When should I take the MCAT?

[Phrozen]

Hey all,

I've been studying for the MCAT all summer but I still don't feel as ready as I should be...

I'm scheduled to write it on August 25th.

I am going to be taking Biochem, Organic II, and 2 courses of English to satisfy the requirements for some Carib schools. I won't be done these until May 2008. So I will not be applying to schools until at least then. I'm retaking Biochem (Fall semester) and Organic II (Winter semester) so I don't want to apply until those grades are out. I am sitting at approximately a 3.0 GPA at a Canadian school in Biological Science and around a same GPA in sciences...

I have a few options...

1) Take the MCAT on the 25th and hope to do well (~high 20-30).
2) Reschedule it for next year in January or May?

I don't know what to do. http://www.studentdoc.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_sad.gif

Until my exam date I am doing as many practice tests and passages as I can as well as reviewing the content in the EK books... I'm hoping that I can be confident enough to score well.

Thanks for any advice...

[ericismyname]

Did u get Cs in those classes or D/F? From what I've gathered from this forum, SDN forums, sdn premed handbook, and dr. sandford brown's premed handbook, the best time to take the mcat..assuming you are on a 4 year track to graduate with a bachelours, would be the time around the end of jr year. Once you get the results back, it should be time for applications to start for the year after your sr year(for med school).

So if i were you and i did C's or better, id probably take it. If i were you and got D's/F's I may wait.

To be honest I have not taken organic 2 or bio chem or the mcat yet. I am just going off what ive read off the 4 sources i listed above.

Hope this helps.

[Phrozen]

Did u get Cs in those classes or D/F? From what I've gathered from this forum, SDN forums, sdn premed handbook, and dr. sandford brown's premed handbook, the best time to take the mcat..assuming you are on a 4 year track to graduate with a bachelours, would be the time around the end of jr year. Once you get the results back, it should be time for applications to start for the year after your sr year(for med school).

So if i were you and i did C's or better, id probably take it. If i were you and got D's/F's I may wait.

To be honest I have not taken organic 2 or bio chem or the mcat yet. I am just going off what ive read off the 4 sources i listed above.

Hope this helps.

I got D's in those 2 courses because I had 5 finals in a row (in 5 days) :(. I got A's in all the other sciences courses...

I'm still thinking on what to do...

[ericismyname]

Correct me if I am wrong but dont they offer the MCAT like 4-6 times a year and it only takes half a day and the turn around time for your results are much shorter than back in the day?

If you are capable of A material in sciene, do not settle for those D's. Get As. If you werent going to already.

Do you graduate may 2008?

If you are graduating may 2008 and hoping for a fall placement in 2009, you are prettylate for the application process. Most students would have applied sometime at end of jr year...basically once they got their MCATs back.

To me there seems to be 2 good options here. 1 more risky than the other of course.
1. Take the MCAT aug 25th. If you do poorly, retake it, but you must score better the second time!!!
2. Wait until you retake biochem and organic2. I am not sure exactly how much biochem in on there since it is not a requiredd premed course in any school that i am awareof. And if you have taken organic2 once and have taken all the rest of the preed courses you may be able to do well even without a good grade in organic2.

But you will want to bring those Ds up so you are competetive in the application process.

Sorry if this is confusing.

[Phrozen]

Correct me if I am wrong but dont they offer the MCAT like 4-6 times a year and it only takes half a day and the turn around time for your results are much shorter than back in the day?

If you are capable of A material in sciene, do not settle for those D's. Get As. If you werent going to already.

Do you graduate may 2008?

If you are graduating may 2008 and hoping for a fall placement in 2009, you are prettylate for the application process. Most students would have applied sometime at end of jr year...basically once they got their MCATs back.

To me there seems to be 2 good options here. 1 more risky than the other of course.
1. Take the MCAT aug 25th. If you do poorly, retake it, but you must score better the second time!!!
2. Wait until you retake biochem and organic2. I am not sure exactly how much biochem in on there since it is not a requiredd premed course in any school that i am awareof. And if you have taken organic2 once and have taken all the rest of the preed courses you may be able to do well even without a good grade in organic2.

But you will want to bring those Ds up so you are competetive in the application process.

Sorry if this is confusing.

Well I just did the PS in AAMC CBT and got a 12... so I'm going to keep on doing PT's.

In Caribbean med schools they have rotating admission in Sept, Jan, and May... so if I apply in May next year I think I can get acceptance for Sept or Jan...

[ericismyname]

You may be able to, someone who has gone through the caribb application process could shed some light on when you need to apply to get into which class.

[Phrozen]

I think I was just freaking out a bit... things are going better now.

I am going to write it and do my best and if I do have to retake I can always do that after.