applying before/after graduating

[175961]

a quick question that turned up too many results to search through (heck i'm a little lazy today) i'll have all my pre reqs for med school finished up this next school year (08-09) so i'll probably be taking the MCAT next spring, but i'm not 100% sure i'll be graduating at the end of that school year. so my question is...exactly when do i apply? should i start applying in 09 knowing that i still have at least one semester left(could possible be two)? i'll probably graduate at the end of 09, meaning i'll be able to enter med school in 2010, right? i'm not too savvy on the whole application process yet so i guess my biggest question is how its viewed when applying before graduation vs. after graduation.

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[UofM527]

your post is a bit confusing...but whenever it is you are graduating, apply for the following fall med school class....you cannot matriculate into a med school if you have not graduated undergrad, so don't bother applying for a year you might not be able to graduate by...so if you know you will graduate either winter '09 or spring '10, then begin applying for the 2010 entering class by filling out your primary application in June of 2009 when it comes out....certainly, you can wait till you graduate, begin applying that summer after graduation, and enter the following year if you want to improve areas of your application or just do something interesting for a year....

 

[BigRedder]

It can never hurt to apply after you graduate as long as you do something interesting when you aren't in school. It generally improves your application, often considerably.

 

[ucsdhibiscus]

I highly recommend taking a year off (I graduated June '07 and will start medical school August '08) for four reasons - can do something interesting to show medical schools how you stand out - actually have time to apply (secondary's are many in number and very time consuming and how will you deal with studying for tests while missing classes for interviews - you will get to enjoy life between undergrad and medical school (having time to do stuff outside school without worrying about studying) - and the application process is very expensive and working was the only way I could pay for it.