What to do in gap year?

[fuzzywuz]

Alright, so my question really is.... what should I put for that question that appears on my secondaries?

I am currently teaching and I imagine that is an activity that I will continue to do. Anyway, I'm also looking for volunteer opportunities at health clinics. I believe it would take some time before I am certain about my plans after the summer is over.

Would it okay to answer what I will be doing along with what my plans are (e.g. volunteer at clinic, teach math, do research, etc)?

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[FlowLimited]

Alright, so my question really is.... what should I put for that question that appears on my secondaries?

I am currently teaching and I imagine that is an activity that I will continue to do. Anyway, I'm also looking for volunteer opportunities at health clinics. I believe it would take some time before I am certain about my plans after the summer is over.

Would it okay to answer what I will be doing along with what my plans are (e.g. volunteer at clinic, teach math, do research, etc)?

I think it would be fine. The worst thing that will happen is that they'll see that things aren't set in stone and disregard them. However, med schools know that things don't materialize instantaneously and they'll most likely be receptive to a little fuzziness (no pun on your username intended). Once things are solidified, you can send update letters to your schools to keep them up to date.

 

[fireflygirl]

Yeah I agree that they don't need to see some solid plan set in stone but they do need to know that you aren't just going to be hanging out either. One of my friends, who is now at Penn Med, was a youth minister during his gap year. So you don' t need to be doing something medically related, just something you're passionate about and something worthwhile.

 

[Piyush]

Do what ever you like, as long as you aint planning to be a couch potato for a year. Keep sending update letters to schools as each of your planned activities/unplanned activities pan out. It helps to make some generic tempelates and then just adding the schools name and address when you write to them about updates if you have a lot of schools to consider.

I finished military training and worked as a counsellor at a litracy camp for aboriginal canadians children in the north. Totally not related to healthcare, but I was still doing something

Cheers
Piyush

 

[FlowLimited]

Yeah I agree that they don't need to see some solid plan set in stone but they do need to know that you aren't just going to be hanging out either. One of my friends, who is now at Penn Med, was a youth minister during his gap year. So you don' t need to be doing something medically related, just something you're passionate about and something worthwhile.

Exactly. Make sure it's something you actually enjoy because it'll be way easier to talk about on secondaries and during interviews. If you're really passionate about what you did in the gap year, schools will be able to tell. It'll help you stand out from everyone else who did a bunch of stuff just because they thought it'd look good on their application.

 

[fuzzywuz]

Thanks everybody! I appreciate the input!