Advice Please!

[crosscountry123]

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Hi everyone!

I am a new member to SDN, however I have been reading it for quite some time and absolutely love it. If anyone is interested I could really use some advice.

My dilemma right now is whether I should graduate early (3.5 years), take a gap year, than proceed to medical school or graduate with my class (4-5 years), than take a gap year and proceed to medical school. Right now I'm leaning towards the first option because it is less time in undergrad and tuition, however the second option provides me with more opportunity to build my credentials.

My overall question is if I pursued the 3.5 year option are my credentials good enough to get me into medical school or is the extra time in undergrad worth it in the long run.

A brief run down of me is:

- Junior Biology major at a top 50 school
- Member of the Honors Program/ Deans List
- Overall GPA: 3.93, Science GPA: 3.95
- Worked for a summer in a faculty lab studying cell migration and mechanical transduction
- Worked full time for 6 months at a major pharmaceutical company studying Immune Tolerance Induction in a rare disease
- Volunteering since high school (~6 years) at a nonprofit which benefits homeless children. Over the years I've become more and more involved and eventually become a chair for one of their major fundraisers which has raised about 60 grand over the past three years. I've also become a tutor/mentor for a homeless middle schooler.
- I volunteered for a summer at a local hospital doing transport ~100 hours
- Medical exploration program at a major hospital ~200 hours (LOR from a physician)
- I am currently taking an EMT-B course and plan to work as an EMT during the upcoming school year
- I am expecting really good LOR's from my personal physician and the PI of the faculty lab I worked in

With either option, I plan to work as an EMT, gain more time shadowing and pursue a community service trip abroad.

So, should I spend the extra year and a half in undergrad and gain a lot more experience or is what I have now good/alright/great? My premed advisor is really hesitant to give me straight answers for this question and where I stand as an applicant.

I'm sorry for the lengthiness, but I would really appreciate any and all input!

 

[crosscountry123]

Anyone out there?

 

[Anathema]

Depends on what type of schools you're looking for. Your stats and ECs look really solid to me. I think the only deciding factor is the MCAT in terms of your med school chances.

 

[kyamh]

I would go ahead and graduate early. If your goal is to build up your resume further, you can do this after you graduate. In fact, some people would argue that you can do a better job building up your resume after you have graduated. Med schools are increasingly loving applicants who live out in the real world for a year or two before going to medical school. It is also a pain to apply during the school year - as my friends have told me - since in the best case scenario you are missing lots of classes for interviews.

Why not take some of the time you gain by graduating early to kick butt on the MCAT? If you can get to a 35 you should get interviews at the top tier schools.

 

[crosscountry123]

Thanks so much for the input! I think graduating early is definitely the way to go because it does offer me the most time to commit to studying for the MCAT as well as giving me the ability to apply as early as possible.

I have only really started looking online in the past month or so, but my advisor really pushed me to look at UMass. I am a resident of Mass and its tuition is incredibly low compared to the other schools I've researched. Would you have any suggestions for other schools/ places to start my research?