Medical Gap year: Apply and defer or apply after?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello! I'm in my first semester of junior year and am fairly set on taking a gap year before med school. I'm wondering what my application timeline should look like? Is there any benefit to applying on a normal schedule and deferring admission instead of waiting to apply after my gap year? I'm hoping that whatever I do during my gap year will add to my application, but if there's any benefit to applying before I want to consider that as an option. Thanks!

One advantage is that all your grades are in. If you have a very strong record, there won't be any concerns if you have high Mark's in upper level biomedical courses.

Your timeline would be similar to "traditional" applicants except you wouldn't have classes to distract you. Take the MCAT ideally before you apply, even a few months after you graduate. Plan wisely any clinical activities, especially if you get a full time position during your gap year.

This all presupposes your GPA is really desirable and you've done your networking to connect with schools.

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[Catalystik]

There are med schools do not offer deferral for any reason. Some will do so only for a few specific reasons and after a long period of consideration by the admissions committee, while you are kept hanging for months. Others allow deferrals freely. Do you know which is which?

Not-yet-completed gap year activities may be listed on a med school application as future predictions of involvement, but they do not factor into adcomm decision-making, as plans often fall short. So if your application needs those extra grades and completed activities to be competitive, then best to apply after they are complete.