i'm thinking about taking a year off to pursue a masters or certification program the year of my cycle -- i guess that means my GPA won't be affected initially. by just taking the classes, do you think it will look well on my application?
Most people agree that taking a year off won't really help the application. The Master's degree doesn't affect your undergrad GPA, so it's a wash. The certification program isn't going to produce huge results.
Take the year off if it would be something you think would be worthwhile. Don't do it to buff an application.
hmm. it might be necessary if i don't get in this cycle. if i take a cert program to improve my science GPA next year and then apply that year as well, will schools care about that? or will they disregard it since the year of my cert program won't have been over.