Study abroad timeline

[cloudysunshine]

I'd really really really love to study abroad. Based on my major requirements and pre-med requirements and my school's course offering schedule, it seems as if the best time for me to go abroad is the summer after junior year. I don't plan on taking a gap year (of course, this may change). Are there any negatives or difficulties I may come across in my med school apps if I choose to study abroad in the summer after junior year?

Any advice on my application timeline or another more preferable time I should go abroad? When should I plan on submitting my apps in this case? Will there be an opportunity to discuss my study abroad experiences later on in my apps?

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[ilikevegetables]

I'd really really really love to study abroad. Based on my major requirements and pre-med requirements and my school's course offering schedule, it seems as if the best time for me to go abroad is the summer after junior year. I don't plan on taking a gap year (of course, this may change). Are there any negatives or difficulties I may come across in my med school apps if I choose to study abroad in the summer after junior year?

Any advice on my application timeline or another more preferable time I should go abroad? When should I plan on submitting my apps in this case? Will there be an opportunity to discuss my study abroad experiences later on in my apps?

If you don't plan on taking a gap year, that means that you'll be applying starting in the summer of your junior year, which means that studying abroad during that time could be tough/not a good idea. Technically you could start applying when you get back, but submitting a primary app at the end of the summer will probably mean getting verified pretty late and having pretty late completion dates, which could put you at a disadvantage.

There are other ways to do this, though. You could pick a different summer, or you could go abroad during the school year and take summer classes if you need to catch up.

The good news is that yes, you will be able to incorporate it into your application, especially if you make sure to make it a really valuable experience. I did research for my college honors thesis while I was abroad and I definitely find opportunities to talk about it in interviews .

Good luck!

 

[cloudysunshine]

In the event that I do decide to take a gap year, then studying abroad in the summer of junior shouldn't impose any difficulties would it?
The thing I am worried about is the new MCAT. I'd really prefer to take the old MCAT while I still can in spring 2014. But if I enter medical school in Fall 2016, would my MCAT score still be eligible?

 

[ilikevegetables]

In the event that I do decide to take a gap year, then studying abroad in the summer of junior shouldn't impose any difficulties would it?
The thing I am worried about is the new MCAT. I'd really prefer to take the old MCAT while I still can in spring 2014. But if I enter medical school in Fall 2016, would my MCAT score still be eligible?

If you're taking a gap year, then that would free up your summer after junior year, yeah .

I'm not sure what they're doing with the new MCAT, but as of now schools take scores up to two or three years prior, and I bet that they will set something up so that old MCAT scores will still be accepted within that window. I wouldn't take my word as gospel on this because I actually have no idea, but that's where I'd put my money.

 

[Lollygag]

In the event that I do decide to take a gap year, then studying abroad in the summer of junior shouldn't impose any difficulties would it?
The thing I am worried about is the new MCAT. I'd really prefer to take the old MCAT while I still can in spring 2014. But if I enter medical school in Fall 2016, would my MCAT score still be eligible?

I think most schools accept the MCAT up to 3 years old. There may be some outliers though.

And depending on when you are studying abroad and when you are leaving, it may not be an issue or it may be a huge issue. It really just depends.

If your going the entire summer or at the end of the summer, then you should look into when schools typically grant interviews and if they grant a lot of interviews in august then you might not want to go in august. If most people don't interview until september then you would be okay. If you are going the beginning of the summer for just a month or 2 then you could take the mcat early (as in, no later than may) and then send out transcripts, rec letters, fill out your AMCAS early, and overall submit early like the first week of june and then leave. You may have to write secondaries on your trip though. If your applying to ~15 schools that could be doable. 20+ will be really annoying though.

If you want to go then you need to figure out an application timeline for yourself, and then find a program that could work around it or not heavily interfere. Because It completely depends on when exactly you are going. Studying abroad may to july and july to august would be completely different because of application timeline and would also depend on when you decide to submit.

Just looking at your post I would generally say not a good idea, but there are definitely ways. Your post simply doesn't give enough information to gather if it is doable or not.