I was just looking at the schedule…it looks to be maybe 30 times in a calendar year! I’m just wondering about why so often…the SAT is, what, maybe 6 times a year? And the # of applicants taking the MCAT must be less than 10% (if not even less than that) than people taking the SAT or ACT.
Just wondering (as I educate myself on this topic for the near future).
The MCAT is computer-based and lasts a minimum of 7.5 hours (so all day). The MCAT is only offered at ProMetric Test Centers because of the amount of test security involved.
There are a limited number of ProMetric Centers. Each ProMetric Center can accommodate about 30-50 students testing at the same time.
With about 65,000-70,000 unique test takers each year (plus however many of those unique test-takers who do a retake), it takes a lot exam dates to accommodate everyone.
https://www.prometric.com/en-us/for-test-takers/pages/schedule.aspx?Type=schedule
It is not uncommon at times may have to take the exam not at the nearest location since that may be full and can not accommodate. Also dates in some months are more in demand (like April, May, First half of June) and hard to get the right location and the right dates. It needs some planning.
^^The same is true for the USMLE and COMLEX exams which are also only available at ProMetric.
Since most med schools require that students have their STEP 2 done before starting clinicals, it can be tough to find a test center in April, May, June. Some of D1’s classmates took their STEP exams in Las Vegas, NV, Dallas or Houston because the 2 sites in the state were completely booked.
Also the Step 2 CS exam is only available in 5 cities. (Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles) Students have to travel to the test site and stay over night in the city beforehand because the exam starts at 8 am.
Not only do all US med students have to test at the 5 test sites, but so do any IMGs or FMGs who are hoping to apply for US residencies.
D1 couldn’t find an open test site to take her Step 3 in CT (where she was doing her residency) so she scheduled her Step 3 in a town about an hour away from home when she came back to make arrangements for her wedding.
There are not enough centers and seats for MCAT and probably dates. I think they maximize the occupancy.at each center for each date by restricting them.
D was taking it in January. Needed to enroll her faraway, keep her on waitlist for a local date and pay more than half the fee for change of venue/date. Expensive proposition.
How far in advance should students register for the September (2020) or January (2021) mcat in order to help assure a seat in their desired city?
They open dates for each year in late October/early November.
So you wont be able to register for 2020 before November 2019 and for January 2021 before November 2020.
As for how far in advance should you register–that’s going to depend partially on what location you’re looking at.
In smaller towns where there’s a big college (think Ann Arbor), those seats fill up almost immediately after registration opens in November. If the college is located in or near a major city (Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles), you can usually wait until about 3 months before the planned test date to register.
Thank you!
The dates in January get filled very quickly because they open them in only in early November. So everyone who is waiting to take between semesters jumps on them as soon as they open. I could not find a date in entire state of texas because i waited a couple of weeks.