So there's still lots of time before the actual MCAT (I won't take it before the April date, most likely, if not later). I don't know the list of 2011 dates though, or when the AAMC opens up registration for the test, and I haven't decided on whether I want to go for a test in April/May/June/whatever yet either.
This is the kind of thing that's easy to push off day-by-day and let slip a bit if you're not proactive about it. If that happened, one day I'd wake up and realize that my preferred test date was full and I had to take it later, or I'd have to drive 75 miles to a testing spot that wasn't full yet. It's also important to figure out for the purposes of signing up for a prep-course before it gets filled up, so I want to decide when I'm taking the test, and I want to register the moment it opens up. I found the AAMC phone number and was going to call them today to figure this out. It turns out they close two hours early on Wednesdays (go figure), so I'll give it a try tomorrow.
The general AAMC application opens at the very beginning of June; in my case, we're looking at June 2011. That's not the test - it's the real application where I start filling out forms, writing essays, and sending in my grades to various medical schools. The application period runs through summer and into early fall (varying a bit by school). The earlier you apply the better it is for you, since many places work on rolling application where invites get sent through the cycle on a case by case basis.
While the MCAT is offered year-round, if you take it in April your score should be back in time to apply at the very start of the application process in June. If you take a later MCAT, you get extra time to study. I've mused on this before, but it's hard for me to figure out if this sort of trade-off would be worth it. I really think I'd prefer April or May. Taking the test in May 2011 might be a good option, but I'm just not sure if the extra month of study time is worth my application coming into the cycle a bit late. And with only 1 class in my second semester, I /should/ have lots of time I could spend studying on the MCAT. In theory, you'd think I could get ready for an April test date. Then again, I need to find out how long it takes to get MCAT scores in. If I take it in May, will the scores be in just a few days after June starts? If that were the case, I'd hardly miss on anything at all. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn't get them in until the end of the month, which would be more serious.
I wish I could put off the decision until I saw how I was doing in Organic Chemistry and knew how much of my life that course was eating up, but that's just not possible.
Interviews for schools will start being sent out to fortunate individuals in August 2011, and you would actually begin school in the fall of 2012.
