<p>I am currently going into my second year of college. I am studying Biomedical engineering and was wondering when I should take the MCATs. I was planning of taking it the summer after sophmore year. By then, I would have completed organic chemistry, and physics, but not biology. Should I wait until i finish taking biology based classes? I am afraid I won't have time to study much during junior year, because the course load i unimaginably hard.</p>
<p>I would not suggest taking it until you finish your bio courses. Honestly, studying for the MCAT during the school year is not incredibly difficult if you balance it well with your courseload. I would recommend taking it in May or June, so you have time to see your score and contemplate on taking it again. You really don’t need to start studying until a couple of months before the exam, unless your courseload is really bad…</p>
<p>are you trying to go straight from undergrad to med school? If so, then i agree with above but not so you can think about a retake (this isn’t the SAT where that is standard practice), but so that you can apply to the right list of schools on time.</p>
<p>Do you know how others went about taking their MCAT? Did some leave a year in between graduating and applying to medical school to study and prepare for the MCAT?</p>
<p>are you asking me?</p>
<p>I know the average age of med school matriculants is like 24 so there are lots of people taking time off but my guess is my school is representative and roughly half of med students still don’t take any time off.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that unlike applying to college, applying to medical school takes a full year so if you want to go straight out, you have to apply during the summer between junior and senior year. Since so many schools are rolling, it is best to apply early so that means having an MCAT score in hand by the end of June and thus you need to take the MCAT by the end of May of your junior year and then getting your apps out.</p>
<p>If you are going to take a gap year, you could take the MCAT at the end of the summer after your Junior year and then submit your apps right after graduation.</p>
<p>If you want to spend a year after school getting ready to apply, you’ll end up spending 2 years off.</p>
<p>The decision depends on what your goals are/how strong your app is/are you ready for another 4 years of school after college (and 4 years that are exponentially harder than the 4 years you just spent).</p>