I was kind of hoping my coursework would be light this semester, which would give me a good amount of time to go over the general material. Now I’m less than two weeks away and terrified. My fear is that I don’t do very well this time out, so I end up talking it again for a better score at the end of the summer. My Hail Mary pass is to attempt to get into EVMS’ MS in Biomedical Sciences, which is kind of an entre, albeit a year long before a (non-guaranteed) placement in their MD program.
Any words of couragement? I was wiling to put the test off for another month or so, but considering how many people were raring to go when AACOMAS and AMCAS opened on May 5, I already feel like I’m behind.
Any and all advice would be appreciated.
I’d say postpone 4 weeks if you will truly have that time to prepare AND you currently are scoring low on practice MCAT’s. That is only if you will have serious, concentrated, 6-8 hr a day time or more. It’s probably better to take it later than it is to get a low initial score. But you’d need to check online immediately as I found many of the testing slots filled up and within a month of an exam, it was hard to find a testing site.
Someone else may give you another opinion. I do think, however, that there is some consensus that if possible you only want to take it once.
Kate
Thanks, although I think that I might be past the point where I can change it without having to forfeit the money I’ve already paid and start over again from scratch. I really can’t decide what the best option would be. How bad does it look if I end up talking it twice?
My school of choice lists the answer to that under their FAQs. Here is their reply: “How will my application be viewed if I have taken the MCAT more than one time? We expect that many students, if not the majority, will take the MCAT on at least two occasions. In that scenario we will look at the best scores, which are usually in the second set. If those scores are competitive the fact that you have taken the test twice will not matter at all. This may change if you take the test more than two times. Even with improving scores, your application, in terms of the MCAT exam, may be deemed to be a bit less competitive overall if you have taken the test three, four or more times.”
You may want to check the websites of some of the schools to which you want to apply and see if they address this question.
Thank you so much for saying that. I really, really needed to hear it.
I think I’m going to spend the afternoon e-mailing around then.
I guess where I’m frustrated is that I’m so excited that I could be all set to enter in the 2012 class, but one of my classmates gave me a warning that if I wait until later in the summer, I’m going to end up wait-listed at anywhere I go.
All of you are a really wonderful resource, and I’m only sorry I only drive-by often enough to tell you that.
AMCAS says I can cancel and move to a later time, and it’s like nothing ever happened. Phew!