Our Faculty. ALEX Advising. Student Research. Off-Campus Study. Academic Calendar. Campus Life Expand Navigation. Be Who You Are. Where to Live. Where to Eat. What To Do. Arts at Hamilton. After Hamilton Expand Navigation. Find Your Future. Career Center. Outcomes Reports. For example, if you want to apply after your junior year of college, it is recommended to take the MCAT the summer after your sophomore year.
You can still take the MCAT in January, March, April, or June of the year that you apply, but that will require you to study while you are taking normal courses. If you want to take the test in July, August, or September of your application year, keep in mind that your application will not be early. First, you will not be as rushed to squeeze in all your pre-med activities in your first three years; you can spread out them out over four.
Often times, your extracurricular activities become the most significant and meaningful during your senior year. Therefore if you apply after your senior year, you can include them in your application. Also, you will have an additional year to improve your GPA if you need to , engage in significant extracurricular activities, rest, and learn more about yourself and the world. You can make turn yourself from a relatively average applicant to a very competitive applicant in just one year.
Lastly, you might also need a long break after four years of intense studying during college. If you apply to medical school after your third year, you will have to study for and take the MCAT the summer after your second year a time when you could be doing a summer research program or taking summer school to boost your GPA or during your third year meaning you will have to study while you are taking regular classes. Either of those options may not be ideal for you.
Applying after fourth year gives you more time to prepare for the MCAT. Going to interview after interview while you are still in school can be incredibly exhausting. You may be interviewing on a Friday when you have a midterm that following Monday, a seemingly unnecessary extra burden. It is difficult to really enjoy the interview experience if you always need to go back to school right away.
If you prefer to complete your academic year and then begin intensive study for the MCAT, a late summer or early fall test date might work best for you. Although it would occur later in the application cycle, it would provide you with time to exclusively study for the test, without regard to class work as well.
If you think that you may want to take the exam more than once, you may want to give yourself the option of taking the exam earlier in the testing year. When planning for your MCAT, it is best to decide when you want to enroll in medical school, and then work backwards from there to decide on test taking options. For example, if you want to start medical school in Fall you may want to take your exam during allowing time for a retake. You should allow yourself time to review your scores, look carefully at criteria for the medical schools you are applying to, and decide if you should take the test more than one time.
There are very liberal limits to the amount of time you can take the MCAT exam. You can take the test three times in a single testing year, four times over two consecutive testing years, and you can have seven overall lifetime attempts. Please note that if you choose to void your test or do not show up for an exam, it will count toward your overall attempt limitations.
It is important to note that each medical school program has a different procedure for how they view and evaluate multiple scores. Most schools do not accept scores that are older than two or three years. It is best to review admissions guidelines and carefully adhere to the requirements of the medical schools you are most interested in applying to.
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