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Graduating in 3 years, when should I apply to med school?
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You will not be judged by your age, but rather by evidence of your maturity as reflected in your activities, LORs, and life choices. You will also not be excused by your age if you don't have ECs every bit as comprehensive and competitive as those who've had another 1-2 years to develop them.
I don't discourage you from graduating in three years to save money. It's not impossible to get an acceptance if you apply after sophomore year. But I do encourage you to give strong consideration to applying after your third year of college and taking a productive gap year to make your ECs even meatier, especially if you're ambitious and want your best shot at highly-competitive, research-oriented "Top" med schools.
Thanks for your insight. How would you rate my ECs so far? Just to give you more context, at the time of application, I’ll prob have around 1000 hours of scribing, 100+ hours of shadowing, 100 hours of clinics volunteering, 100+ hours of non clinics volunteering, leadership in a BME club, founder of nonprofit focused on community service, and around 300 hours of research w prob a published paper or abstract and at least one poster.
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deleted972488
Volunteering hours are a little low. And a little surprising you got a pub with 300 hours of research.
9
907914
I almost had a pub with like 75 hours. It was in-silico simulations and I left the lab early because I didn't like the work, but it is theoretically possible. Should stuck it out for another two quarters for that pub...but meh
Kind of similar situation, my work is a combo of wet lab and data analysis, and PI rly wants to get a pub out of my work before I leave the lab at the end of this summer.
Is that my only weakness? I’ll prob be continuing some volunteering during my app year so I can project maybe another 50-100 hours for both clinical/non-clinical volunteering.
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I'm not trying to be snarky or mean. But after reading the title of this thread, I would recommend a writing course. You personal statements and responses on your app will be viewed critically and engineers are sometimes not the best writers.
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Having 300 hours of research is fine for general application purposes, but light for T-20s. A pub would be a plus.
Fifty hours of shadowing is enough (especially if you in-person scribe) if it includes primary care. Do you have that?
I agree that the nonclinical community service hours could be better.
Founder of a non-profit organization sounds promising. How many adherents do you have? How can you make it grow? Will it survive when you depart?
Good point tbh. I think my writing is prob like a 7/10 and hopefully another year of college will improve it. And with regards to the title, I think I fixed it a while ago, but yea as you can tell, did not proofread this post.
Yes the shadowing does include primary care. In regards to my non-profit, I actually started in high school in my hometown and still work on it a bit at college, but not as actively as I used to because my college is far from home. But I plan to open up a chapter of it at my college soon, and hopefully the same thing when I go to med school to. We prob have around 200 followers, but other fouders of the organization have won national awards (prob could’ve if I was home too), so definitely think it’s impactful work. As for growing, hopefully by adding a chapter in college town, we have more active participants.
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Projected hours won't benefit your application, BTW. Completed hours are what will be taken into account when interview offers are made. Acomms know that all too often plans fall through when "life happens."
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Is this still the case with, say long-term employment or been in the same lab for over a year, been volunteering at the same gig long-term? etc. Not gap year plans, but continued school plans?
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Yep. Broken legs, complicated pregnancies, getting laid off or fired, really-sick child, PI retiring unexpectedly, mono, loss of transportation, etc seem to happen regularly enough despite the most solid of intensions.
But chances are that anything in which you were active for a year or two has already added sufficient benefit to an application anyway.
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I’d also recommend doing some type of community service in underserved areas. No feeding the homeless doesn’t count
I’ve already completed one year of college and I’ve just been rly motivated to achieve my goals. In terms of the pre-reqs, I’ve talked w my advisors and most of my BME classes complete the pre-med reqs.
So if I were to take a job during my gap year, would that not be taken into account when adcoms look at my app?
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deleted987519
It's a little premature to predict what schools you are competitive for, don't you think?
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deleted972488
Come back and ask after you have done all the things you plan to do, including taking the MCAT.
Yeah you're right, just really want to make a decision about the future ASAP due to family sit.
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907914
I was like this about 6 months ago. My entire plan was aimed at a 514, get a school list that was 100% family oriented. Was good to go. Then I got a 521 and I suddenly had a problem. I good problem, but a problem nonetheless.
Moral of the story is that plans can change even the month before the application let alone 2 years before. Focus on school and ECs now, then MCAT studying, then application.
Totally understand. ECs and MCAT is what the next 3 months will be all about 🙂
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907914
ECs are a multi year thing....and MCAT seems a little early? What if you don’t get in? It will expire at many schools for the following cycle
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907914
Go look at my old threads. I legitimately did not want to do super well on the MCAT. Said things like “I don’t want higher than a 518 because of yield protection at the schools on my list.” Was told that I probably won’t get that high and shouldn’t worry about it. Welp...
What I meant to say is that I’m going to focus on my ECs during the summer and I’m going to start studying for the MCAT this summer. No way am I ready for the MCAT lol (took a diagnostic cause I was rly bored one day and got a 500).
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Correct. They'd take it as a signal of a possible/probable plan, but you'd need to use your Secondary essays (when pertinent), update letters (where allowed), and interview conversations to let schools know that the plan has moved forward.
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Just putting this out there: all of my friends who took gap years were really happy to have done so. Enjoy undergrad and your youth! I think it's great to aim for acceptance to start med school right after undergrad, but if that doesn't plan out, it might be for the better.
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Hello, I was in your same shoes last year and I decided to complete undergrad in 3 years without a gap year. I can provide some valid advice on any questions you have if you'd like. I am applying this cycle and will turn 20 this Saturday; I worked hard and have set myself up for success within this short time, and you can too. My main advice is keep your GPA high, focus on extracurriculars, take the MCAT the summer after your sophomore year in May/June, have your primary written and submitted prior to taking the MCAT and try to minimize distractions during this year. Schools will not discriminate based on age but make sure you are mature in your writing and interviews. I'm going to sleep now, but if you need any advice PM me, I'd be glad to help 🙂
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tl;dr: I'm basically you from the future and I think you should take the gap year
I was in your exact situation a few years ago and I spent a lot of time contemplating whether or not to take a gap year after graduating early. In the end, I graduated in BME a year early and applied last cycle during a gap year. I was fortunate enough to be accepted and I'll be attending an incredible school in August. I think you should definitely take a gap year if you're graduating early. I don't think my app cycle would have gone nearly as well if I hadn't taken the gap year. A lot of things came together in my last year of school that I couldn't have predicted, and my app was much better off for it. You're clearly motivated and successful and I think that the more time you take before medical school, the better off you and your eventual medical school will be.
From a financial standpoint, the best thing would be to graduate early and actually use that engineering degree during a gap year or two. It's basically a no brainer: you'll be earning decent to good money, adding some maturity/professional skills to your application, and putting your passion for medicine to the test against a more conventional kind of job. That last one was particularly important for me because working for even just a few months made it infinitely easier to give a compelling and well-considered answer to the "Why medicine and not x?" question.
Also, if your university was anything like mine, first year engineering GPAs are terrible predictors of final gpa, doubly so if you went to a good high school. If your 4.0 GPA doesn't include classes like Signal Processing, Fluids, and Thermo, classes where everyone starts off on a similar footing, it's probably best to assume you'll graduate in four years until you take these classes. You're probably going to have to reduce your courseload to devote the time that these classes demand, and your EC involvement will take a hit then too. It's a lot to cram into 3 years, and that's all without mentioning MCAT prep. At the end of my first year, ~25 people in my major were on track to finish their degrees in 3 years, most of them premed. Only 2 of us actually graduated early, and the other guy wasn't premed. I sincerely hope you graduate early and get into a great school, but it's definitely an uncommon path for a reason.
One thing I wish I knew before applying: if you came in with tons of AP credit or tested out of classes, you'll graduate with fewer credits than most other applicants, making each class you took worth more in your final GPA. It's not hard to slip up on an exam or a pset and damage your GPA, and it'll sting all the more because of how few classes you're taking.
I was in your exact situation a few years ago and I spent a lot of time contemplating whether or not to take a gap year after graduating early. In the end, I graduated in BME a year early and applied last cycle during a gap year. I was fortunate enough to be accepted and I'll be attending an incredible school in August. I think you should definitely take a gap year if you're graduating early. I don't think my app cycle would have gone nearly as well if I hadn't taken the gap year. A lot of things came together in my last year of school that I couldn't have predicted, and my app was much better off for it. You're clearly motivated and successful and I think that the more time you take before medical school, the better off you and your eventual medical school will be.
From a financial standpoint, the best thing would be to graduate early and actually use that engineering degree during a gap year or two. It's basically a no brainer: you'll be earning decent to good money, adding some maturity/professional skills to your application, and putting your passion for medicine to the test against a more conventional kind of job. That last one was particularly important for me because working for even just a few months made it infinitely easier to give a compelling and well-considered answer to the "Why medicine and not x?" question.
Also, if your university was anything like mine, first year engineering GPAs are terrible predictors of final gpa, doubly so if you went to a good high school. If your 4.0 GPA doesn't include classes like Signal Processing, Fluids, and Thermo, classes where everyone starts off on a similar footing, it's probably best to assume you'll graduate in four years until you take these classes. You're probably going to have to reduce your courseload to devote the time that these classes demand, and your EC involvement will take a hit then too. It's a lot to cram into 3 years, and that's all without mentioning MCAT prep. At the end of my first year, ~25 people in my major were on track to finish their degrees in 3 years, most of them premed. Only 2 of us actually graduated early, and the other guy wasn't premed. I sincerely hope you graduate early and get into a great school, but it's definitely an uncommon path for a reason.
One thing I wish I knew before applying: if you came in with tons of AP credit or tested out of classes, you'll graduate with fewer credits than most other applicants, making each class you took worth more in your final GPA. It's not hard to slip up on an exam or a pset and damage your GPA, and it'll sting all the more because of how few classes you're taking.
Thanks for the advice and confidence booster.
Great to know that someone has been in the exact same position as me. I agree that I probably have not taken some of my harder classes yet, so hopefully I don’t stretch myself too thin to lower my GPA. Definitely will lighten my load if I think it’s too much for me to handle. If you don’t mind me asking, were you able to get a BME-related job? One of the reasons I’m cautious about a gap year is that the BME job market is not great for people w just a bachelors, and so I may not be able to get a BME job during my gap year. Would you agree with that statement?
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