Premed Students Left in Waiting Room

The day had come, the day so many premeds work toward, cram for and dread. The only good thing about the day was that, inevitably, it would end. For better or worse, the MCAT--the Medical College Admissions Test--would finally be behind them.

Or so the 115 college students thought when they arrived Saturday at Cal State L.A.

As instructed, they showed up at the testing site before 8 a.m.

Unfortunately, the tests didn’t.

“You prepare so long for a test like this. You’re ready to take it. You’ve made plans to party afterward. And they send you home,” said Justin Peng, 21, a physiological science major at UCLA who was among those turned away before he could answer a single question. “It’s unbelievable.”

Officials at the Assn. of American Medical Colleges, which twice a year administers the MCAT, the test that most medical schools require for entry, confirmed Tuesday that test materials did not arrive at seven of 600 test centers in the United States and Canada. They said the United Parcel Service strike--since ended--was indirectly to blame for the snafu, which affected about 400 of 39,000 test-takers in four states and the District of Columbia.

“UPS was not the carrier” that bungled the delivery, said Jack Hackett, the association’s manager for test administration. But the delivery service that is used--which Hackett would not name “for security purposes”--was overwhelmed, he said, by increased volume resulting from the strike.

Hackett said notices were sent out Monday night offering students three options: Take the test this Saturday at the same site, take the test next April or get a refund of the $160 registration fee. He also offered sympathy for those inconvenienced.

But Paul Cohen, a spokesman for the Princeton Review, a company that offers courses preparing students for the MCAT, said some students are more than frustrated. Those who go to colleges that started classes this week, such as UC Berkeley, will have to choose between studying for Saturday’s test and enrolling. Moreover, they’ll have to travel back to Los Angeles to take the test where they originally registered.

Cohen described the association’s response as “ ‘my dog ate my homework.’ They have a very cavalier attitude toward the whole thing.”

UCLA’s Peng is more fortunate than some. His classes don’t start until next month. He plans to take the test Saturday--though as of Tuesday, he had yet to receive the notice giving him that option.

“Hopefully,” Peng said, “UPS will deliver those.”