Need advice: wait till august?

[UCdannyLA]

Yup, sorry, but this is one of those "i'm screwed for April, should I wait till August? posts"!! please help.

I'm a junior at UCLA.

I have a 3.75 GPA and am a Molecular, Cell, Developmental Biology major and I would like to apply to medical school this coming summer.

I had a really difficult/loaded winter quarter and I had a hard time finding time to study for the MCAT. I just started studying for the MCATs 3 weeks ago.

I have taken around 5 full lengths in the past 2 weeks and am averaging around:

VR: 12
PS: 9
BS: 9
for a avg. total of 31. (My Kaplan Diag was 23)

However I would really like to stay in california for medical school (UCLA, UCSD, UCSF, USC, UCI, Stanford)...which means I will need a very good MCAT score and most likely a 10+ in each of the sections.

With only a couple days left before 4/17 MCAT and my being exhausted from studying 10+hrs/day..I don't have any motivation to raise my PS and BS score right now...for once I would just like to focus on school.

Should I wait till August? I am confident I can raise my score to 11+ in each section for the august MCAT.

Is it better to apply to medical school this year (California ones) with a ~31 (12vr 9ps 9bs) early or is it better to send my application in late with a 35+ (12vr 12bs 11ps)?

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[Apparition]

I can't really offer any advice but my situation is very similar, even the practice scores. Verbal has been fine but the sciences are also around 9.
Like you, I've had little time to study because of intense corseload this semester and I'm still debating whether to take it on Saturday. And my TPR diag was 23 as well, though I didn't take the course. The schools in my city are also very competitive and I'd really like to stay here. Sorry I can't help but good luck if you do decide to take.

 

[brodaiga]

I am in the same situation, but the way I see it, why not take it and see what you get? A lot of people tend to improve versus practice scores. I would feel bad after all the prepation for the April, and not even taking despite paying 200 to take it. Plus, look at the options, if you get what you want, you are free from studying the summer, or if you don't get what you want you can always improve your score with the first score not signifigantly bringing you down. Plus you will have an advantage in applying early taking the April MCAT. Anyone agree?

 

[jxu66]

Wow, that's tough call. If you don't score 30 on the MCAT, it is going to be tough to make it in California. Also, verb is not particular reliable. Have you try practice 7 Verb yet? If you still can score 12 on that, go ahead. Otherwise, I would think twice about it. Just let you know, I scored 2 points lower on that verb section than I normally do. And I think 7's verb section is close to real test since there are so many people complained about Verb section from last year's April and August feedback.

Just my two cents.

P.S. I love to live in California. But for MCAT's sake, I am glad that I don't live in California.