after 4 yrs or 3 yrs?

[Phyozo]

Hey everyone,

Currently, I'm a student at UCSD, 3rd year. I wanted to know if my chances will greatly vary if I apply the summer after my 3rd year versus the sumer after my 4th year. Basically, should I take a year off to work or not?

Some people told me that applying into med school right after college is very competitive and difficult to get into. Right now, I'm applying with a 3.9 GPA, 33Q MCAT, lab/TA experience for all 3 years, as well as a lot of community service. My one weak point would be a lack of great clinical experience so I would maybe spend that extra year strengthening and developing relationships with doctors at a local hospital. However, I would much rather go into med school right after college so do you guys think it would be worth it to take a year off to increase my chances?

Thanks!

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[Cmercury1]

I don't think you'll have any problem getting into a school. If you're lacking clinical experience, you can start now and still fit in a year's worth before application time. However, if you're set on a brand name school, it would definitely be in your best interest to take the year off and bulk up your resume. Just make sure you find something that you're genuinely interested in so you don't feel like you're wasting your time. Personally, I would just apply after the 3rd year. I know a lot of people on here advocate taking time off to explore different things and have fun with life and whatnot, but I figure, if you know that medicine is what you want to do, why wait to get started?

 

[xd2005]

Hey everyone,

Currently, I'm a student at UCSD, 3rd year. I wanted to know if my chances will greatly vary if I apply the summer after my 3rd year versus the sumer after my 4th year. Basically, should I take a year off to work or not?

Some people told me that applying into med school right after college is very competitive and difficult to get into. Right now, I'm applying with a 3.9 GPA, 33Q MCAT, lab/TA experience for all 3 years, as well as a lot of community service. My one weak point would be a lack of great clinical experience so I would maybe spend that extra year strengthening and developing relationships with doctors at a local hospital. However, I would much rather go into med school right after college so do you guys think it would be worth it to take a year off to increase my chances?

Thanks!

If you believe you have an area that needs work on, then go for the extra year and really strengthen that area so you have a more complete package. With your stats i'm sure you'll get into a med school somewhereif you apply right away. The question is, are you willing to accept that, and do you want a bit more selection?

 

[Cmercury1]

Hey everyone,

Currently, I'm a student at UCSD, 3rd year. I wanted to know if my chances will greatly vary if I apply the summer after my 3rd year versus the sumer after my 4th year. Basically, should I take a year off to work or not?

Some people told me that applying into med school right after college is very competitive and difficult to get into. Right now, I'm applying with a 3.9 GPA, 33Q MCAT, lab/TA experience for all 3 years, as well as a lot of community service. My one weak point would be a lack of great clinical experience so I would maybe spend that extra year strengthening and developing relationships with doctors at a local hospital. However, I would much rather go into med school right after college so do you guys think it would be worth it to take a year off to increase my chances?

Thanks!

I think you answered your own question. You can take the year off, but it'll only increase your chances, not guarantee you an acceptance. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you think the risk is worth taking. I was in your shoes trying to make this same decision a few months ago and decided not to, but you may be stronger than me.

 

[Phyozo]

To be honest, a part of me isn't bothered by a lack of clinical experience. I figure that there will be plenty of time to fully experience that as I become a physician. In terms of opportunitity costs, there seems to be so many other things to college that are just as interesting, but I will not be able to pursue easily in the future. Is this the wrong attitude to have?

Also, with my stats, do you think a lack of clinical experience will be a serious deterrent in terms of getting in? How important is it to get into a top tier med school? My primary concern is becoming a doctor. The actual school I go to feels secondary to me. If I go to a "below" average school, does that hinder my chances at residency opportunities after I graduate?

 

[FenderHM]

i'd say go for it now if you want, you have great stats, i took a year off and was just really bored and hated my research job

 

[Law2Doc]

To be honest, a part of me isn't bothered by a lack of clinical experience. I figure that there will be plenty of time to fully experience that as I become a physician. In terms of opportunitity costs, there seems to be so many other things to college that are just as interesting, but I will not be able to pursue easily in the future. Is this the wrong attitude to have?

Also, with my stats, do you think a lack of clinical experience will be a serious deterrent in terms of getting in? How important is it to get into a top tier med school? My primary concern is becoming a doctor. The actual school I go to feels secondary to me. If I go to a "below" average school, does that hinder my chances at residency opportunities after I graduate?

Do you have no clinical experience or just not that much? While your stats are competitive, most schools now consider clinical experience a prerequisite both because they like to see health ECs (as evidence of your interest in medicine) and because this is too long and expensive a road to go down without some decent idea of what you are getting into. Additionally, a lot of essays you will come across in the application will be geared toward exposure to the medical profession. You can probably get good clinical experience between now and application time if you get going, although spending a year making sure this is the right road is a good idea for some.

The key is not so much to do clinical experience just to enhance your application, it is to do so so that you do not make a long and costly mistake, such that when you actually get to the wards in a few years and $100k from now, you don't learn that you hate it, and would rather do something else. Besides, clinical experience shouldn't be a chore -- this is presumably something you are hoping to do for the next 45 years of your life, 60+ hours per week.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

this is presumably something you are hoping to do for the next 45 years of your life, 60+ hours per week.

Eeep...I'll be 85 by then!

I don't understand why people see volunteering or clinincal experience as something that "just has to be done" to get into medical school. Volunteering should be something you do from the heart, where you want to give back to the community, not just to get into medical school but because you like doing it. Clinical experience is IMHO even more important.

If you don't enjoy being in the clinic, or even the lab, then why go into medicine? There are plenty of other jobs out there that make lots of money, more money in fact. The worst thing you can do is go through all this crap about studying, internships, residency, massive $$$ debt to find out you hate patients and wish you could have done something else. Once you commit to medicine, it's kinda hard to turn back because of the time involved to get to the end and the massive $$$ in debt you'll end up paying back.

I'd suggest, as some other posters have, that you take the extra year and figure out if being a doctor is what you really want. If it's not, then you just saved yourself 15 years of your life that you'll wish you could get back if you don't like medicine. If you do, then get ready for 45+ years of the best part of your life!

 

[Phyozo]

Do you have no clinical experience or just not that much? While your stats are competitive, most schools now consider clinical experience a prerequisite both because they like to see health ECs (as evidence of your interest in medicine) and because this is too long and expensive a road to go down without some decent idea of what you are getting into. Additionally, a lot of essays you will come across in the application will be geared toward exposure to the medical profession. You can probably get good clinical experience between now and application time if you get going, although spending a year making sure this is the right road is a good idea for some.

The key is not so much to do clinical experience just to enhance your application, it is to do so so that you do not make a long and costly mistake, such that when you actually get to the wards in a few years and $100k from now, you don't learn that you hate it, and would rather do something else. Besides, clinical experience shouldn't be a chore -- this is presumably something you are hoping to do for the next 45 years of your life, 60+ hours per week.

Thanks for giving me a better idea of the "point" of clinical experience. I will definitely think about this. By the way, is it really 60+ hours if I want to work in a large HMO? Not that I don't want to be a doctor, but for me personally, family will have to come first and I've always wondered how doctors juggle that task.

 

[Phyozo]

Eeep...I'll be 85 by then!

I don't understand why people see volunteering or clinincal experience as something that "just has to be done" to get into medical school. Volunteering should be something you do from the heart, where you want to give back to the community, not just to get into medical school but because you like doing it. Clinical experience is IMHO even more important.

If you don't enjoy being in the clinic, or even the lab, then why go into medicine? There are plenty of other jobs out there that make lots of money, more money in fact. The worst thing you can do is go through all this crap about studying, internships, residency, massive $$$ debt to find out you hate patients and wish you could have done something else. Once you commit to medicine, it's kinda hard to turn back because of the time involved to get to the end and the massive $$$ in debt you'll end up paying back.

I'd suggest, as some other posters have, that you take the extra year and figure out if being a doctor is what you really want. If it's not, then you just saved yourself 15 years of your life that you'll wish you could get back if you don't like medicine. If you do, then get ready for 45+ years of the best part of your life!

It's not so much that I don't enjoy being in the clinic as I am enjoying many other things. I do have some health experience doing music therapy in the CCU for the last year or so...and I plan to switch to the ER later this year; I suppose the real struggle comes in drawing that fine line between "exploring my future" and having fun right now, especially since I'm a college student =).

 

[tecumseh]

Hello fellow Triton,

I am currently taking a year off and I thought it'd be fun and relaxing, but it's not, especially if you need to keep a full time job to support yourself. At the end of the day I was just too tired to do anything, even my applications sometimes. If you don't need to work for whatever reasons, however, then I say go for it. If you really want to go straight to medical school and you only care about getting into any medical school, then you should be fine. But like others have said here, clinical experience is really important for top tier schools.

 

[Law2Doc]

clinical experience is really important for top tier schools.

I actually said it is important to every tier school. It is more or less a prereq to getting into med school these days, as nearly every applicant has some, and if you don't, you stand out in a negative way. (Research is probably what you were thinking of that is more important to top tier schools.)

 

[Phyozo]

hmm....what exactly do they mean by "clinical" experience. For example, I'm debating between staying in my hospital's music therapy program where there are interactions mostly with patients in the CCU vs trying out the ER where there is more of a chance to be with doctors.

 

[MDstudent101]

I think you should start now by getting clinical expireince until the summer after 3rd year, because you have the stats my freind. A 3.9 GPA with 33Q is competative in alot of schools even top 25. But to get into a top 10 you would need strong clinical expirience and strong LOR's, but if I were you I would apply, you're prob. gonna get in somewhere.

But then again this is what "I" would do.