Pre-Med Undergraduate Journey - Year 4 (advice from a rising MS1)
By your fourth year of undergrad, you’ll have to decide whether or not you will be taking a gap year. Meaning, this is the most variable year. If you haven’t yet decided, there are several factors to consider, including level of experience, GPA/test scores, time management, and finances.
Without taking a gap year, you have less time to accumulate experiential hours, and you will have to balance applications and interviews during classes. If you have school loans, you’ll still be in the grace period when med school starts, so you will not have to start paying down loans for several more years. One thing to note is that it does seem to be getting harder to successfully apply straight through. Not to say it is not doable (this is the route I took), but with the more condensed schedule and the increasing competitiveness of med school admissions, this path is becoming less common. In fact, the average age for MS1 is now 24 (equating to about two gap years).
On the other hand, taking at least one gap year provides more flexibility in the timeline of taking your MCAT and beefing up your application. You can also improve your GPA, if needed, by participating in a post-bacc or masters program. Depending on how you spend your gap year(s), you may need to start paying down loans, but you can also start saving money for med school costs. However, it can be hard for some people to return to school after taking gap years, and it can be harder to find professors for letters of recommendation the more time you take.
Like other aspects of the pre-med journey, there is no right or wrong answer for deciding whether to take a gap year. It comes down to what you are comfortable with. So then what can you expect in my fourth year of undergrad?
No Gap Year
This is going to be a crazy year. You’ll be spending most of the summer leading into the year working on your primary and secondary applications. Then it’s a waiting game. You wait to get interview offers. You wait for decisions. All the while you’re taking arguably your most difficult upper-level major classes and visiting medical schools. It’s a lot! For many people, it is normal for grades so slip some and for burnout to set in early in the year. This is not an issue unless you have to reapply in a later cycle.
Gap Year(s)
Again, you get a lot more flexibility in your timeline when taking one or more gap years, in addition to the extra time to enhance your application.
- 1 gap year
- MCAT: summer after junior year - April senior year (May might delay the applications)
- Apply: summer after senior year
- 2+ gap years
- MCAT: summer after graduation (or later the more gap years you add)
- Apply: one year before desired start
With this spread out schedule, there is more time to focus on classes and activities. This makes senior year more similar to other years of undergrad as opposed to an application focused approach.
Concluding remarks
- To gap or not to gap - deciding whether to take any gap years (and how many) will determine how your fourth year looks.
- There is not one way to be premed - everyone’s journey is unique.
- Allot enough time for applications - regardless of gap years, quality applications take time to plan and write.