When should I graduate from college? Considering grad school and other factors

[freefall111]

Help me decide when to graduate

So my situation is a little odd and I'm having trouble on deciding when to graduate from college. I'm going into my senior year at a mid level public university with an okay gpa (cumulative 3.5, math 3.6) interested in going to grad school for applied math.

Because I decided on my major kind of late I'm going to be taking a lot of important math classes this coming year. In specific a two semester Rudin level analysis sequence, algebra sequence, and a few other math electives. I will also be busy finishing up a paper that I hope to have published.

Now the way I see it I have two real options. One I can graduate on time. This would require completing the coursework stated above. Finding time to take and study for the math subject as well as get together LOR's and complete applications for grad school. I'm fairly sure the paper I'm working on would not be anywhere near being published by this point.
I'm also positive this amount of work and stress would have a negative impact on my grades for the semester.

My second option is to push back my graduation one year and do two part time semesters where I take a course each semester. I'd also like to try and do some type of REU next summer although I'm not sure if I'd be eligible as a non-sophomore/junior part-time student. The majors pros for this option would be a potentially better application due to a publication, better grades, and maybe an REU. Although I'm not sure how a grad panel would view this semi gap year.

So if anyone has any thoughts on what they would do if they were in my shoes please share.

 

[streeters]

If it was me, I'd get it done with ASAP. If the course-load for doing it all in one year is normal, then I'm a big fan of getting work out of the way.

It's a year of your life that we are talking about. If you apply and don't get in, then you can work for a year then apply again if you really want to. And you'd be making money for that year rather than spending it.

It depends if you can afford to spend the cash and the year.