Do Med School's accept students straight from undergrad anymore (no Gap year)?

[RI-premeder]

Title pretty much says it, but wondering if Med Schools accept any/many straight from undergrad with no gap years? If yes, what percent of their class? Has this changed at all due to COVID? Appreciate the insights from the group.

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[Morningnight]

The 2021 Matriculating Student Questionnaire, which is given annually to first-year med school students, reports the following:

31.4% of students had <1 year pass since college graduation
44.8% of students had 1-2 years pass since college graduation
15.2% of students had 3-4 years pass since college graduation
8.5% of students had 5+ years pass since college graduation

Not sure if anything has changed due to COVID, but you can see that the % of students with no gap year(s) has decreased from 2019 to 2020 to 2021.

If you're interested in looking at individual schools, you can take a look at the Age Ranges for the First Year class. However, age ranges are broken down into 19-23, 24-29, 30-39, and 40+, so there's no bracket for ONLY no gap year students. It could help give you an inkling of what individual schools are looking for. For example, one school that always stands out to me is UC Davis, which has >75% of their first-year class be 24+ with <10 students older than 30 years.

 

[KnightDoc]

The 2021 Matriculating Student Questionnaire, which is given annually to first-year med school students, reports the following:

31.4% of students had <1 year pass since college graduation
44.8% of students had 1-2 years pass since college graduation
15.2% of students had 3-4 years pass since college graduation
8.5% of students had 5+ years pass since college graduation

Not sure if anything has changed due to COVID, but you can see that the % of students with no gap year(s) has decreased from 2019 to 2020 to 2021.

If you're interested in looking at individual schools, you can take a look at the Age Ranges for the First Year class. However, age ranges are broken down into 19-23, 24-29, 30-39, and 40+, so there's no bracket for ONLY no gap year students. It could help give you an inkling of what individual schools are looking for. For example, one school that always stands out to me is UC Davis, which has >75% of their first-year class be 24+ with <10 students older than 30 years.

This^^^^. The percentage is around 31%, and that includes around 1,000 people spread throughout BS/MD and other direct entry programs (which represent around 5% of the overall entering class), so the accurate answer to your question is around 25%.

There has not yet been any reported data on the class that just entered school this year regarding whether or not the 31% rose due to COVID. If it did, it will surely go back down this cycle, as applications declined and the surge of people who were unsuccessful last year were forced into unplanned gap years.

 

[RI-premeder]

This^^^^. The percentage is around 31%, and that includes around 1,000 people spread throughout BS/MD and other direct entry programs (which represent around 5% of the overall entering class), so the accurate answer to your question is around 25%.

Thank you @Morningnight @gonnif @KnightDoc

 

[stickgirl390]

I personally consider it 75%, because 1-2 gap years is basically straight out of undergrad. The definition of “non traditional student” is becoming more synonymous with career-changer these days. (But I know that’s not the question you asked.)

 

[5greenbeans]

Yes, they do. I'm about to finish my degree this May and I have already got accepted and have interviews at multiple schools. Don't let anyone tell you you need a gap year!

 

[lacrossegirl420]

they definitely do, had some friends go straight from undergrad (even to very prestigious schools). But, I hear balancing it with schoolwork/activities can be very tough (and this was during virtual, can't even imagine what it's like in-person)!

 

[proudofmykids]

This^^^^. The percentage is around 31%, and that includes around 1,000 people spread throughout BS/MD and other direct entry programs (which represent around 5% of the overall entering class), so the accurate answer to your question is around 25%.

There has not yet been any reported data on the class that just entered school this year regarding whether or not the 31% rose due to COVID. If it did, it will surely go back down this cycle, as applications declined and the surge of people who were unsuccessful last year were forced into unplanned gap years.

Very curious…..
Being this stat was for Matriculants, How does the 25%’s straight-through statistics (Mcat, gpa, ECs) compare to all straight-through applicants’ statistics?
And, of the matriculants, have you seen stat analysis (Mcat, gpa, ECs) compared to the 70% matriculants stats?

 

[KnightDoc]

Very curious…..
Being this stat was for Matriculants, How does the 25%’s straight-through statistics (Mcat, gpa, ECs) compare to all straight-through applicants’ statistics?
And, of the matriculants, have you seen stat analysis (Mcat, gpa, ECs) compared to the 70% matriculants stats?

I'm not sure I understand the question. All matriculant stats and ECs are higher and better than general applicant stats. That's a big part of the reason why they receive the A!

Many high stat applicants take gap years to gather experiences. Expectations with respect to hours are adjusted down for people without gap years, but the variety of experiences (shadowing, research, clinical and non-clinical volunteering, etc.) are expected of everyone, and admit rates are generally the same regardless of number of gap years. They are, however, lower for reapplicants due to the bias against them, and because the reapplicant pool tends to be weaker than the first time applicant one.

In addition to obtaining experiences, people do gap years because they need GPA repair, they are looking at medicine as second careers, they want to make some money before going to med school, or because they want a break before going back into the academic grind. People fixing GPAs probably have lower GPAs than successful first time applicants, but they successfully reinvent themselves and are therefore judged by a different metric.

Just keep in mind that many schools don't do this, so there are no stats on it, and they would be meaningless if there were. The key is to know which schools reward reinvention, and to stick with them if that is the path you are taking.

 

[proudofmykids]

I'm not sure I understand the question. All matriculant stats and ECs are higher and better than general applicant stats. That's a big part of the reason why they receive the A!

Many high stat applicants take gap years to gather experiences. Expectations with respect to hours are adjusted down for people without gap years, but the variety of experiences (shadowing, research, clinical and non-clinical volunteering, etc.) are expected of everyone, and admit rates are generally the same regardless of number of gap years. They are, however, lower for reapplicants due to the bias against them, and because the reapplicant pool tends to be weaker than the first time applicant one.

In addition to obtaining experiences, people do gap years because they need GPA repair, they are looking at medicine as second careers, they want to make some money before going to med school, or because they want a break before going back into the academic grind. People fixing GPAs probably have lower GPAs than successful first time applicants, but they successfully reinvent themselves and are therefore judged by a different metric.

Just keep in mind that many schools don't do this, so there are no stats on it, and they would be meaningless if there were. The key is to know which schools reward reinvention, and to stick with them if that is the path you are taking.

My first question versus non matriculants straight-through was unclear. I meant that what is the percent acceptance rate of straight-through applicants? The 25% was of matriculants. Take that 25% quantity of people divided by all straight through.

 

[KnightDoc]

My first question versus non matriculants straight-through was unclear. I meant that what is the percent acceptance rate of straight-through applicants? The 25% was of matriculants. Take that 25% quantity of people divided by all straight through.

Okay, I understand now!

Some individual UGs break out the information that way but, to my knowledge, med schools don't and AAMC doesn't report it, although they certainly have access to it since they have access to everything.

The closest I can come is telling you that I did actually ask this question to several admissions offices during my travels over the past few years. I was consistently told, everywhere, that gap years are the trend as admission becomes more and more competitive, and applicants feel increasing pressure to bolster their applications, but that schools don't require them, and don't discriminate against applicants applying straight through.

My sense is that many people are intimidated into taking at least one gap to obtain additional ECs, and many more take them to engage in GPA repair. Straight through applicants tend to not need the GPA repair and, while their ECs are not as strong as those with gap years, that is taken into account (at least with respect to hours, if not with respect to making sure all relevant boxes are checked), especially for high stat applicants.

Throwing all this into the hopper, plus the fact that no school admitted to discriminating against those with no gap years (i.e., the percent of the applicant pool with no gap years roughly tracks to the same percent of the matriculated class), tells me that the acceptance rates are roughly the same for both groups.

I happen to have access to the numbers for one UG school. I am not at liberty to disclose the name of the school, but the acceptance rates are roughly the same for all applicants with 0-2 gap years. After that it takes a dive. My assumption would be that 3+ gap years implies one or more reapplications (although this obviously won't apply to career changers), at which point the disadvantage of being a reapplicant overwhelms any benefit derived from multiple gap years.