Gap Year

[tulipsandroses]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello,

• I saw that there are a lot of threads out there referring to gap year but I feel that my situation is a little different. I took my mcat this past January and received a 41. I was planning to apply this year with a 3.5sgpa and almost 3.6cgpa but I had a terrible spring semester because I lost my mom and I was too stubborn to lose my semester money due to withdraws. Bad mistake 🙁 because now my gpa is low. So I decided to not apply and bring it up for the June '15 cycle. The highest I can get it by June 2015 is 3.58cgpa and 3.39sgpa. From aamc statistics this only gives a 65.7% acceptance rate. Any advice if I should apply this upcoming June or finish this senior and take extra classes, maybe a post-bacc and apply June '16. Would it be worth to wait or should I take my chances? I am looking for low to mid tier and don't really expect to apply to any top schools. I really don't like the wait but I would rather be sure of getting at least one acceptance rather than none.

 

[G_Marker]

My impression is that many schools have an expiration date on the MCAT (maybe 2-3 years), so you should look to apply next cycle, if you want to keep that score. Your GPA may be on the low side, but I don't think I've ever actually met anyone who scored a 41 on the MCAT. Nice job!

 

[NoDakDok]

It's pretty difficult to judge an application on numbers alone, and that is all you have provided. The MCAT does have a 3 year expiration, so keep that in mind. I would, assuming your application is otherwise normal or above normal, apply broadly (and to a range of schools) this next cycle and see what happens. If you don't get in the first time around, apply a second time with the same 41 MCAT before it expires, potentially opting for some gap-year course work that would give you more opportunity to show you can excel in a learning environment.

A 41 should certainly open some doors, but as you see with the sub-70% acceptance rate, it's a rare situation and there will be questions about how you can score that high and not have a superb academic history.

 

[tulipsandroses]

Thank you for your replies .I should be getting a 3.42sgpa. Not a huge diff but feels a bit better. I will be taking my chances and try again with more course work if needed. I definitely know there will questions. I had a 4.0 freshman year, 3.90 sophomore. 3.7 fall, embarrassed of spring # and now hopefully an upward trend of 4.0 (in each semester) again. I had to work and had a lot of family emergencies. Although no excuse, I can't really change the past.
Some EC: 2 years of research, published and won 2nd prize at the symposium.
-Volunteered in a clinic in Tanzania for
one summer.
-hospital, shadow etc.
-Run 1/2 marathons (maybe not relevant) haha.
-Was born and raised in a 3rd world country.
I also have a couple more events. I plan to apply D.O. as well.

 

[Scarlett218]

If you start doing well academically again this year you should be competitive... a lot of schools let you explain an inconsistent academic record, and it seems like yours is mostly due to one bad semester when you had some extenuating circumstances, so they'll know you can do better. Congrats on the 41, and your ECs look pretty good as well from what you've given.