Sorry I was kind of in a hurry when I typed that, Please excuse the spelling and lowercase letters.

I think most people take the MCAT during the spring of their Junior year of college. If I remember correctly, I took it in the fall of my last year of college, but then the med schools had to wait to get the results before inviting me for interviews - it did delay things a little. You could take it once you've finished all your pre-med classes, though, which could be as early as the start of your junior year.

It doesn't really matter if you take classes in summertime, but I wouldn't be surprised if pre-med classes aren't offered in summer time - basically I'm thinking that chemistry with lab is less likely to get enough students in summer time to justify the college running the class. I could certainly be wrong on this though.

People definitely apply to different medical schools. Usually, like college, people apply to a variety of medical schools. Usually one or two "safety schools" where you are pretty sure you are qualified to get accepted, a bunch in the middle, then a few "reach" schools that you probably can't get in to, but you'd like to go to if you get accepted.

Blocked from med school - basically bad grades and poor MCAT scores, as well as very bad interviews. I don't know if felony convictions could keep you out - I've never had to look into that.

A couple of thoughts:

1) The "best" time for the MCAT is Spring (April) of your Junior year. You can take it in August, but as Doc Admin mentioned, it slows up the application process. The MCAT is hard, so be prepared for it. I took the GRE before graduate school (where I went before med school), and I thought the GRE was a complete cakewalk compared to the MCAT. But that's just me... I had a pretty solid arts and letters background to begin with, and (at that time) less of the sciences on which to hang my hat.

2) Some colleges/universities have premedical science classes which ARE offered in the summer. BUT!!! (Ahhh, there is always a but...) Well, that's your summer, pretty much. I mean to say, it sucks. You have very little time for anything else, you are usually in lab at least twice per week, PLUS lecture every day... and by the time school starts again in the Fall you are burned out from the Summer, rather than refreshed. At least, that was my experience.

Summer classes are cool if you take a subject that you have to take to graduate, but one that is pretty chill. That way, you have some time for the beach and/or the mountains and/or the opposite sex, and you free up your Fall schedule to really hone in on the pre-MCAT work.

3) I would recommend application to as many medical schools as you can afford, and at which you could actually see yourself. (e.g. If you are from Brooklyn, and absolutely want big city life, North Dakota might be a bad choice, for example). I think that I applied to twelve schools, and some people apply to even more than that.

It ain't cheap, either, by the way, with the general application fees, secondary application fees for each school, and traveling to and from interviews. We are usually talking in the multiple thousands of dollars, here.

4) I agree with Dr. M. and think that a felony conviction might well keep you out of med school. The other stuff (MCATs, GPA, being a complete butthead in an interview) you probably knew anyway.

Good luck and go get 'em!