California Test Sites

[btowngirl]

I want to give advice that I wish someone had given me. DO NOT REGISTER AT A UC. Take the MCAT at a California state school. The state schools generally have fewer test takers so they are more efficient and the atmosphere is more relaxing. I know there are situations where people have good experiences at UCs and bad experiences at state schools, but in general, the state school location will be a better place to take the MCAT.

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[flighterdoc]

I want to give advice that I wish someone had given me. DO NOT REGISTER AT A UC. Take the MCAT at a California state school. The state schools generally have fewer test takers so they are more efficient and the atmosphere is more relaxing. I know there are situations where people have good experiences at UCs and bad experiences at state schools, but in general, the state school location will be a better place to take the MCAT.

Don't take it at Pomona College, either. Apparently it's quite common for them to schedule campus-wide power outages on MCAT afternoons, we lost power for more than 30 minutes, about 40 minutes into the last section. The proctor said that the same thing happened last year.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Minus the actual test itself, I had a wonderful experience taking the MCAT at UCLA. I went in with really low expectations, but it was great.

 

[pyra]

For San Diego people, do not take it at UCSD, take it at SDSU. When I took it at UCSD, we were at Peterson hall and the desks do not even fit your booklet and scantron. Take it at UCSD only if you like balancing your test booklet on your lap and you like taking it in a room of 300+ stressed premeds. Oh yeah, and if you especially like neck aches that last for 3 days.

 

[Medikit]

Two of the classrooms out of the 5 that they use at American River College near Sacramento have desks that are far too small (You can pull out the desk from the chair next to you to get more space, though)

 

[premyo2002]

Don't take it at Pomona College, either. Apparently it's quite common for them to schedule campus-wide power outages on MCAT afternoons, we lost power for more than 30 minutes, about 40 minutes into the last section. The proctor said that the same thing happened last year.

This is not a joke!!!! I was there too

 

[Csv321]

For San Diego people, do not take it at UCSD, take it at SDSU. When I took it at UCSD, we were at Peterson hall and the desks do not even fit your booklet and scantron. Take it at UCSD only if you like balancing your test booklet on your lap and you like taking it in a room of 300+ stressed premeds. Oh yeah, and if you especially like neck aches that last for 3 days.

So that's why there were so many UCSD people at SDSU this April when I took the MCAT. I heard from a coworker of mine that it was because they heard we had full-sized desks so they registered SDSU as their first choice. I didn't think this was actually true. I have to say though, you UCSD people are hard-core. In between breaks, the UCSD students would have their flash cards and notes out STUDYING in the hallway! In my opinion, if you don't know it by test day, why bother?

But as for more people at UC, I don't think that's necessarily true. I heard SDSU was more crowded than UCSD due to the desk preferences.

 

[Mr Reddly]

Even better advice....

REGISTER EARLY!!!

I didn't.
Had to make a two hour drive to take the thing.
The response to my requested schools was "sorry. You're going where we tell you to go."

 

[illinu]

Iheard Oakland Health Center is pretty decent and Cal State Haywrd is decent. Any Ideas about Santa Clara U or SJSU?

 

[btowngirl]

It sounds like people at UCSD already heard not to take the MCAT at a UC. The unfortunate thing is that you can pick the location but you have no say in which room you are assigned. My friend took the MCAT at American River College and had a huge desk to work. So it really depends on luck. The important thing is to remain calm and recognize that a lot of this stuff is out of your control.

 

[sfbear]

I took the test this April at UCB, and it was much better than I expected. The proctors were great, and even though it was Cal Day, we had no interuptions and stuck to the schedule. Parking's easy, and there's plenty of places close by for lunch. There are the small desks, though, but it's no big deal if you're used to it.

 

[EarlyEditionDude]

I took the MCATs at both Fresno City College (FCC) and UCD and by far, I prefer FCC. There was hardly anyone taking the test. There was about 30 test takers and more than half went to the college or Fresno State. While at UCD, there was just too many people. Signing in took approximately 90 minutes. It was horrible!

 

[pmpndaflip]

Anyone in the LA area. Take it at USC. The exam is usually administered in the Law school so we had the law school tables (super! lots o room and great lighting). They break you up in to 30 or less in each room. If you take it anywhere else DO NOT take it at pomona colleges/claremont cuz the tables are smaller than my nuts and they have orange lights (that is...if they don't have black outs).