Advice please

[Succubus]

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I'm 21 years old. I been in college for the past 2 years, but to be honest, I never commit to anything, and I have a huge amount of W's. Laziness. Procrastination. GPA is still at 4.0. I only have like 12 credits to my name. I still want to enter medical school, and I am not going to let that bring me down. I honestly feel like a loser, and not having a good job is bothering me too.

There's a job opportunity out of state for me, in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am debating if I should just go ahead and take a gap year to gain residency in that state. It's a night job, perfect to go around my college schedule. The job could potentially be as high as 40-50k.

Is it wise to take the job, and wait a year to gain residency? I am basically going to start over at 22.... which I almost think is too old to start college, but I really want to get into medical school. Age is just a number too.


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If I do take the job, what would be the best way to help make my application to med school stronger while I wait a year.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

Don't worry too much about your age. Even if it takes you four more years before applying to med school you'll still be younger than most of us on the nontrad forum. Georgia would be a good state to establish residency in. There's plenty of medical schools there and relatively low stats for their state school. What state would you be moving from?

 

[NCOldie]

If you take the job, you should at least volunteer in a medical setting or in any other setting during the year you wait to return to school.

There are also a number of short training programs for a position in a medical setting (nursing assistant, phlebotomy, etc) that you could complete during that time, if you're interested and believe you can do that while taking a year off from undergrad.

22 is not too old to return. I doubt anyone would even notice because that's still really young.

 

[Succubus]

Don't worry too much about your age. Even if it takes you four more years before applying to med school you'll still be younger than most of us on the nontrad forum. Georgia would be a good state to establish residency in. There's plenty of medical schools there and relatively low stats for their state school. What state would you be moving from?

MI. Detroit.

That has it's advantages too when it comes to med school, but the economy is horrible, and I am fighting tooth and nail just to land any kind of job.. I have one currently, but the money isn't all that great. I don't expect to get a good job with my experience/college, but the one in Atlanta is hiring me because I have game programming/graphic art skills. The company has been in business for over a decade, and so once I am in, I don't have fears that I could lose my job due to lack of work. Very flexible schedules .

Hardly any jobs like that in MI, which leads to minimum wage jobs.

 

[Succubus]

If you take the job, you should at least volunteer in a medical setting or in any other setting during the year you wait to return to school.

There are also a number of short training programs for a position in a medical setting (nursing assistant, phlebotomy, etc) that you could complete during that time, if you're interested and believe you can do that while taking a year off from undergrad.

22 is not too old to return. I doubt anyone would even notice because that's still really young.

Volunteering is on my list of things to do.

 

[Goro]

There's no law that says medical students have to be 22 at matriculation. STRONGLY suggest that you take the job, earn some money, and do some growing.

Don't get overextended, but during you gap year, you should be doing patient contact volunteer work, and other things that demonstrate your altruism. Also, you're going to need, at some point, some clinician shadowing.

I'm 21 years old. I been in college for the past 2 years, but to be honest, I never commit to anything, and I have a huge amount of W's. Laziness. Procrastination. GPA is still at 4.0. I only have like 12 credits to my name. I still want to enter medical school, and I am not going to let that bring me down. I honestly feel like a loser, and not having a good job is bothering me too.

There's a job opportunity out of state for me, in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am debating if I should just go ahead and take a gap year to gain residency in that state. It's a night job, perfect to go around my college schedule. The job could potentially be as high as 40-50k.

Is it wise to take the job, and wait a year to gain residency? I am basically going to start over at 22.... which I almost think is too old to start college, but I really want to get into medical school. Age is just a number too.


------------------------
If I do take the job, what would be the best way to help make my application to med school stronger while I wait a year.

 

[TravelingRunner]

If 22 is too old to be going back to school, I guess most of us here in the nontraditional forum are in trouble. 😀 No, seriously...I agree with the others. Take the job. Earn money, but save quite a bit of it (you'll need it later). Volunteer. Do some serious thinking. Shadow several doctors.

Only you can decide if medicine is right for you. It is a long, hard road. It takes a LOT of commitment. Only you can decide if you can commit - you say that's an area that's difficult for you - and finish this road.

Yes, if you decide to commit to this, you'll have to start over. Many of us are doing/have done it, and many are a lot older than you. My friend just finished his fellowship; he had a 55-year-old woman in his med school class. So, no, you're not too old. Many others have decided it wasn't for them, and that's okay, too. It's something you'll have to decide.