You only get one shot at Step 1. Make sure it counts. Most programs have either a 3 or 5 year cut-off after graduation. Either find a department in your med school and enroll as a "post-grad research fellow" and maybe publish like 1-2 scientific papers in the meantime or just leave the gap in your CV and answer truthfully when asked by any PD (don't come up with fake excuses).
Med schools outside the US (and Caribbean schools) don't have anything to do with USMLE preparation. So to answer to previous posters, med school can actually get in your way of preparing for Step 1 in this case (different style of exams, different points emphasized, minutiae oriented etc), plus you get no sort of dedicated period for it.
The amount of work you have to put in to overcome a bad Step 1 score >>>> how much that gap is gonna hurt you. I took a year off and don't regret it. I wouldn't change my 260s for a mediocre score with no gap or risk failing classes and not graduating in time. Let alone that a gap inside med school is even harder to explain.
