I have everything figured out, for the most part. I should be graduating with my B.S. in the Fall of '08. My question is this.
Should I apply in June of '08 to start in '09 so I only have a semester and a summer to wait? Or, should I apply in June of '09 and take the whole year of no school? I find this all confusing since I didn't start college right out of high school.
I would really appreciate if some current med students would comment on this as well.
I'm not a med student (just another pre-med :/), but I figured I would throw in my two cents.
When you apply is really up to you - you have to think about whether or not your application is realistically ready to be sent off. You ultimately have to decide when you want to go to med school. It doesnt matter when you started your prereqs or your bachelors degree - so don't let that affect you. You just need to meet the requirements of the school. Is it feasible to send your application, spend all the money, spend a great deal of time filling them out, etc...if it's not ready? Probably not. Unless you've got money coming out of your ears and time to burn. haha. So make sure you ask yourself these questions when determining when it is best for you to apply.
OK- assuming your app will be ready to matriculate in Fall of 09, then you would apply in beginning June of 08 just like you said. Same guidelines apply for Fall 10.
Depending on your stats, MCAT scores, and extra currics - it MAY be feasible to take a year off...if your science GPA is low, for instance, maybe you could take some science course to boost it up...or if you don't have a lot of volunteer work under your belt, you could do some of that. Whatever the case may be, a year off could be used to beef up your application. I know many physicians that did that for a year or two that I work with.
Best of luck to you.
