Advice before starting Med School

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MedMike

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I'll be starting med school this coming august and am currently in my gap year. I was wondering if any current med students have any advice on how to spend this year before starting school.

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Study for med school. Or travel. Or masturbate all day, every day.

You're in aren't you?
 
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Travel. Learn a new language. Drink and relax with friends and family.

Don't spend a minute studying for medical school. NOT A MINUTE. There will be time for that once it starts.
 
I'll be starting med school this coming august and am currently in my gap year. I was wondering if any current med students have any advice on how to spend this year before starting school.

You should post this question in the med school thread not pre-med thread to receive better feedback.
 
But seriously, do whatever the hell you want to do for a year.

If you're straight out of college, I would advise against working (unless you enjoy that kind of thing). It's kind of your last chance to be a kid, which is variably appealing dependent on the kind of childhood you had.

I would just veg out, play video games, travel, hang out with friends/family. Get yourself into some mischief, just make sure you don't get arrested for anything you do. :D
 
Don't do that. This is a premed question, not a medical student question. You should do a search, this question gets asked fifty million times a year.
If he is seeking advice from med students... hm. but i agree, do a search
 
If he is seeking advice from med students... hm. but i agree, do a search

Believe it or not med students do read the premed forum. As you can see most of us have answered this question so many times we don't even give real answers anymore. Last thing we need is this crap clogging up the allo forum.

If you're not a medical student chances are there's no good reason for you to be starting a thread in the allo forum. Asking for "medical student advice" is not a good reason.
 
Believe it or not med students do read the premed forum. As you can see most of us have answered this question so many times we don't even give real answers anymore. Last thing we need is this crap clogging up the allo forum.

If you're not a medical student chances are there's no good reason for you to be starting a thread in the allo forum. Asking for "medical student advice" is not a good reason.


Good looking out calvnandhobbs68,

I didnt realize med students checked this regularly, apologies for the post above.
 
Do things you won't be able to do once school starts. For me it was hanging out with my friends before I moved, lots of time with my girlfriend, trips with my parents, and reading. I'm glad I had fun and was pretty lazy the last six months before this whole thing started. You need to recharge your batteries so you can start school focused yet relaxed. And don't be one of those people that spends a grand on unnecessary textbooks in July. Worry about that stuff during orientation week.


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Believe it or not med students do read the premed forum. As you can see most of us have answered this question so many times we don't even give real answers anymore. Last thing we need is this crap clogging up the allo forum.

If you're not a medical student chances are there's no good reason for you to be starting a thread in the allo forum. Asking for "medical student advice" is not a good reason.

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Any question in pre-allo could be a medical student question. Allo is for questions pertaining to actual medical school, not anything before it.
 
Travel. Save up some cash and do some travelling when you still have the time. Could be abroad, could be locally in the United States. Just get out and see different parts of the world and interact with different people.
 
I agree with a lot of these suggestions. To be honest, you don't have to do a medically related job (especially since you already have applied by then). As long as you are doing something with your time that you can explain in an interview, it should be fine. The only compelling reason I would do something medically related is if you want to do something that looks good for residency. Otherwise, it's pretty much a free for all.
 
Enjoy every last moment of these next 10 months or so. Don't work too hard, don't study at all, and do things you love: watch TV, go to movies, travel, etc. Med school limits how many of those things you get to do.
 
Travel. Save up some cash and do some travelling when you still have the time. Could be abroad, could be locally in the United States. Just get out and see different parts of the world and interact with different people.

I'd do this. Might be a good idea to set aside some cash as well so that you can have some extra money on hand when you do start.
 
I'd do this. Might be a good idea to set aside some cash as well so that you can have some extra money on hand when you do start.
NickNaylor, can you elaborate a bit why you think saving some cash would be a good idea? I imagine it helps reduce the amount of loans you have to take out, and allows a greater budget for personal expenses (not related to med school).
 
NickNaylor, can you elaborate a bit why you think saving some cash would be a good idea? I imagine it helps reduce the amount of loans you have to take out, and allows a greater budget for personal expenses (not related to med school).

Your loan disbursement isn't instantaneous. It's good to have some cash around until your loan money actually makes it to your bank account. An extra $500-$1000 brought into M1 isn't really going to help with reducing loans.
 
Do whatever you would do if you had a year with no responsibilities other than supporting yourself. OH HEY! That's this year. :)
 
NickNaylor, can you elaborate a bit why you think saving some cash would be a good idea? I imagine it helps reduce the amount of loans you have to take out, and allows a greater budget for personal expenses (not related to med school).

What MedPR said (this was a big problem for me with moving costs; I was left with literally no cash and a maxed out credit card because I didn't plan well and WAY undershot how much moving would cost when I moved and had to wait a few days of having pretty much no money for our disbursement to come in) plus you can either reduce the amount of loans as you said, leaving you with a little less debt at the end, or you'll have more money available to have a more enjoyable lifestyle.

It's also just generally a good idea to have a "safety net," regardless of how small it might be, in case of emergencies.
 
everyone needs an emergency fund of money. that's just a general rule of life
 
What MedPR said (this was a big problem for me with moving costs; I was left with literally no cash and a maxed out credit card because I didn't plan well and WAY undershot how much moving would cost when I moved and had to wait a few days of having pretty much no money for our disbursement to come in) plus you can either reduce the amount of loans as you said, leaving you with a little less debt at the end, or you'll have more money available to have a more enjoyable lifestyle.

It's also just generally a good idea to have a "safety net," regardless of how small it might be, in case of emergencies.

This happened to me too. I had a decent amount of cash on hand but I still maxed out my card that first month.
 
Work, pay off debt, save money & use some of it to go to Vegas. Those are my plans.
 
If you have time off before medical school and are looking to do anything to better yourself I would focus on non medical things. If you're just intensely interested in medicine and want to read because you cannot wait to learn, that's fine too- but, don't waste your time just to get ahead of the game.
 
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