Yeah, I definitely wouldn't waste your money on the Kaplan course. I did the Kaplan course and then took the DAT and did pretty bad (16s, 17s, and 18s) . About 6 months later I started studying on my own (DAT Destroyer, Chad's Videos, took a few practice tests) and I scored 4-5 points higher in almost every subject. I would plan to take the exam at the end of April/beginning of May, that way your entire application (including DAT scores) could be completed by the beginning of June when the new cycle starts.