<p>^ I agree. My son’s roommate was going to take a gap year until his parents forced him into applying in this cycle. He has good stats but very little else, as he was counting on beefing up his ECs during his gap year. He just has 2 interviews as of now. He will surely get into our state schools. But, he definitely had the potential to do so much better.</p>
<p>texaspg, you are right, of course. I was typing in a hurry and did not think much as I was typing. D is 1600 miles away and hates talking on the phone or sending emails. So, we do not talk or text about med school much. I do know that she has been working with Tulane’s med school advisor and has a plan worked out. She has mentioned several schools that she wants to apply to and has said she wants to take the MCAT in May or June. I was very much a helicopter parent while she was in high school and I am now trying to step back and let her indicate to me how involved she wants me to be in this process.</p>
<p>The last I heard she wants to take a glide year. We have not really talked about it since last spring, since she was not home for the summer and basically went from her summer job straight to school. For all I know, she has changed her mind and is working on the applications. She is flying home this weekend in order to run a marathon in our hometown. I plan on touching base with her then so I know for sure where her head is.</p>
<p>The latest date I have seen the CC experts claim one can take MCAT is March of junior year in order to have a successful application, assuming the ECs are upto par.</p>
<p>WOWMom - I got your PM but can’t reply as i don’t have enough posts. I appreciated your message. If you could send me the list that would be great. You are so sweet to help - thanks.</p>
<p>Kal123 thanks for the link but it didn’t work. Is there a replacement?</p>
<p>Bajamm- many people apply the summer between junior and senior year and go directly to med school. DD realized that would not work when she was a sophomore and felt a little the odd man out, but came to discover the glide year was perfect for her.</p>
<p>texaspg, many (most?) schools say they will accept scores from September testing. The problem with that is that the student won’t know the scores and the game plan can not reflect the scores. If the student does not aim towards the most elite schools and has an accurate view of how they take tests, then they would probably be OK with the gamble.</p>
<p>thanks, somemom, I will see where she is at this weekend and ask her if she knows the time line. I am guess she does, as the med school advisor at Tulane seems to be on top of things and communicates well.</p>
<p>the other issue is that your application wouldn’t be complete and reviewed until october - very, very, very, very late in the game. I had my first acceptance in october after multiple interviews. You don’t want to have people getting acceptance offers before you’ve even been looked at.</p>
<p>ponypal, I tried the link that kal posted and didn’t get it. Then, in my search bar, I eliminated any extra codes after the “xls” and ta-da! It worked. Of course, and this is the bad news, these numbers are for an 2010-2011 acceptance. But it’s a start. Just be sure to revise the numbers according to your own stats.</p>
<p>"schools say they will accept scores from September " </p>
<p>Being able to apply is totally irrelevant to the process if the chances of getting in start dropping precipitously. Once you have applied and did not get in because most seats are gone by the time they see your app, you will count as a reapplicant for next year. Then it gets into what did you do during glide year that merits an admission (people have forgotten that you were quite good the first time around but you had the misfortune of applying late).</p>
<p>You should check out the 2013-14 applicants thread and follow the various applicants who have been posting. I think there have been 8-10 individuals from the beginning and by last count 5 had admissions, some multiple, as of yesterday. A September test taker on the other hand would still be waiting for file complete confirmation around mid November.</p>
<p>Edit: Went back and did an actual count and came up with 7 people already admitted. I think there might be one waiting until November release, one who just did not provide an update, and one probably close to MD/PhD offers.</p>
<p>I’m posting again to thank people for comments and messages (but since I haven’t posted enough I can’t reply to messages yet but am posting more so that I can soon). WOWMom thanks for the private message. </p>
<p>So after my research and reading here, I’m thinking that my D should graduate as expected in June 2014 and not apply until June 2015, using that year to work, continue shadowing (or get another shadowing position such as ER), and get some kind of clinic or patient-contact volunteer position. She had also found a EMT program that she wanted to do last summer but found it too late so she could do that. Since she is graduating a year early, this application would be at four years after HS graduation. Then she could work and save money during the application year, because I had no idea that an application year could be $5-10,000 including fees and airfare/hotels. </p>
<p>The other advantage is that she can work on the personal statements in 2015 when she’s not taking classes and also her grades won’t be ready until the end of June 2014, so if she delays she can get everything submitted in May 2015 instead of scrambling for June-July 2014. LORs, PS, transcripts – all of that is very time consuming. It seems like one almost needs a whole year of prep time to apply. </p>
<p>I think that I will have to convince her to wait a year and she won’t like it, but I think she has too high of a chance of a “no-offer” year if she applies in 2014 due to grades and lack of extras. If she applies and is rejected, I’ve read that the second application cycle is worse. (This is different than it was when my MD brother applied three times in the 1990s, where he said he earned brownie points for persistence.) </p>
<p>Thoughts from you knowledgeable people?</p>
<p>I think it’s a wise choice to wait a year and apply once with a strong application rather than have a hastily done application yielding fewer choices and possibly necessitating another cycle.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: D1 took 2 years glide between UG and med school.</p>
<p>^^^Agree with entomom, son took a glide year as well and is still very happy he did so. He is hoping to take next year off (between MS3 and MS4) to complete his dual degree, which he considers ANOTHER gap year!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>
Considering the fact that it will take 1 full year for an admission cycle, that’s more like taking 2 gap years. If she wants to take 1 gap year, she should apply in June 2014 right at the time of her graduation. If she applies in June 2015, she can start med school in July/August 2016. Also, watch out for MCAT 2015.</p>
<p>A July/August start date should be fine using the current 8/13 MCAT test. See this: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/332616/whichexamwillyoutake.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/332616/whichexamwillyoutake.html</a></p>
<p>However, she needs to be aware that if the med schools she’s applying to have changed their admission requirement, she may need to take additional cursework to fulfill new post-2015 admission requirements.</p>
<p>(And schools are starting to post notices that their admission requirements are changing for Fall 2016 to better match the 2015 MCAT. Indiana, Duke are two I can think of right off hand.)</p>
<p>Duke</p>
<p>[your</a> application - Admissions Department :: Academic Expectations](<a href=“Office of M.D. Admissions | Duke University School of Medicine”>Office of M.D. Admissions | Duke University School of Medicine)</p>
<p>They have added specifics about sociology, psychology, and statistics for 2016 admissions but will accept current MCAT for 2016 admissions.</p>
<p>IU</p>
<p>[Applying</a> to the IU School of Medicine](<a href=“http://admissions.medicine.iu.edu/applying-to-the-iu-school-of-medicine/]Applying”>http://admissions.medicine.iu.edu/applying-to-the-iu-school-of-medicine/)</p>
<p>"Biochemistry, Psychology, and Sociology required beginning application year 2014 (June 1 - December 15, 2014) for the class matriculating in fall 2015. "</p>
<p>Anyone applying to IU during 2014-15, does need to have these classes.</p>
<p>FYI----AMCAS has posted info about applying in 2014 for fall 2015 at </p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/how_to_apply/[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/how_to_apply/</a></p>
<p>^Is there anything different this year as compared to previous applications?</p>