

<p>andriuxs, Although I understand your question, I do not know the answer to your question. Hopewfully, some other CCer could help you on this. As a parent of a premed student, I only have some second-hand info.</p>

<p>But if you take the test late and for some reason you need to retake it, your second test will likely be very late. This is because there may be no seat available in your test area for the next MCAT test when you find you would like to retake the test. </p>

<p>Also, when your AMCAS is completed later than another applicant, some medical school may give you an interview date that is later than the date which is given to that applicant. You may find that you are still waiting for the interview when 1/4-1/3 of the admission slots have been given out. (This actually happens to DS who took his MCAT toward the end of May. But another reason is that he might not complete the secondaries as soon as possible.) This is especially true for an “early” medical school which starts to give out acceptance on Oct. 15.</p>

<p>AMCAS will verify your transcript w/o a MCAT score so you should definitely submit everything rather than wait until you have a MCAT score.</p>