Gap Year Abroad complications. Need advice

[nwu]

I have been offered a job abroad in China that I am really excited about. It is a great company and a great position. The job is completely non-medically related, but I want to do this job for one primary reason 1) The country is where my parents are from and I wish to rediscover my heritage and my language by working here. I don't think I will ever have the opportunity to do so after I enter med school.

My view on gap years is that these years are either for you to increase your competitiveness, ie your GPA, if you did poorly during undergrad or for you to do something that you may never get the opportunity to do after entering the workforce. My current perspective is on the latter.

The issue is that applying from abroad means paying for international airplane fares to do med school interviews. My supervisor is very flexible about interviews so time isn't the issue. The main issue is money. A round-trip international plane ticket costs, over 1K give or take. The job pays well compared to the average Chinese but converted in American dollars this isn't that much (remember food and transportation is super cheap in China so an above average pay there isn't much here). This will probably mean I have to ask my parents for money which I don't think they will be too happy about. My MCAT is not strong, maybe a few interviews in-state and a few out. Too early to say of course, but I most likely will be staying instate.The best case scenario is if the in state interviews are within 2 weeks of each other. This is totally doable for me as it will require one ticket round trip as opposed to two if the interviews are spread apart by months requiring me to fly back again in between.

So my question is: For in state schools, are public instate med schools interviews relatively close to each other? I'm thinking for public in state schools they probably communicate with each other and maybe their interviews are pretty close to each other so that students can drive from one to another without much hassle. Anybody out there with experience in regards to in state interviews and their closeness in schedule with each other?

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[Smurfette]

I personally don't think med schools coordinate interviews with each other for applicants' convenience based on what I've seen. There's no reason for them to do so; they have plenty of applicants to choose from, and some schools are more competitive than others. Perhaps this occurs in some states, but I wouldn't count on it.

Moving to PreAllo, where this thread is more appropriate, and users currently in the app process can weigh in.

 

[MedWonk]

I have been offered a job abroad in China that I am really excited about. It is a great company and a great position. The job is completely non-medically related, but I want to do this job for one primary reason 1) The country is where my parents are from and I wish to rediscover my heritage and my language by working here. I don't think I will ever have the opportunity to do so after I enter med school.

My view on gap years is that these years are either for you to increase your competitiveness, ie your GPA, if you did poorly during undergrad or for you to do something that you may never get the opportunity to do after entering the workforce. My current perspective is on the latter.

The issue is that applying from abroad means paying for international airplane fares to do med school interviews. My supervisor is very flexible about interviews so time isn't the issue. The main issue is money. A round-trip international plane ticket costs, over 1K give or take. The job pays well compared to the average Chinese but converted in American dollars this isn't that much (remember food and transportation is super cheap in China so an above average pay there isn't much here). This will probably mean I have to ask my parents for money which I don't think they will be too happy about. My MCAT is not strong, maybe a few interviews in-state and a few out. Too early to say of course, but I most likely will be staying instate.The best case scenario is if the in state interviews are within 2 weeks of each other. This is totally doable for me as it will require one ticket round trip as opposed to two if the interviews are spread apart by months requiring me to fly back again in between.

So my question is: For in state schools, are public instate med schools interviews relatively close to each other? I'm thinking for public in state schools they probably communicate with each other and maybe their interviews are pretty close to each other so that students can drive from one to another without much hassle. Anybody out there with experience in regards to in state interviews and their closeness in schedule with each other?

I worked with someone who applied while we were working abroad (we were in Japan), and it was a huge pain in the ass. You have to factor in jet lag into your trips. If you end up with a bunch of interviews in one month, you basically have to take the month off unless you want to be perpetually exhausted for your interviews and for work. I would either not take the job and apply this year, or I would take the job and wait a cycle.

When you say your MCAT isn't strong, what are we talking about? Sub-30? 30 with crazy imbalance (12, 6, 12)? Or balanced low 30s and you've got pre-allo anxiety disorder?

 

[Catalystik]

I personally don't think med schools coordinate interviews with each other for applicants' convenience based on what I've seen.

I agree with this. A med school tends to offer multiple interview choices within a certain window of time. Some might allow you to ask for a time later than this window. Others won't have later times programmed into their systems yet. You might be lucky and be able to set up multiple interviews over the winter break month, for example. Or not. You can't count on it. And if your application is on the weaker side, you may be one of those destined to get more interview offers during spring term rather than in the fall.

I agree with @MedWonk that waiting a year to apply seems a good option in your situation.

 

[Osteoth]

How old are you? Are you married/in a serious relationship? When do you want to have children/start a family/get married?

I pose these questions because I was in a similar situation before I applied this cycle, and chose to push off traveling until I was accepted, because of the length of our training and my age when I complete it. I would very much try to look ahead 10+ years to see if this year off will be worth it in the long run, or if you could manage to do something else that would make you equally as happy in less time (a couple of months?)

 

[thursdaynext]

I vote go for it. Working and living abroad will give you great things to talk about during interviews. Schools are very accommodating with interviews, though the top schools may be a bit more accommodating than mid/lower tier ones. You should be willing and financially able to travel back about two times for two to three weeks each time. This will make your application process more expensive and more difficult to schedule, but it's totally possible.

 

[LizzyM]

Here's my suggestion for what its worth: Plan to be in the US for 4 weeks. Maybe Nov 11-Dec 11th (AAMC meets Nov 6-10th so there won't be many interviews during that time as most of the Deans are attending the meeting ). Then, on your AMCAS, mention at the end of your personal statement, set off at the bottom, that you will be coming back from China and available for interviews from [date] to [date]. If a school wants to interview you, they will make a point of inviting you when you are available. Setting a date that is relatively mid-to-late in the cycle depending on the school means that the school is likely to read your application before your arrival in the States. If you come back too early it is likely that some schools won't have reviewed your application before you'd come & gone.

 

[nwu]

Thank you all for your suggestions. LizzyM your suggestion is actually possible given that I get 1 month vacation from my job and my employer says I can work remotely online if I have to.
Regardless of my eventual decision, thanks for all feedback!