Medical Should I take a gap year or apply right away?

[TheBoneDoctah]

hey! I'm a freshman who just transferred from Dartmouth to UPenn to be closer to my research mentor at Perelman and graduate earlier (realized D doesn't take AP credits+Philly's great for volunteering). If an early graduation is possible, would you do an MPH/MS/service trip/NIH research to strengthen the app or apply straight away?

I'm aiming for the best medical school possible in the shortest amount of time.

Stats: Five pubs (4 first, 1 solo, 2 posters, few pubs in review), online orgo+research fellowship at UPenn this summer, religion major so GPA should be 3.9+, A in bio/genchem, B+ in genetics. No leadership/volunteering experience at all (swapping colleges+COVID szn, might be a pothole that could be filled with a year of service/etc).

Thanks for your input!

This is dependent on how your app looks when you are applying. You are gonna need extensive clinical and non-clinical hours. If you are solid in those areas personally I would say just apply. Your research resume is stellar so personally I would focus on boosting other areas of your app. Any MD school YOU are aiming for will get you where you want to be. Again, as we always say on here...your number one priority should be getting accepted to A medical school.

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[GoSpursGo]

I'm aiming for the best medical school possible in the shortest amount of time.

These are mildly antithetical. Bottom line, it's hard to find time to check all of the requisite boxes, keep your grades up, do well on the MCAT, and graduate early.

If you happen to be able to check all the boxes and apply straight away then good for you, but don't overload yourself. Apply when you're ready.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you are serious about medical school, down-shift your research and get your clinical experience and community service to those in serious need up. You need to be mature by the time you are an applicant, and putting in too much more research might exclude you for some schools. If you are serious about MD/PhD, you need to pace yourself and begin finding opportunities to present your research. You look like you want to be a gunner, so just be careful and humble about it.

 

[Goro]

I don't know if this was your intention, but if you decide to not do your ECs until your gap year, if may come across as box checking.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Also, if you are shoving all your ECs into one year the chance of you having meaningful experiences is not high.