As part of The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD's Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook book tour, I have been speaking to pre-med groups throughout the country. On April 14, 2011, I had the pleasure of meeting with the Boston College Mendel Society. Thank you to Meghan Grimes for making this event happen. I will be contacting the Boston College bookstore this week to carry The Medical School Admissions Guide. Of course, the book is always available through MDadmit, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
One question that came up in the Q&A that I would like to answer here for everyone. It has to do with whether or not you should submit the AMCAS application before receiving your MCAT score in order to move the process along. This is relevant for those of you taking the MCAT in late May or June and won't receive the scores until after the AMCAS opens (usually in early June). Many applicants worry that by turning in their AMCAS in late June or even July, they are putting themselves at a disadvantage for rolling admissions schools. It is certainly true that applying early to rolling admissions schools is important. But I always suggest waiting to submit the AMCAS application until you receive your MCAT score because your score may be low and, thus, you may decide to wait a year and apply the next cycle. By submitting the AMCAS (even without a MCAT score), you are considered to have applied even if you don't turn in one secondary. Therefore, you will be considered a "re-applicant" when you actually do apply the next cycle, and this is a huge disadvantage. So let me break it down again - the disadvantage of being considered a re-applicant because you withdrew your AMCAS after receiving a poor MCAT score drastically outweighs the advantage of turning in your AMCAS application the minute it opens in June.
Next stop of The Medical School Admissions Guide book tour: Harvard!
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