Can you apply to Med schools a year early? And should I?

you should only apply when your application is at its strongest and you are 100% willing to matriculate with your class if accepted. do not go into the application process with the intention of waiting an extra year to matriculate, because schools could easily deny your request for a deferral if they chose to.

Shawno19 said:

Hi, I'm wondering if it's possible to apply to medical schools for a incoming class two years away? And if so, should I even do that?

I'm a pre-med student and am scheduled to graduate spring 2013, but my girlfriend doesn't graduate till 2014 and I don't want to go to med school in central Texas, so I am leaning towards not starting medical school till fall 2014. My thinking is, I can find out a year early where I'll be going or I won't get in, and I'll have a year to work on my application to make sure I get in next time.

On the other hand I'm taking Orgo 1&2 and Calculus this year then Gen Physics 1&2 and bio-chem next summer / senior year. So maybe it would be better to wait till after senior year when I would be more prepared for the MCAT and have a more filled out ECs resume.

What do you think?

-Shawn

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First, worry about getting A's in your pre-reqs and preparing for the MCAT. Don't take the MCAT until you are done with the pre-reqs.

Second, while some schools allow you to request deferral, meaning if you apply to begin 2013 and are accepted, you can ask them to carry over the acceptance until 2014, there is no guarantee that they will grant it. If they don't you will have to either attend beginning 2013, or re-apply after turning down an acceptance. Turning down an acceptance doesn't look good, especially if you apply to the school that already accepted you once (if they already offered you a spot and you rejected them, why would they offer you one the next year?)

I would wait until you are sure you are ready to attend to apply. Taking a gap year isn't going to hurt you if you are active during that time (EC's and work, maybe additional courses or research, etc.) and can help strengthen your application. I would especially wait to take the MCAT until your pre-reqs are done, or you could do much more poorly than you should.

Can you apply for a job, setting your availability date for next week, and then once they hire you tell them that you don't want to start working for another year?

sector9 said:

Can you apply for a job, setting your availability date for next week, and then once they hire you tell them that you don't want to start working for another year?

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I'm sorry, but this is a terrible analogy. Deferrals are granted by academic institutions on a fairly regularly basis, and obviously the dynamic at play between employee and employer is far different from that of the school-student relationship. Otherwise you'd be wrong to apply to multiple schools; by your analogy, choosing between multiple acceptances is the same as reneging on an employment contract.

Shawno19 said:

My question was can I apply for a class a year earlier then the normal admission date, I don't understand how you misconstrued that for, telling them I want to start at one date and then changing it when I'm accepted.

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You cannot apply for any other class aside from the class that starts fall of the year after you apply. The only way to apply two years ahead of your anticipated matriculation date is to apply for a seat and then defer your acceptance for a year. That's where sector's comment comes from.

To answer your original question, I don't think you'll be able to apply early. Deferrals are typically only given out for extenuating circumstances (pregnancy, a year long program like Teach for America, etc.). Wanting to be in the same year as your girlfriend is not likely to be an acceptable reason to defer.

Shawno19 said:

My question was can I apply for a class a year earlier then the normal admission date, I don't understand how you misconstrued that for, telling them I want to start at one date and then changing it when I'm accepted.

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You're the one asking a stupid question.

If you submit an application in 2012, then you are applying for admission in Fall 2013. You aren't applying for 2014 or whatever other year your heart desires.

Maybe you should have spent more time researching your question https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/gettingin/62796/considering_timeline.html

Is the next thread going to be "I'm starting my freshman year. Can I apply now for 2020? That way, if I don't get accepted this time, I can apply every year until I do get accepted." It's the same level of stupidity as this thread.

Shawno19 said:

My question was can I apply for a class a year earlier then the normal admission date, I don't understand how you misconstrued that for, telling them I want to start at one date and then changing it when I'm accepted.

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Unfortunately, med school admissions are a highly competitive process, and admissions committees cannot compare you against a pool of applicants that does not yet exist. Cosnequently, no, I don't believe you can apply for acceptance into any upcoming class other than the one immediately following the current application cycle.

BHaus9 said:

I'm sorry, but this is a terrible analogy. Deferrals are granted by academic institutions on a fairly regularly basis, and obviously the dynamic at play between employee and employer is far different from that of the school-student relationship. Otherwise you'd be wrong to apply to multiple schools; by your analogy, choosing between multiple acceptances is the same as reneging on an employment contract.

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So you're thinking that medical schools will be very accepting of his "Oh my girlfriend isn't done with school yet" explanation? And that he knew of the conflict BEFORE applying but decided to apply anyway?

sector9 said:

You're the one asking a stupid question.

If you submit an application in 2012, then you are applying for admission in Fall 2013. You aren't applying for 2014 or whatever other year your heart desires.

Maybe you should have spent more time researching your question https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/gettingin/62796/considering_timeline.html

Is the next thread going to be "I'm starting my freshman year. Can I apply now for 2020? That way, if I don't get accepted this time, I can apply every year until I do get accepted." It's the same level of stupidity as this thread.

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What's the point of such an unhelpful and abrasive response? The link you posted is merely a guideline, and lots of people follow an alternative course to medical school. Even if the answer he seeks is somewhere in the AMCAS handbook/web site, it's probably more of an inconvenience for him to scour the whole damn thing than it is for you to provide an answer if you happen to know.

sector9 said:

So you're thinking that medical schools will be very accepting of his "Oh my girlfriend isn't done with school yet" explanation? And that he knew of the conflict BEFORE applying but decided to apply anyway?

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No, that's not what I said at all. I definitely don't think this is a legitimate reason to defer, and I don't think adcoms will be very receptive to it. But the OP didn't ask for a judgment of the wisdom of his decision - his was a question of logistics.

I just reacted because your analogy seemed dismissive of deferrals in general. Furthermore, it doesn't really seem like the OP is trying to deceive adcoms about his intended start date. He just wanted to know if you could designate a later class.

Do the schools you are applying to have early decision? If so, you could apply for that for the matriculating class of 2014. I don't really know if you can apply regular decision and defer acceptance though. Good luck!

BHaus9 said:

What's the point of such an unhelpful and abrasive response? The link you posted is merely a guideline, and lots of people follow an alternative course to medical school. Even if the answer he seeks is somewhere in the AMCAS handbook/web site, it's probably more of an inconvenience for him to scour the whole damn thing than it is for you to provide an answer if you happen to know.

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The point of my unhelpful and abrasive response is that SDN is cluttered by stupid questions from people who don't know how to do a Google search, a search of SDN, or look at the AMCAS website to answer their own questions. And that's why I provided the link to the application timeline. And it didn't take forever for me to scour the far reaches of the internet.

And the question has already been answered multiple times at this point, but the OP comes back to say I'm misconstruing his question and doesn't bother to thank any of the people who answered his question.

If the OP really is going to be applying to medical school, he is going to have a thousand questions about the process and will need to become more proficient at finding answers.

The analogy was intended for this thread and this thread only. That's why I posted it in THIS thread and didn't start my own thread to proclaim my hatred of deferrals (which I don't have, but this situation doesn't merit a deferral). I'm not the one who first mentioned deferrals-- theseeker did as a potential option before shooting it down. Not only that but the analogy works perfectly fine for this purpose. If you applied for a job, the employer would be looking for someone who can fill the current staffing requirements. The same goes for med schools--if they accept you for their 2013 class, they are saying that you're a good fit for that class. Future classes may already have an improved clone of you and you may not fit their future class. That's why the analogy works fine-- just as an employer doesn't want to hire someone for a year out when they're trying to address a current situation, medical schools don't want to accept you until they're ready to accept that class. That's the point of what I'm trying to say.

StephanieZ said:

Do the schools you are applying to have early decision? If so, you could apply for that for the matriculating class of 2014. I don't really know if you can apply regular decision and defer acceptance though. Good luck!

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Applying early decision doesn't allow you to apply for matriculation in a different year. For example, during the 2012-2013 cycle you could apply early decision and maybe know as early as August if you got accepted, but you would still matriculate in 2013 with everyone else that applied during that cycle. You just know about the decision earlier.

Another thing I will throw out there based on my experiences is that it is becoming less common for people to begin applying while still in undergrad and also can put you at a disadvantage when competing against people who have been out of school for a year or more. I will be a senior next year and have been applying this summer and will say that studying for the MCAT while still taking classes was difficult. On top of that, it is difficult to get some of the quality clinical and community service adcoms are looking for while having to committ the majority of your time to school. I think you would be much better off just waiting a year and spend that extra year full time in the clinic, doing research, going abroad, studying for the MCAT, etc. than possibly applying before you are ready and then hoping for a deferral. Also keep in mind that applying to schools can cost upwards of $5,000 so you only want to do it once if possible. If you feel strongly about applying next year, go for it, but keep in mind that there are other ways to spend that extra year that could really improve your chances of getting into a school.

boshtrich said:

Another thing I will throw out there based on my experiences is that it is becoming less common for people to begin applying while still in undergrad and also can put you at a disadvantage when competing against people who have been out of school for a year or more. I will be a senior next year and have been applying this summer and will say that studying for the MCAT while still taking classes was difficult. On top of that, it is difficult to get some of the quality clinical and community service adcoms are looking for while having to committ the majority of your time to school. I think you would be much better off just waiting a year and spend that extra year full time in the clinic, doing research, going abroad, studying for the MCAT, etc. than possibly applying before you are ready and then hoping for a deferral. Also keep in mind that applying to schools can cost upwards of $5,000 so you only want to do it once if possible. If you feel strongly about applying next year, go for it, but keep in mind that there are other ways to spend that extra year that could really improve your chances of getting into a school.

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This is a great point. Don't wait for a rejection before you bolster your app - take the whole next year and do it anyway.

sector9 said:

The point of my unhelpful and abrasive response is that SDN is cluttered by stupid questions from people who don't know how to do a Google search, a search of SDN, or look at the AMCAS website to answer their own questions. And that's why I provided the link to the application timeline. And it didn't take forever for me to scour the far reaches of the internet.

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Your link was pretty much irrelevant to the question, and the INTERNET is cluttered with lots stupid errata that can make finding answers difficult, even when they're out there.

If the OP really is going to be applying to medical school, he is going to have a thousand questions about the process and will need to become more proficient at finding answers.

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Burnett's Law? You know, SDN - and the users thereof - are as much a resource as Google or AMCAS. I hated those teachers who told me to "look it up" whenever I had a question of any type. I learned how to use an encyclopedia after the first 15 times... sometimes it really is okay to take the easy route if it yield results. For the life of me I can't understand why people get so outraged at redundancy. By this point pretty much everything that can be discussed HAS been discussed, so why isn't the entire forum just archived?

That's why the analogy works fine-- just as an employer doesn't want to hire someone for a year out when they're trying to address a current situation, medical schools don't want to accept you until they're ready to accept that class. That's the point of what I'm trying to say.

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I see what you're saying, and that certainly is the norm in the professional world, but I see schools as different somehow... I'm the one who needs them, and not vice versa. Is a school really worse off for me deferring a year?

sector9 said:

The point of my unhelpful and abrasive response is that SDN is cluttered by stupid questions from people who don't know how to do a Google search, a search of SDN, or look at the AMCAS website to answer their own questions. And that's why I provided the link to the application timeline. And it didn't take forever for me to scour the far reaches of the internet.

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Welcome to the vertean's club, old man.

BHaus9 said:

Is a school really worse off for me deferring a year?

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No, it's just an ******* move. Why take a spot in an entering class when you KNOW that you're not going to be entering that year? It's one thing to apply to med school, be accepted, and then find out about an opportunity later. It's another to begin the application process with the intention of deferring.

By the way, protip, deferrals aren't given out just because you request one, and you shouldn't assume that one will be granted unless you have an extremely strong reason to request one.

NickNaylor said:

No, it's just an ******* move. Why take a spot in an entering class when you KNOW that you're not going to be entering that year? It's one thing to apply to med school, be accepted, and then find out about an opportunity later. It's another to begin the application process with the intention of deferring.

By the way, protip, deferrals aren't given out just because you request one, and you shouldn't assume that one will be granted unless you have an extremely strong reason to request one.

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Well, I think the overarching assumption made up to this point is that the OP is not actually seeking a deferral, as this suggests some level of disingenuity about his intentions prior to his interview/acceptance. Instead, I think he's asking if there is a way to officially declare one's desire to be admitted into a later class at the time of submission. Of course this is not the case, but that's what I understood from his question.

Also, even if you did defer, I assume someone would just pop off the waitlist to claim your spot, so I don't see any real damage being done.

BHaus9 said:

Your link was pretty much irrelevant to the question, and the INTERNET is cluttered with lots stupid errata that can make finding answers difficult, even when they're out there.




Burnett's Law? You know, SDN - and the users thereof - are as much a resource as Google or AMCAS. I hated those teachers who told me to "look it up" whenever I had a question of any type. I learned how to use an encyclopedia after the first 15 times... sometimes it really is okay to take the easy route if it yield results. For the life of me I can't understand why people get so outraged at redundancy. By this point pretty much everything that can be discussed HAS been discussed, so why isn't the entire forum just archived?



I see what you're saying, and that certainly is the norm in the professional world, but I see schools as different somehow... I'm the one who needs them, and not vice versa. Is a school really worse off for me deferring a year?

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http://lmgtfy.com/?q=When+do+you+apply+to+medical+school?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+Burnett's+Law?

BHaus9 said:

Well, I think the overarching assumption made up to this point is that the OP is not actually seeking a deferral, as this suggests some level of disingenuity about his intentions prior to his interview/acceptance. Instead, I think he's asking if there is a way to officially declare one's desire to be admitted into a later class at the time of submission. Of course this is not the case, but that's what I understood from his question.

Also, even if you did defer, I assume someone would just pop off the waitlist to claim your spot, so I don't see any real damage being done.

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I actually wasn't assuming that the OP was looking for a deferral.

However, the thread moved that direction because
a) There is no way to apply for 2014 in 2012 unless you submit an application for 2013, get accepted, then defer
b) a) was pointed out early on in this thread

Which is why we've been talking about deferrals for a while now.

I completely agree with you that the OP never said he was going to defer.

Shawno19 said:

On the other hand I'm taking Orgo 1&2 and Calculus this year then Gen Physics 1&2 and bio-chem next summer / senior year. So maybe it would be better to wait till after senior year when I would be more prepared for the MCAT and have a more filled out ECs resume.

What do you think?

-Shawn

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Another point that should be made is that your current class schedule isn't really conducive to applying next year. If you wanted to apply next year, you really should move calculus to senior year and move physics 1 and 2 up. You'll either need to do that or spend serious amounts of time studying physics on your own in preparation for the PS section of the MCAT.

Most people take their MCAT prep coursework first, then focus on the rest of their prereqs afterward. Your class schedule has it a little backwards, since calc won't help much with the MCAT but physics is a whole section of the test

Shawno19 said:

Hi, I'm wondering if it's possible to apply to medical schools for a incoming class two years away? And if so, should I even do that?

I'm a pre-med student and am scheduled to graduate spring 2013, but my girlfriend doesn't graduate till 2014 and I don't want to go to med school in central Texas, so I am leaning towards not starting medical school till fall 2014. My thinking is, I can find out a year early where I'll be going or I won't get in, and I'll have a year to work on my application to make sure I get in next time.

On the other hand I'm taking Orgo 1&2 and Calculus this year then Gen Physics 1&2 and bio-chem next summer / senior year. So maybe it would be better to wait till after senior year when I would be more prepared for the MCAT and have a more filled out ECs resume.

What do you think?

-Shawn

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Physicians have a 30% divorce rate over 20+ years, in some study.

Morsetlis said:

Physicians have a 30% divorce rate over 20+ years, in some study.

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that is a low percentage imo, isnt the divorce rate 50% in US.

tn4596 said:

that is a low percentage imo, isnt the divorce rate 50% in US.

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Yes, but that isn't over a specific time range, and not amongst professionals.

Over 30 years of follow-up, the divorce rate was 51 percent for psychiatrists, 33 percent for surgeons, 24 percent for internists, 22 percent for pediatricians and pathologists, and 31 percent for other specialties. The overall divorce rate was 29 percent after three decades of follow-up and 32 percent after nearly four decades of follow-up.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/1997/MARCH/199703.HTM