<p>Hi everyone,
I realise that there is a thread about this already but it's about a year old and I wanted to make sure someone would see this and maybe be able to help me?</p>
<p>I'm going into my third year of college and will be graduating after this year with a BS in Biochemistry. I initially planned on doing grad school only, and have been doing undergrad research in a biochem lab since second semester freshman year, and will complete a senior honors thesis before I graduate. However, a lot of my research is based on the hope of future medical applications, and it got me thinking about wanting to help patients directly as a physician while doing clinical research as well. However, I came to this realisation rather late in the game (around March of this year), so I'm a little behind on the pre-med track. I have all the required courses competed by virtue of my major, luckily, but I won't be taking the MCAT until August and I am VERY unsure about where to apply (other than all state schools, I am a TX resident)...I am primarily interested in oncology, either clinical or surgical, obviously combined with research.
I was really worried about the application process so I went at it head on and worked my butt off to try to catch up. My personal statement is almost complete (waiting to add stuff about my upcoming shadowing experience), and I have been studying for the MCAT (not Kaplan-course intensity as I am currently working abroad...long story, but I've done plenty of practise tests, etc.), so I thought I would be on track come the beginning of the school year. Reading this forum has gotten me really worried about the secondaries though...I am certainly no expert on the med school admissions process and I don't think I realised how much I would be taking on! Several people on here have also said that early graduates should take a year off between college and med school....</p>
<p>So I'm wondering, would it be better for me to go ahead and apply this year and see what happens, or plan to take a year off? What sort of gap year activities would you recommend? I've been half thinking about teaching English abroad with one of those programs, don't know if that's just my escapism though...</p>
<p>Sorry, this seems like a novel...but I'd appreciate any help you guys could give me!</p>