AMCAS submitted before MCAT - works for me!

I know that the pre-med advisors tell you not to do it, but I submitted my AMCAS app in June and will take the MCAT in August. I had read a post on here, months ago, that talked about someone else getting their secondaries during the summer before their MCAT, and that sounded very good to me. I figured that I had a very good chance of a decent score, and I would go wherever I got in this year.
So far I have paperwork from 4 of my 10 schools, and I am glad to be moving ahead instead of waiting. Maybe I'll change my mind if I don't do well on the MCAT, but for now I appreciate whoever gave that advice.

I also submitted my paperwork before getting my scores, and even though I am repeating the MCAT in August for better scores, I am not sorry. You have to realize, that with pre-med advisors, its a numbers game. They want to be able to have a high percentage of acceptances to brag about to future students. It shows how “great” their program is. I suspect too, that OPMers have a harder time, because they are seen as a “risk” (That has been my experience). Good Luck.
Kathy

Thanks both of you. I appreciate the info and will probably do the same thing you both did.
In a few short months…

I also submitted the paperwork and took the MCAT in August. I even got interviews before the scores came in. I remember one interviewer telling me that I was probably going to get in, as long as my scores were not scandalously low. Why wait one year? But I would only advise to do this if 1)It was impossible to take it in April for whatever reason and 2)I was certain that the score was not going to be too low (maybe a minimum of 26-27). Best of luck.

Hey guys smile.gif
Make sure you let us all know how that works out for you!! I am planning to do the exact same this time next year and will be very interested to know what happens smile.gif Very good advice!

Hey guys smile.gif
Make sure you let us know how that works out for you smile.gif I’m planning to do the exact same this time next year, so I’ll be interested to know what happens… Good advice!

For what its worth, my experience applying in 2002, was that while I submitted my AMCAS before I got my MCAT scores back, most schools waited until they received the MCAT scores before offering the secondaries (although this may well have had to do with my less-than-stellar undergrad GPA). Still, it was nice to have it out of the way, and given the problems with the AMCAS system conversion that year, it was good to have things in early. If I'd waited until October to submit the AMCAS app, I sincerely doubt things would have been verified in time to do me much good. I recommend doing the app as soon as possible. If you don't like the MCAT scores, you don't have to return the secondaries to schools you don't think you're competitive at.
Epidoc
MSU-CHM
Second Year