Do most people apply senior year or junior year

[donkeykong1]

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Being that the average age for and MD matriculant is 24 and much higher for good old DO do most people take the lag year, or are the non trads skewing the curve?

 

[missDO]

I'm not sure I understand your question...in the title, I think you are questioning whether folks apply for medical school during junior or senior year of college? To answer that question, it is always (beginning to mid) "senior year" or summer directly before it, seeing as almost every med school requires you to have obtained an undergraduate degree before matriculating. Most students, as of their third/junior year, have an entire extra year or at least 1 more semester left to complete all credits required for their degree, thus, they can only apply senior year. There are rare cases, though (I knew someone, in fact) where you finish college an entire year early...so while it is their third year in college and technically junior year, they're still credit-wise qualified seniors.......hope that made sense....it did in my head.

As for the question within your post, I think you are asking: do more non traditionals apply or do folks take a year off before matriculating?...(not sure what "take the lag year" quite means...)

To answer my interpretation of your question, yes, there are tons of non-trads that do matriculate, esp in DO schools. I, however, am a traditional, but have taken a year off in between undergrad and matriculation, making me 24 when I start (I was an 08-09 app cycle alternate list candidate, btw).

Hope this helped!

 

[donkeykong1]

sorry if it didnt sound understandable, I was referring to junior or senior year of undergrad. if i understand correctly by applying spring/summer of junior year one starts med school right after senior year of college. on the contrary by applying spring/summer senior year there is a lag year in between finishing senior year and starting med school.

 

[spence]

Right, the "traditional" path is to apply the summer right after your Junior year of undergrad. That will result in you matriculating the fall right after your senior year without a gap/lag year in between undergrad and med school.

 

[Mohammed1989]

I was just thinking about this today on the train. My problem is I won't finish orgo 2 until the end of my junior year so if I really want to take th MCAT in time I will have to study orgo on my own. Do you guys think this is a wise decision? If I choose to apply during my senior year I will have a year gap and I already have a ruined year right after hs.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

I was just thinking about this today on the train. My problem is I won't finish orgo 2 until the end of my junior year so if I really want to take th MCAT in time I will have to study orgo on my own. Do you guys think this is a wise decision? If I choose to apply during my senior year I will have a year gap and I already have a ruined year right after hs.

As far as I know, ochem 2 materials aren't covered on the MCAT. However, even if u were planning on taking the MCAT after you finish ochem 2, you would still have enough time to take the test and apply in the summer.

 

[Laryngophed]

As far as I know, ochem 2 materials aren't covered on the MCAT. However, even if u were planning on taking the MCAT after you finish ochem 2, you would still have enough time to take the test and apply in the summer.

Sorry to contradict you Ibn but there is plenty of OChem II on the MCAT. Thankfully, the material that is covered on the MCAT is pretty light, and not nearly as dense as the course. You can take the MCAT without having had OChem II and be successful, but you are going to have to work at it. Most review programs cover it fairly succinctly, as do many of the "study for the MCAT on your own books" so you can do it alone.

 

[donkeykong1]

does taking the mcat in june hurt my chances for an acceptance especially for DO schools which I hear take longer to verify applications. My gpa is pretty solid~>3.7, i just dont want the mcat holding me back.