Best way to spend "gap year" after an SMP/post-bacc work

[Paean1]

What do med schools like to see you do during your application year after completing a year of post-bacc work/an smp?

Some ideas I have are:
1)Another smp (or the first smp, if doing post-bacc work)
2)Work with AmeriCorps
3)Get a full-time job in a lab at a medical school & perhaps take some more post-bacc classes
4)Try to find a job in biotech/pharmaceutical industry
5)???

Any suggestions for other ideas or which would help the most during interviews/on application?

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrMidlife]

Your med school app gets submitted at the very beginning of your gap/app year, so you don't have an efficient vehicle to deliver new accomplishments after submitting. Not a total waste to try to produce new med school app assets during a gap year, but it's comparatively low yield.

So in looking at your gap year, you need to decide if you're ready to apply to med school right after your SMP, or not.

Do you have your best possible app? Do you want another year of accomplishments to maximize your chances? Do you realistically have access to another one-year opportunity that would change your chances, such as a friendly and generous PI?

Or, do you want to use your gap year to break away from being an academic rodent, and maybe do something that allows you to take advantage of your one and only youth? Wait tables in Austin and see all the good bands? Go to auditions in NYC or Hollywood? Backpack from Peru to Ecuador? Work at Starbucks and spend time with your SO and get really fit? Premeds who have never done such things are at risk of boring their interviewers to death.

It's a continuum, of course, and nobody can tell you what will most enrich you personally. Best of luck to you.