Kaplan vs Princeton

Can you say, "can of worms?" I knew you could

I'll just note that when they crunch the #'s, Kaplan's average results are better.

 

It probably depends on the centers near your area. Your best bet would be to talk to peers and see what they thought.

In general, Kaplan is the larger of the 2 and has better materials, but much larger classes. PR limits its classes to about 9 students, but I heard that's because that's all they can get. I also heard there's a law suit going on with Kaplan suing PR for stealing Kaplan materials.

I'm not sure how accurate all that is though. I'm an MCAT teacher for Kaplan and so of course, they only told me one side of the story.

I took Kaplan and I thought it was a good course. If I could do it all over, I'd take Kaplan again.

Another option would be to just get the books and study on your own. Save yourself $1350.

 

I've taken both courses and I think Princeton Review is much better. I don't really think you need the class time, but PR books and materials are much better.

 

Can you vote against Kaplan without voting for PR? I took Kaplan, and the only valuable part of the experience was the practice tests. In general, I knew more about the science than the teachers did, and I know I scored better on verbal than they did, so I stopped going to the classes about half way through. That's just my experience, and since a lot of it depends on the teacher quality it's very unpredictable.

Hope that helps,

Adam

 

TC2001, I got your pm, and I've actually seen those #'s before, no bs. I'm trying to find them, but please have patience. I'm only applying to 2 schools & just got both secondaries, so forgive me if my priorities lie elsewhere at the moment. And I promise I don't work for Kaplan.

On another note, I'd like to point something out that I think people are missing when they say things like, "save some money and just buy the book," or "some people just need the structured studying."
The real value of the courses (from either place) is in learning test-taking strategy, not in reviewing the material through books or classes. I don't see how teacher quality matters at all. After all the college classes you've had, you should know most of the material. I don't care how hard you study the basics, knowing the information is only about 40-50% of the MCAT game.
I'm speaking from experience here. I studied my ass off last spring, using any number of commercial review sources (I plundered the public libraries here), but my big mistake was in not taking enough practice tests. You can fill your learning gaps as you do the practice tests, but the more test exposure you get, the better. If you can't fit one of the prep courses into your schedule so that you can do all the testing, either reprioritize or don't waste your money.
I can't say anything for Princeton Review, but I'll tell you now that if you can't put in serious lab time at Kaplan, you won't get your money's worth. If you don't study until after 9PM, don't fork over the dough. If you're willing to take time out of your life to do what it takes to get into med school, though, Kaplan can be a path to success. Which prep course is better probably depends on your learning style.