When premed students contact us about guiding them through the medical school application process, many of their questions are related to timing. “When should I …?” is a frequent question starter. Although no one single answer applies to everyone, here are the guidelines we use when advising our medical school clients.
When should I apply to medical school?
When you submit your application depends on several factors, including the strength of your profile, your level of certainty about the program you’re targeting, when/whether you have taken the MCAT, and your undergraduate academic performance.
1. Early Assurance Programs (EAPs)
EAPs typically ask candidates to apply during their sophomore year of college and require that they have done exceedingly well academically (to the point that the schools can assume the applicant’s MCAT score will be top notch).
2. Early Decision Programs (EDPs)
EDPs allow applicants to gain admission to one school and not have to apply to any others. If you’re absolutely certain about where you want to go to medical school, an EDP can save you a lot of time and effort in applying. The timeline will be similar to that for traditional applications (see item #3 in this list), but the deadline for these programs is August 1.
While the idea of applying to an EDP might be appealing, it can be difficult to gain acceptance this way. If you are rejected from an EDP, that does not mean that you are not qualified, just that school wants to see all – or at least more – candidates before deciding. Be aware that if you are not ultimately accepted, the early application could prevent you from being able to apply via the traditional route. Do your research to determine whether your target program encourages early decision; some schools even offer advice on what makes a good candidate.
3. Traditional application timeline
If you follow the traditional time frame apply at the end of your junior year as a rising senior in college. This requires that you take the MCAT early in your junior year or even over the summer between your sophomore and junior years of college. Taking the MCAT early allows you to know where you would be a competitive candidate and gives you a chance to retake the exam, if needed.
Following this timeline means that you will need to devote much of your spring and summer to completing applications, which can be tough to do when you are also taking advanced-level coursework and pursuing research and service activities. It also means that you will go on interviews during your senior year.
For this reason, it is increasingly common for premeds to apply at the end of their senior year of college. This later application timeline gives you an extra year to take the MCAT (ideally in the summer after your junior year, so you have time to retake it, if needed). Applicants who go this route will complete secondaries and interview during their gap year. This approach allows you extra time for travel, research, and volunteer or work experience, which are increasingly valued by admissions committees.
4. A postbac timeline
If you had a rough freshman year in college but have had an upward trend since then in your GPA (and an overall GPA above 3.5), you might want to apply to medical school right out of college. However, if the upward trend in your grades did not start until your junior or senior year, you might want to seriously consider a postbac program.
Postbacs are one- or two-year programs designed to provide the foundational coursework one needs for medical school. Initially designed for applicants in the workforce who wanted to change careers, and for individuals who majored in a non-science field and needed to complete the required premed coursework, there are also postbac courses for applicants who need to improve their GPA and MCAT scores.
Postbac programs enable candidates to show their ability to perform well in higher-level science coursework. If you are undertaking a postbac program for academic enhancement, your goal should be to demonstrate a sustained upward trend in your GPA for more than two semesters. This usually necessitates a gap or “glide” year, during which people often do research.
While completing a postbac program can show med schools that you are capable of high-level coursework, be prepared to dedicate a significant amount of time to the program. If you have a bad semester in a postbac program, this can work against you.
5. Timeline after completing an MS, MPH, or other postgraduate study
If you have been out of school for a year or more, did not get accepted the first time you applied, or are not entirely certain that medical school is for you, you might want to explore a graduate program before applying to medical school.
Master’s (MS) programs give you advanced skills that you can use in medicine, while also exposing you to other aspects of science and healthcare. Doing well academically in a master’s program will show medical schools that you are capable of graduate-level work, so you must get excellent grades throughout. In contrast to a postbac program, MS programs give you graduate-level coursework comparable to that of medical school, but they do not change your undergraduate GPA.
MS programs are available in biomedical sciences, bioinformatics, biotechnology, genomics, physiology, stem cell biology, and many other subject areas.
Master of public health (MPH) programs allow you to focus on epidemiology, biostatistics, policy, environmental health, international health, disaster management, health services administration, and other such areas. You might have opportunities to do research and enhance your awareness of major public health issues critical to medicine. You can gain valuable skills working with data, designing experimental protocols, and analyzing results. You might also discover issues in healthcare that motivate you and help you focus your med school applications. Just be sure to maintain your basic science knowledge, so you can apply with a strong MCAT score.
When should I take the MCAT?
Before you take the MCAT, make sure that all the following are true:
1. You’ve completed your prerequisites.
We strongly advise that aspiring medical school students complete all their prerequisites before taking the MCAT. However, you do not need to complete them before starting an MCAT prep course.
2. You’ve taken a review course or done extensive independent preparation.
Every year, we work with reapplicants who took the MCAT without preparing, “just to see” how they would do. Some get lucky, but most do not. Those who don’t get lucky end up giving the impression that they tend to do things without preparing (which might be true). Don’t let that be your image!
3. You’re confident you’ll do well, or at least as well as you can do.
Although some applicants take the MCAT several times and succeed, your chances tend to go down with successive retakes, as does your confidence – and your bank balance. Do not assume that you will do the same on the MCAT as you do on practice tests.
4. You’ve aced the practice tests.
Take practice tests over and over until you improve. Just as with anything else you want to do well on, you need to dedicate the necessary time to it. And chance favors the prepared mind.
5. You’ve prepared for the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section.
Do not skip practicing for CARS! This section involves skills that can’t be memorized or learned overnight, and it has been the dreaded downfall of many premeds. Consider this prep a way of stretching your brainpower. Most situations you will face in medicine involve critical reasoning, so CARS just might be the most practical thing you ever study!
When should I retake the MCAT?
This question doesn’t have an easy answer. It really depends on your GPA, your previous MCAT score, and which schools you are hoping to get into. If you have areas of concern in your overall application, a lower MCAT score can take you out of the running. However, improving your MCAT by just a few points might make the difference. The key here is that you should retake the MCAT based on the big picture, not simply the score itself.
You should retake the MCAT if the following statements apply to you:
1. You are sure you will do better.
Your goal is to improve significantly. It’s time-consuming and expensive to prepare for this test, so if you are doing it more than once, devote the time and effort needed to see a real difference. If the first review course you took didn’t help you attain the score you wanted, find a new one. You might even consider hiring a private tutor or finding a postbac program that includes MCAT prep.
2. Your score is already close to the median score of your target school.
According to an Association of American Medical Colleges guide, you can use the five-point rule: if your score is five percentile points below the median for the schools you are applying to, you should consider a retake. For good measure, you might want to use three percentile points as your guide.
3. Unusual circumstances led to your initial low score.
You might also consider a retake if you dealt with any unusual circumstances on MCAT day, such as being sick, a family emergency, or anything else that could have lowered your score. This does not usually include being nervous, though going into the test the second time and knowing what to expect might have a small positive impact.
When should I reapply to medical school?
Simply put, you should reapply to med school when your application is stronger.
Reapplicants should seriously consider having a medical school admissions consultant review their application (see our Medical School Rejection Review) to determine which areas will offer the greatest payoff in terms of improved likelihood of acceptance. There are many ways to better your overall application, but not all have the same – or the necessary – impact. Here are some examples:
- If you are lacking clinical exposure, you can spend more time in a patient care setting.
- If your application comes across as repetitive or sloppy, you can work on refining your words and checking for errors.
- If your essay was focused on experiences that happened long ago (in high school or before), you can spend time creating a more current personal story.
- If your GPA is on the low side, an above-average MCAT score might overcome it, but this is not guaranteed. You might need to do a postbac or complete a master’s program to show that you are capable of higher-level academics.
When is it too late to apply to medical school?
The average age of first-year med students has remained steady over the past few years at 24. However, the AAMC reported that in 2022, “matriculants ranged in age from 17 to 53 years old, including 677 people over age 30.” Statistics show that older medical students often do just as well or better than their younger classmates. This could be due to maturity, better organizational skills, or just the wisdom that comes with life experience. Having older students in med school also tends to give the entire class more perspective and maturity.
However, even though med schools actively look for candidates who show maturity and life experience, this might become less of a benefit after age 40. The reason is time. A 25-year-old student will usually graduate at age 29 and complete residency in their early to mid-30s. A medical student who starts med school at age 40 will graduate at 44 and complete residency near or after age 50.
If you are an older applicant, be aware that medical schools might question whether you have the stamina to handle the years of training required and still have time and energy to practice. Schools look more favorably on applicants with strong healthcare backgrounds, such as nursing, because these applicants know more clearly what they are getting into.
If you graduated less than three years ago, make a point of doing the following:
1. Get organized.
Schedule your MCAT, collect your transcripts, and reach out to potential recommenders. Do this early so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.
2. Work in your new life experiences.
Make sure your time away from school gives you something worthwhile to write about in your essays. Be careful not to focus on undergraduate or earlier experiences, and never recycle an old, unsuccessful personal statement.
3. Write about your personal growth.
Make sure your essays reflect the maturity you have gained in the past few years. If you do this, medical schools will see this as time well spent.
If you graduated three or more years ago, consider the following:
1. Go back to school.
You might want to consider a postbac or Special Masters Program (SMP). Find an MCAT preparation course to help you succeed.
2. Find new ways to strengthen your application.
This could be through clinical work, research, and/or volunteer experiences. Ideally, you will have done considerable time in two or more of these areas.
3. Maintain or renew connections with mentors.
Although you will hopefully find new mentors along the way, your past ones can still be helpful. Keep in touch, and update them on your progress. Make sure they are supportive of your career goals, and if not, find new letter writers.
4. Spend time reflecting on your experiences.
Your life will be different once you have graduated, so you need to write about your post-college experiences. It helps to keep track of significant or memorable events as you go. Don’t worry about the quality of your writing at this point. Just get your ideas down so you can use them later to craft your essays.
5. Be flexible.
Keep your goal in mind, but be willing to steer a new course if needed. Allied Health schools (PA, NP, CNM) can sometimes be more welcoming to older applicants, and the training time is less, so you will be out doing what you love that much sooner.
The common thread throughout all our advice here is to proceed in a focused and calm manner. It never pays to rush things, whether you’re taking the MCAT, submitting your application, or completing any of the other key steps. Make every move count, and don’t give up! The world needs more dedicated and compassionate physicians, and medical schools are hoping to find them. Your job is to demonstrate that you have the qualities that med schools look for, in addition to the academic readiness.
Looking for start-to-finish help on your AMCAS application? Work one-on-one with a dedicated Accepted advisor from our medical school admissions consulting team to strategize and create your winning app. Check out our AMCAS Application Packages for more information on how we can help you get accepted!
Since 2001, Cydney Foote has advised hundreds of successful applicants for medical and dental education, residency and fellowship training, and other health-related degrees. Admissions consulting combines her many years of creating marketing content with five years on fellowship and research selection committees at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She’s also shared her strategy for impressing interviewers in a popular webinar and written three books and numerous articles on the admissions process. Want Cydney to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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