Hi everyone 
I have been debating with myself for quite some time now on whether or not I should take the coming January exam or to take it in August...and it would help a lot to hear some advice on this.
I'm currently a senior, thinking of taking one gap year. I was suppose to start studying hardcore in September. But with classes, and with the sdn schedule being a lot more intense than I thought it was gonna be, I am wayyy behind my schedule right now. So, I came up with two options:
1. Just get a grip, be "in-humane" and really buckle down, and shoot for the January exam.
2. Take the exam in August (study MCAT over the summer after graduation), and take two gap years instead of one
The pros and cons I have thought over to myself was:
for option 1: I'll have no life, really need to buckle down, and may impact my GPA if I can't keep up with studying for both my classes and MCAT. I may need to revise the three month plan to fit my own schedule, which means I may be putting in less time for content review/questions, and do more work over the winter break. But I'll be able to take only one gap year off, and with competition getting harder every year (at least that's what I have heard), it may be better for me to apply earlier cycle than later. And I don't need to worry about MCAT after graduation, which could be brutal emotionally.
for option 2: I'll be able to focus totally on GPA and my honors thesis work. But taking MCAT in August may pose some risk in that if I end up bombing the test, then I may need to take MCAT 2015, which I absolutely don't want to do. And I'll need to take two gap years instead of one (which can be beneficial, but it was not what I had in mind).
You have no idea how many times I went back and forth between these two options...
Currently, from the three month plan, I have finished first chapters from BR and did the EK problems for those chapters. It would be awesome to hear any recommendations or suggestions!
And one thing that worried me was--if I do end up taking two gap years (meaning that I will be applying around June 2015), would my MCAT score from 2014 version be looked down on? Would they only accept MCAT 2015?
Thanks guys!!
I have been debating with myself for quite some time now on whether or not I should take the coming January exam or to take it in August...and it would help a lot to hear some advice on this.
I'm currently a senior, thinking of taking one gap year. I was suppose to start studying hardcore in September. But with classes, and with the sdn schedule being a lot more intense than I thought it was gonna be, I am wayyy behind my schedule right now. So, I came up with two options:
1. Just get a grip, be "in-humane" and really buckle down, and shoot for the January exam.
2. Take the exam in August (study MCAT over the summer after graduation), and take two gap years instead of one
The pros and cons I have thought over to myself was:
for option 1: I'll have no life, really need to buckle down, and may impact my GPA if I can't keep up with studying for both my classes and MCAT. I may need to revise the three month plan to fit my own schedule, which means I may be putting in less time for content review/questions, and do more work over the winter break. But I'll be able to take only one gap year off, and with competition getting harder every year (at least that's what I have heard), it may be better for me to apply earlier cycle than later. And I don't need to worry about MCAT after graduation, which could be brutal emotionally.
for option 2: I'll be able to focus totally on GPA and my honors thesis work. But taking MCAT in August may pose some risk in that if I end up bombing the test, then I may need to take MCAT 2015, which I absolutely don't want to do. And I'll need to take two gap years instead of one (which can be beneficial, but it was not what I had in mind).
You have no idea how many times I went back and forth between these two options...
Currently, from the three month plan, I have finished first chapters from BR and did the EK problems for those chapters. It would be awesome to hear any recommendations or suggestions!
And one thing that worried me was--if I do end up taking two gap years (meaning that I will be applying around June 2015), would my MCAT score from 2014 version be looked down on? Would they only accept MCAT 2015?
Thanks guys!!
