My son in law is an outstanding eye surgeon with a successful practice. However, during his freshman year at BYU he did a lot of playing around and was not a serious student. His GPA suffered. While on his mission, he grew up a lot and formed the desire to become a doctor. Unfortunately, he dug himself a deep hole in his freshman year, and for the next 4 years (he obtained a BS degree in a science field, and took enough additional classes in other science areas that he almost qualified for a double major). Even with all of that extra work, he received a pile of rejection letters because his early immaturity almost cost him his career - but he was admitted to one Med school.

His story suggests that all preMed students are not ready for the MCAT or Med school itself, when they think they are.

Going to Med school is an unbelievable marathon that is not for the faint of heart. The good news is that he finally grew up, gained some discipline, and then pedaled as fast as he could to get A's in every subject from there on, to overcome that huge deficit from his freshman year.

Some Med students mature later than others, and yet once they find their purpose and discipline, they are able to put aside attractive distractions that bleed off energy, and promote failure in Med school itself. It's better to take a year off and really find that maturity and discipline, before you dive into the shark pool of really qualified and mature takers of the MCAT. If you aren't mature and you are undisciplined, the odds are high that you will not do well, and then those low scores are part of your record.

If, as you say you are a poor student without an excellent GPA, it means that your MCAT scores will need to 'blow the socks' off some very skeptical doctors at whatever Med school you apply to.

Right now, if you somehow find the extra discipline to sprint hard toward your test at 9/10 with complete focus on MCAT preparation, it could be that your MCAT scores don't improve enough to make the critical difference presented by your low grades. You may end up working your tail off, and still be turned down by Med school after Med school.

If you get a stack of rejection slips, the reality of the competitive world will settle in - as you try to figure out what to do with the rest of your life. At BYU, I went through this with one of my best friends, who did work really hard and allowing no distractions whatever, but his hard work did not pay off and he was rejected everywhere. After his failure to even be wait listed by any Med school, he went for his MBA degree, did well, and has had a fine career.

On the other hand, if you somehow find the extra discipline to sprint hard toward your test on 9/10, this extra effort might give you the razor-thin winning edge to be admitted to Med school. Your hard work may pay off.

The point is that you are accountable for the result, either way. No one can assess the risk of failure or success, than you.

If you are spending time and energy fussing over something you have no control over, in the BYU application to the BIG-12, and ignore what you do have control over - whether you study hard all the way to the finish line - then the law of full accountability is far, far more likely to generate one rejection letter after another for you.

Today, there is also the possibility that you are not quite mature enough or disciplined enough to really prepare for the MCAT exam like the thousands of better students who also have the maturity and discipline that you have admitted you lack.

If you are not quite ready now, there is nothing wrong with taking a year off, getting good work experience or go to work for a nonprofit group that serves populations that a Med Admissions committee might be interested in (because your work for this group shows your commitment to an under-served group that doctors often speak about), and then in doing difficult work for a year you might become a more motivated student.

If you take a year off and engage in meaningful work while you gain more maturity and discipline, that isn't lost time if you can point to how you helped the people you were trying to serve. This is only true, however, if your year of to pursue meaningful experience does bring you more maturity and discipline, such that you won't be distracted by something that you have no control over and zero influence over how it turns out.

It's not a sin to not be ready, if you are not ready. Be honest about it, and be realistic about the fact that you are about to jump in a shark tank of persons with good grades and strong maturity and unyielding discipline. That doesn't sound like you, not yet.

Take the time to get ready. Your great love to finding out the latest/greatest tidbit on BYU's application to the BIG-12 almost sounds to me like part of your brain is trying to communicate to another part of your brain, that you are not quite mature enough or disciplined enough to be a doctor or a Med student. Not yet anyway. I cannot judge this, but I encourage you to think about those sharks in the MCAT tank on 9/10. Their superior grades and MCAT scores will chew you to bits, unless your MCAT scores are stellar.

My son in law had severe GPA deficiencies from his freshman year, but he went many extra miles to become more mature and disciplined in the next 4 years. So, I've seen that it can be done.

I remember how diligent and focused he became in those last 4 years and him taking the hardest science classes he could after he earned his BS degree and was pulling down A's in all of them. When you described the ease at which the BYU application thing distracts you only months before the MCAT, it sound like you lack needed focus and are not really ready to swim with the sharks.

The fact that you would pose this question to strangers on CB who don't know you, suggests that part of you is yelling that you need another year to prepare. Maybe that other voice is urging you to go for a Master's degree in another field, but you aren't listening to yourself.

Most of the sharks in the tank are so fearful of failure that they tend to business, and are not distracted by outside stuff. Be honest with yourself. Are you really ready to compete with them? Now? Or do you need another year to find that shark inside yourself? Only you can tell.

If you need to take breaks between studying, do pushups or situps, or jog or swim. Those will ultimately help you with your energy. This CB stuff will only bleed energy, if you are so wrapped up in it.

Burbank