Need advice please~

[jans11]

Hi guys! I need advice on whether I should reschedule my MCAT date or not.

I am currently signed up for the date of August 4th 2018.
I have not started studying yet because I am still in school and I have so much school stuff to do and no time to study for the MCAT.
I start my summer on June 18.
I am going to take a princeton review 123 hour prep course June 18 - Aug 3 (M-F 10am-1pm).
I technically only have 6 weeks of studying (I am not including the week of the test because I am planning on reviewing).

I am freaked out because my friend got a 512 and he took off the whole semester to study for and take it. A lot of my friends have told me I am taking it pretty early, but I honestly feel like I'm taking it late even with my Aug 4 date.

***I want to change my date to August 31st, but that is very late since schools run on rolling admission. I go to a small christian private school and we have tight ties with Loma Linda Medical School. I would love to attend this school. The only reason why I am at the current college I am is because I want to go to Loma Linda Medical School. I know they start looking at apps in December no matter how early you take your MCAT or submit your application. This is why I want to push my date so I can do really well on my MCAT. However, if I push my date to August 31st (I don't think others are available from my location), that really screws with my potential of getting into other schools, which I would also want to push my options since I am not sure if/where I will get into. I am not sure what to do:
(1) To take it aug 4th, in which I don't really feel like I will be able to do my absolute best, but am taking late but not as late as the 31st to possibly make it to other schools besides Loma Linda but I might even stand a chance against everyone
(2) To take it aug 31st, which is late but enough time to know I can do my absolute best for Loma Linda, but possibly too late for other schools, but also might not even get into loma linda

I have a 4.0 gpa right now and I know I might sound crazy for worrying, but keep in mind that I go to a small christian college, so I do not know exactly where I stand in a pool of well-known public and private schools.

Please help me!! Thank you for reading.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[sunshine859]

It's hard to advise whether you should change your date when you haven't even started studying yet. Maybe you'd be able to score 512 if you took it today, or maybe you need just as much study time as your friend did. It's really hard to tell. Regardless, you're starting behind many of your fellow applicants if you take the test in August in the first place, as you well know. I would suggest taking an MCAT practice test to give yourself an idea where you stand right now. This may help calm your nerves or perhaps give an indication that a gap year might be advised in order to ensure you're putting your best foot forward when you apply. In regard to your other point, a solid GPA (which you definitely have) and a great MCAT score vastly outweighs prestige of your undergraduate institution, so that's not something to worry about.