OP, I am sorry that all the comments here did not sit well with you and your pride. I can assure you that no one here is meant to criticise, but to give you a true picture of the med school application process. Let me tell you a little story.
D was from a top 10 school in the USA, she did not apply for a med school in her 3rd year because she wanted to boost her gpa in the 4th year, which she did. Her final gpa was 3.5 and her MCAT was 34 in the first sitting. She also took a gap year to work for an AIDS clinic and increased her shadowing activities to boost her EC, in addition, she had 3 years of research in a hospital with published papers. Everyone here on CC, including most of the posters in this thread said that she had a good chance to get in an MD school. That was one year ago.
She applied about 30 MD and DO schools, including those Historically Black MD schools such as Howard etc. Lo and behold, she DID NOT get any IIs from ANY MD schools. She ended up with two DO school admits and in a week, she will be finishing her first year in a DO school. She is very happy to be a member in the DO community and her learning in OMM did help her mom to alleviate some of physical pain which most therapist did not help. She will be taking the Step 1 in the coming year, she expect she will be able to get the residency of her choice because she is in top 10% of her class.
The moral of this story is that a step back in one’s life some times is a giant step forward in one’s future.