Apply this summer or wait a year?

[burlypie]

I was all set to apply this summer, but after FINALLY getting to talk to an advisor he said to wait until all my i's are dotted and t's are crossed -- essentially until next year when I'll be a "stronger applicant".
I'm taking ochem 1 as I write this, planning on taking ochem 2 the second half of the summer, taking the labs in the fall and the MCAT in August. So as it stands I have the august MACT working against me, as well as not having all my prereqs finished. Additionally, I never had a grade in my undergrad work (but have solid narratives) -- I love UC Santa Cruz --so my GPA is based solely on my few post-bac science classes (3.63, but ochem isn't going as well as I had planned and hoped, and is leaving me very little time for intensive MCAT study). I got a 24 on my first Kaplan full-length exam.

I have a good community involvement record, I have been doing clinical volunteer work with direct patient contact for a year and a half now, and I worked as a medical writer for two years.

What do you all think -- apply to a ton of places now and hope and pray or wait till next year and do it "con calma" when I won't be at such a disadvantage?

I'm female and 25.5 years old...

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[Sweet Tea]

Hmmm... that's really a tough one. If I were you, I'd wait until next year to apply. I couldn't study both for a summer orgo session and the MCAT at the same time, but I do understand being anxious to get the ball rolling. But if orgo isn't going as well as you hoped for then maybe it would be to your benefit to concentrate on that now, and then throw all your efforts into the April MCAT and impress them with a good MCAT, high orgo scores, and an early application next year. It'll also give you time to do some volunteer work (not sure if you need it or not) or some other activites to diversify your app. Just my $.02!!

 

[djsash]

hey girly listen since you have no undergrad gpa the med schools are going to look almost exlusiv. at your MCAT scores...your post bacc at 3.65 is not very good bec. the letter 'C" is looked at as an F for postbach grades. Therefore everything else aside letters of rec volunteer work, and extrac. activity no matter how strong bec. every applicant has strong credentials your only hope is to have a great MCAT score...now i took the August MCAT and i got into medi. school if you do well enough than you don't have to worry too much about it being late...but if you don't then you have to redo it again...so you need to do well on your mcat, and when you are ready to do well is when you should apply....now you could also go to one year master prog. which if you do well will place you into medical school the following year...two program at the Chicago/Finch medical school (applied physiology,medical radiation physics), and one at georgetown...so good luck....

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Usually I would say apply now, but since your prereqs are not done, I agree with Sweet Tea's advice. Focus on doing well in orgo now and take the April MCATS...that way you can put all of your effort into getting a great score.

Good luck!

p.s. 24 on the first Kaplan test is not bad at all!

 

[doctormo]

i agree with the "wait" voters...it would be really frustrating to bust your booty doing the mcat and organic thing and have neither turn out as well as you would like. application is also a VERY ARDUOUS process and one that i would not like to go through twice. whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[burlypie]

Thanks for your advice, it really confirms what I've been feeling. Now I just need to motivate for ochem. Very difficult during the summer...quite sucky actually!!!

One question though -- djsash says that post-bac C's (I haven't gotten one yet...) are looked at like F's. Can that be for real??? Any input?

Anyone with a postbac C do OK?