Gap year question

[Indivimind]

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[spiffysteve]

What would be best, to apply now with a weak application and take my chances, and then possibly be a reapplicant with better GPA and ECs in a matter of 2 years.

I think you know the answer to this question. It would be much more beneficial for you to take an additional year off and finish your classes, for several reasons:

• Your GPA is, and I'm sorry to say it, quite low. Applying before finishing your classes will mean that you will be submitting an application with an unrepaired GPA. This may get you screened out at multiple schools, and it really hurts your chances at all schools.
• Applying in October is already fairly late. After you submit your app, it needs to be verified (which can take several weeks), you need to get secondaries, finish those secondaries, and send them in. Best case scenario, that will mean that your secondaries will be completed in early November. Schools will have been actively interviewing candidates for several months at that point. Combined with your GPA, this will really not go well for you.
• You can use that time to get patient contact/research/volunteer/shadowing experience. Having an extra year of work experience, hopefully with patients, will significantly bolster your app. It will also give you some time to mature as a human (not saying you're immature here, but it just honestly helps).

Taking an extra year will allow you to repair your GPA fully, apply earlier, and get more experience.

Please trust me on these things; I've been right where you are now. I graduated college with a 3.1 cGPA in 2011, and will be starting med school in July. I didn't know hardly anything about the process before starting. I applied twice unsuccessfully before fixing my app, applying on the first day, and getting accepted in early September. There is no rush on this process. As people here are fond of saying, med schools aren't going anywhere. Trying to apply quickly just for the sake of applying will only screw you over. If you're going to do it, do it right.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

I feel like a 3.3 accompanied with a solid MCAT score would give you a good shot during the '16/'17 cycle depending on when your application is verified.. But I totally agree with @spiffysteve.. applying in October would be risky in your situation.

I feel like the "safe" option here would be to take your time this summer to prepare for the MCAT... Your retakes will catalyze your MCAT studying because all of the material in the classes you plan to retake will be on the MCAT (especially physics and biochem.) Then, while you're getting through your '16/'17 school year make sure you ace the other retakes, maybe take some interesting upper-level science classes, and build your app (ECs and such) so you can apply in the '17/'18 cycle with a much stronger application.

 

[spiffysteve]

Yeah that's all true, thanks for the input. Looking at it as a whole, everything works out better if I take the two years off.
Just for clarification, so there is nothing I can do this cycle to help my application?
Is it just me or does anyone else find the whole idea of the cycle and application process stupid and bad timing? Maybe it's just me being salty, but why is it that whatever you do in the year leading up to your admission is basically not put on the app? Is the general trend to have finished all your classes before you have applied to medical school and to just be doing ECs or working in the mean time? How is this different for individuals who apply their junior year of undergrad, what if they were to take a core class their senior year?

By "this cycle," do you mean the upcoming 2016/2017 cycle? Theoretically, if you took summer classes and nailed them and applied in August, got your stuff in immediately, nail the MCAT, and have enough ECs already, that would help. It won't help as much, though. You won't be able to take all 4 classes in one summer, and even if you could it would be so stressful that it would be more detrimental to your app than helpful.

As for your timing question, you can actually put your planned activities on your application, but they count for less. Anybody can say "I will volunteer for 10 hours a week for the next year," but they can't really take everyone at their word. Because you might end up screened out for your unfixed GPA and reapplicants are judged more harshly, it works out extra awkwardly for you.