I was looking for opinions on when to apply to medical school based on my circumstances.
I am 29 years old. My undergraduate GPA was roughly a 3.1 from an ivy league college. I have worked full-time (40 hours/week) at a local medical school as a network analyst for for the past 4.5 years. I began my pre-reqs in the fall of 2003. I have finished 8 hours of biology with labs and 6 hours of general chemistry. I am currently taking the first semester of organic chemistry and physics. I have maintained a 4.0 out of 4.0 GPA over my first two semesters and expect that trend to continue this semester. While taking these classes, I have continued to work full-time. I commute an hour each way to work. In between all of this, I manage to keep up my household, captain a softball team for my co-workers on Sunday nights and have put in about 40 hours of volunteering at Children’s Hospital over the past 8 months.
I am coming up on a crossroads of deciding whether or not to apply to medical school this summer or next. I have analyzed the two possibilities and have a general schedule worked out for each circumstance.
If I apply during Summer of 2005 I would:
1)Take Organic Chem II, Physics II, Physics II lab during the spring of 2005.
2)Take MCAT in April of 2005 and if I perform subpar, take it again in August of 2005.
3)Take general chem lab in the summer or 2005 (school does not require me to take this simultaneously with general chem so I have not taken it yet)
4)Take organic chem lab in the fall of 2005 (same as above)
5)Take Cell Molec in the fall of 2005. Continue to due things to bolster application on the off-chance that I am not interviewed or accepted during the fall of 2005.
6)Continue to volunteer at Childrens Hospital throughout this timeframe.
Option two is to not rush the process and instead apply in Summer of 2006. My schedule would be as follows:
1)Take Organic Chem II, General Chem Lab during spring of 2005.
2)Take Physics II and Physics II lab during the summer
3)Take MCAT prep course over the summer and take the MCAT in August of 2005.
4)Take Organic Chem Lab in Fall of 2005
5)TA a Biology Lab in Fall of 2005
6)Work on my personal trainer fitness certification in Fall of 2005 (this has been an on-going passion of mine over several years and with only taking an organic chem lab, I could afford myself the opportunity to do this in the fall).
7)Take Cell Molec in the Spring of 2006
8) Take MCAT in April of 2006 if score from August of 2005 is subpar.
9) Take Immunology or Biochemistry in Summer of 2006 or get involved in Summer research
9) Apply in Summer of 2006
10) Continue to bolster application in the Fall of 2006.
11) If accepted, do some traveling in Spring of 2007 before starting school in Fall of 2007.
I hope you are getting a sense of my two possibilities. On the one side I am looking forward to a less rushed schedule. Although crazy stressful at times, I have thoroughly enjoyed the pre-med process thus far and believe taking my time at this will allow me to build a stronger foundation before entering medical school. At the same token, I am surrounded by several classmates who are doing the bare minimum for requirements and applying this summer. The second option has medical school 2.5 years away at a minimum which seems so distant. Which choice would you take? Very curious to hear from those who have already been through the process.
Thanks for any advice,
Kermit
Kermit -
It sounds like you’ve pretty well laid out your options and pros/cons. Considerations I would add:
With your schedule, will you have any time to prep for the April MCAT? Consider that you will not have finished Physics or OChem prior to taking the test.
Have you considered option I with taking the MCAT in August for the first time? It looks to me like you would have more time to prep for it, and would have the prereqs done. I would NOT rush taking the MCAT in April. You can still apply next summer with an August MCAT.
The whole application process takes a HUGE amount of time - much more than I anticipated. I grossly underestimated how long it would take me to fill out the AMCAS, write my PS, get all of my transcripts and LORs submitted, etc. Additionally, some secondaries are quite time consuming.
If I had to do it again, I would seriously consider taking a little bit more time. I took the fast track path in order to apply this year.
Ultimately, it is up to you and what feels right to you. If you have the time and $, it might be nice to go a little bit slower and actually enjoy the whole process.
Good luck in your decision!
Amy
Is it Joe (or maybe Mary or Natalie?) who says “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”? It’s good advice.
Cheers,
Judy
Do the marathon and apply 2006 so you can have time to prepare for the MCAT, which includes taking physics.
While you can retake the MCAT adcoms see both scores.
Just my two cents.
Bill. 