Taking a leave of absence

[brokendown]

I've been up all night thinking if taking a leave of absence is the right decision for me and I have 5 hours until the deadline to do so for this Fall semester.

I know that I've been fighting depression that's been caused by the academic stress, school-wide environment, and personal pressures. I know that if I don't drop my grades are going to suffer big time. The classes I've nearly completed this semester will all turn to W's (not Fs) and I'll feel liberated from this stress and finally begin focusing on my own emotional issues. At the same time though, I feel like I'm quitting with only two weeks left in the semester and that I'm just making excuses.

On the topic of medical school admissions, how will a semester of all Ws and an additional skipped semester from the LOA affect me?

And how is my current plan for next January to May? Work at my research lab that I've been a part of for two years and maybe swap to another part time job in another field; gain some clinical exposure on the side; find a non-research part time job and prepare for summer internship hunting to explore my options; take classes at a local state school (non-flagship) to explore academic interests (something I haven't been able to do yet).

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[brokendown]

Seriously?? bump

 

[Osteoth]

Forget about medical school, take the time you need to make yourself emotionally stable.

You will be able to explain it during interviews, and most AdCom members are extremely compassionate, as they understand the pressures pre-medical students endure.

 

[Ariodant]

On the topic of medical school admissions, how will a semester of all Ws and an additional skipped semester from the LOA affect me?

Depends on what you do after returning. Dramatically improved grades and productive EC activities will indicate that you have sorted things out. Otherwise, it can be a big red flag.

Take the time to emotionally rebalance yourself. Your plans for your downtime sounds solid. Find out if you really enjoy medicine. The hours, the responsibility, the (sometimes significantly) negative interactions with patients, the bureaucracy...are all stressors inherent to this profession. You will graduate from college at some point, but you can't put any of the above things behind you, even for a day, as long as you are a physician. If stress from college course significantly affects your emotional well-being, you need to seriously and thoroughly evaluate if medicine is the right career for you.