What is the best route?

[kbrown101]

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I have noticed a lot of undergrad students that complete their degrees in 4 years either have lower GPAs or less ECs and research experience. What is the problem behind this, and is it ok to finish your degree first then take a year or two for research and ECs considering you would be more focused and committed?

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

I have noticed a lot of undergrad students that complete their degrees in 4 years either have lower GPAs or less ECs and research experience. What is the problem behind this, and is it ok to finish your degree first then take a year or two for research and ECs considering you would be more focused and committed?

Streampaw addressed this question at length. Here is a short excerpt:

"Since GPA is extremely important in terms of medical school admissions, and is pretty much dead set in stone unless you go the osteopathic route, you need to make GPA your priority. Are you required to work full-time to pay for classes? Then you have to take less classes. Yes, this means you may not graduate on time. But in the end, you will still have an adequate GPA. Perhaps you are doing too many extracurricular activities and don't have time to go to the tutoring center at your school. In this case, the answer is obvious. Either drop the EC's or take a lighter load of classes. Don't overload yourself. EVEN IF this means not doing any EC's at all while in college, this is fine! You will have to take a few gap years after you graduate college, and that's when you can get some great EC's in.If you know you are someone who can't balance EC's and college studying, then just focus on college. If you are someone working full-time and can't focus on college, then take a little break from college, work a full-time job and just save up money until a time when you can afford college. This may mean taking a couple years off for work, which is fine. Do whatever it takes. If you are able to handle maybe one class while working full-time, then do that too. If not, then work for a couple years and save up."

Source: www.streampaw.blogspot.com