Applying this year or taking a gap year?

[theoddorre]

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Hi everyone! Sorry if this should be placed in another thread. I'm new here and don't really know where I should post haha. Anyway, I'm one of the people who have had their MCAT cancelled due to COVID-19, and as a result I'm in a bit of a dilemma in regards to this year's application cycle. Since I am international I'd like to maximize my chances of getting in as much as possible (which means that I would like to apply early if I decide to apply this year). Therefore, I thought of two possibilities:

apply early this year to the schools which say that they review applications without MCAT (like the Cali schools) BUT don't apply to the schools which say that they wont look at your app without an MCAT (considering that my MCAT is going to be in July/August and most people are gonna apply in June)

OR

just take a gap year so I can stop stressing over this thing.

I'd personally like to apply this year and go straight into medical school, but if doing so puts me at a hard disadvantage, then I'd rather just take a gap year. Any thoughts? Thank you!

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi everyone! Sorry if this should be placed in another thread. I'm new here and don't really know where I should post haha. Anyway, I'm one of the people who have had their MCAT cancelled due to COVID-19, and as a result I'm in a bit of a dilemma in regards to this year's application cycle. Since I am international I'd like to maximize my chances of getting in as much as possible (which means that I would like to apply early if I decide to apply this year). Therefore, I thought of two possibilities:

apply early this year to the schools which say that they review applications without MCAT (like the Cali schools) BUT don't apply to the schools which say that they wont look at your app without an MCAT (considering that my MCAT is going to be in July/August and most people are gonna apply in June)

OR

just take a gap year so I can stop stressing over this thing.

I'd personally like to apply this year and go straight into medical school, but if doing so puts me at a hard disadvantage, then I'd rather just take a gap year. Any thoughts? Thank you!

As an international, I hope you get the reference (if you don't, please Google it!), but, as Yogi Berra would say if he was still with us, given what's happening with the pandemic, it's going to be early late this year. 🙂

While the CA schools are encouraging us to apply without scores, other schools will be extending their cycles (or even delaying the beginning of the cycle) to give us time to get scores back before applying. AAMC has also indicated that it will accelerate some score reporting once testing resumes.

All this is to say that you should do whatever works best for you, but, personally, I am not going to let what's happening now with cancelled test dates dictate whether or not I apply this year. It absolutely does not look like anyone will be a competitive disadvantage merely by virtue of cancelled MCAT dates.