Should I wait another year to apply?

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suki5105

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Hello,

I was hoping to get some insight/advice: it always seems to be better to have another person's perspective on these things. I'm currently planning to apply this cycle (start med school in 2016) but am wondering if it would be better to wait. I'm 22 years old and am taking 2 gap years: it was necessary to save up money to apply and I think having some work experience outside of college has really helped me, both personally and application-wise. However, I don't want to take too much time: I'd rather not take another year unless there is a good reason/a solid benefit from doing so. My GPA is a little over 3.4 (low, I know, but from a top 10 university that's fairly rigorous which will hopefully help?), I was a philosophy and biology double major and I'm fairly strong in research experience and extracurriculars (posters, internships, publications, and hospital experience). I'm unsure what to do because I haven't taken the MCAT yet: I'm planning to take it in two weeks (yikes!). I know my application will be late, which decreases chances quite a bit. Also, my MCAT score is...meh. I'm getting ~506/507 on practice tests and hope to pull it up by a few points.

Should I wait another year? On one hand, waiting another year could help my score go up a bit more and I would be able to get my application in early. I would also be able to get a letter of rec. from my schools premed advising committee (I couldn't get one this cycle because I missed a deadline) and save up some more money for med school itself. My extracurriculars would also be stronger as I would have more publications to add. On the other hand, waiting another year makes it far more difficult to coordinate med schools with my fiancee (we want to end up in the state, and he's applying to grad schools this year). Also, maybe I only want to delay because I'm just scared.

Do you think there is a reason to wait another year? Would there be a clear benefit from doing so?

Thanks so much for reading!

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You should not take the MCAT until you are likely to get a score consistent with success, no matter how long it takes. If you get 506, you have around a 22% chance of MD success with your current gpa. That score and a late application are a recipe for misery.
 
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