Well, talking the MCAT in August would mean applying late this year. That is less favorable than applying early. Also, you would be relying entirely on MCAT prep to get you ready for the exam and some of the material is likely to be new to you. Generally IMHO if your prereqs are 10 years old or older, you are better off doing them all over (as in the one-year program near you), taking the MCAT with all the material fresh, rocking the MCAT, and applying early in the spring next year.
Would increase your chances (AND your preparation for medical school) all the way around.
Kate
I can see Kate’s response in e-mail but not on this board. I hope you can see it, ephman, as I think it contains sound advice.
You graduated the same year I did. My research shows that while med schools will look at your (our) old coursework as part of their evaluation, they pretty much all require that you show coursework within the past five years. I was recently at a panel discussion with admissions directors from SUNY-Stonybrook, Cornell, and Mount Sinai, and they each explicitly said they needed courses within the past five years.
One note–does the career-changers’ program end next May? I think if it is a one-year program, you will have many classes to finish, and if so, you will leave little time to study for a spring MCAT. Kate has done it, as she has explained above, but that is a choice you will have to make given your schedule and study skills.
If you do need to leave off classes to finish during your lag year, let those be Organic 2 + Lab and, if you can, Physics Lab, Math, Stats, etc. The others you will need for the MCAT. Personally, wrt the MCAT, I think you could get away with skipping all the labs until later, but in some cases they will be indivisible from lecture and in others, it may just be simpler to take them at the same time.
Take good stock of how much time you can safely leave to prepare for the MCAT. It does seem to me, based on my totally subjective conversations with other students, that it is the most important factor for adcoms. That may not be popular to say, or even true, but that seems to be the story for the current lag-year post-baccs at my school.
I have been told that the end of July test date is the very, very last date you should take the MCAT to apply in that year’s cycle–and if one does that, one will need an otherwise stellar or close to stellar profile.
The med schools I have spoken to (UNC, ECU, Wake Forest) say that there is no time limit on prereqs but that they want to see recent coursework, in upper level classes if you’re not repeating the prereqs. Most schools require at least one or two letters of recommendation from science professors who have taught you as well.
I would call a few schools your interested in and see what they say.
You’ll probably need some more medically relevent experience. You can talk all you want about your interest in medicine but so does everyone else applying to med shool. You’ll need to ‘show’ them through shadowing, medical volunteering, etc.
thanks all for the replies. my first reaction is to apply this year and get started asap. the better course however may be to exercise some patience and make my applications stronger with recent classes, more volunteer work, more time to prepare for MCAT, etc.