Medical Applying to medical school at end of July - good idea or should I wait until next year?

[Question]

Hello, I just received my MCAT score, which was a 518. I have a 4.0, have 1000 hours of community service, 3 poster presentations at an international conference, one upcoming publication, 300 hours of clinical volunteering, am an officer of an org, and have other extracurricular activities. I was wondering if it would be too late for me to apply this cycle. What would be the logistics of applying at this time? Is it even a good idea to apply right now?

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[PerioDont]

I mean it’s not early in the cycle but you can definitely still apply

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Congratulations. Your call if you are super-organized.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Why were you not already prepared? Was there something you were planning on doing this year that was going to complete your app?

To me the main question is whether you have letters lined up. If you don’t, I’m not sure how you could get this prepared in time. Otherwise, indeed it is your call

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

If you can get everything together without missing anything then sure, apply. Nice app!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Make sure that when you apply, whether it's this year or next, you're putting your best application out there. Altough we often talk about "worst case scenario = don't get into medical school", with a strong application like yours you could end up getting into a school, but not the school you want. And dropping an acceptance to "try for a better school next year" is not a good plan.

So, if you really can get everything in, done well, and on time - go right ahead. if not, be smart and get prepped for an application next year and give it your best.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

thank you for all the replies. I think I will try to take a gap year to improve my app to have a chance for t20s; unfortunately, without my recs in I most likely will still need more time to get everything in.

Think this is a solid choice.