City Year vs Scribing for Gap Year

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Doctorwho123654

New Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2015
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I am going to be taking a gap year after I graduate and I need some advice on what I should do.

I think the biggest problem of my application is not having enough clinical and non-clinical volunteering, and while I am addressing that now, I would like to continue to address that over my gap year. I also think another problem is not having anything that makes me stand out.

Should I do City Year (if I get in)? I hear that there is not much time that you can take off to go to interviews and I am afraid that it would be too time consuming to do other volunteering. Has anybody done City Year and can offer insights? Would City Year be considered volunteering since it is technically paid? Also, how competitive is the City Year application?

Or should I apply for a scribe position and work full time, but also try to do weekly volunteer shifts at a hospital and whatever nonclinical volunteering I can find? I have heard scribe agencies are good about working with students when they need time off for interviews.

On one hand, city year would further the teaching aspect of my app, since I was a TA for two semesters, and I mentor at risk elementary kids currently. On the other hand, scribing would give me clinical experience and give me time to pursue volunteering.

I would love to do either, but I think picking the one that would help my application would be in my best interest. Sorry for the long post and any advice is greatly appreciated!

Also, my stats are 3.7 GPA and 521 MCAT. I am a female, Asian and Florida resident if any of this info is necessary.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Are you taking one or two gap years? If you are applying at the beginning of your gap year what you are doing might not even impact your app since you will have nothing to report until later in the cycle. But I'd do City Year. Maybe you could be assigned to a facility that relates to health issues. A friend of mine did City Year and worked at an AIDS Clinic. He loved the whole experience and so did med schools he applied to.
 
I am going to be taking a gap year after I graduate and I need some advice on what I should do.

I think the biggest problem of my application is not having enough clinical and non-clinical volunteering, and while I am addressing that now, I would like to continue to address that over my gap year. I also think another problem is not having anything that makes me stand out.

Should I do City Year (if I get in)? I hear that there is not much time that you can take off to go to interviews and I am afraid that it would be too time consuming to do other volunteering. Has anybody done City Year and can offer insights? Would City Year be considered volunteering since it is technically paid? Also, how competitive is the City Year application?

Or should I apply for a scribe position and work full time, but also try to do weekly volunteer shifts at a hospital and whatever nonclinical volunteering I can find? I have heard scribe agencies are good about working with students when they need time off for interviews.

On one hand, city year would further the teaching aspect of my app, since I was a TA for two semesters, and I mentor at risk elementary kids currently. On the other hand, scribing would give me clinical experience and give me time to pursue volunteering.

I would love to do either, but I think picking the one that would help my application would be in my best interest. Sorry for the long post and any advice is greatly appreciated!

Also, my stats are 3.7 GPA and 521 MCAT. I am a female, Asian and Florida resident if any of this info is necessary.
Don't know if this response is a little too late, but I'm a recent CY alum and am applying to medical school this summer.

First off, the biggest question you should ask yourself if what YOU want to personally gain from your gap year experience? For me, I wanted to commit an entire year to service working in underserved communities that would not only take me way out of my comfort zone, but would also give me the opportunity to build meaningful relationships and make a long-standing difference in a person's life. City Year was a clear choice for me and I loved my experience.

With regards to time off for interviews, from what I hear, they're a little more lax about giving time off for interviews for this year's corps then they were with mines. I personally knew two corps members who had to resign because they were balling hard with their interviews. I also knew a good handful who managed to survive the entire year AND balance interviews and secondaries with the full-time schedules we had. Some people regret it, feeling that the application process really cut in to their service to their students. And some absolutely dreaded it. So in short, if you do decide to apply while serving with City Year, know that it will be freaking tough overall. Do it only if it's something you can be passionate about. Just like medicine, what motivates you towards serving with City Year should come from inside and not extrinsic factors like beefing up your application.

Also yes City Year is volunteering. Unless you consider getting paid a little over $4 an hour getting "paid". You work a lot. Days lasting from 6:00am to 9:00pm for instance were not uncommon for me.

Application is relatively competitive depending on what site you're applying to. Note that you can only apply to one site. But overall, not too bad as long as you dedicate yourself.

Scribing is a good option. I would especially recommend finding scribe positions in non-teaching hospitals, as the physicians are more likely to have more time to actually talk to you. Whatever you choose to do I wish you the best. If you have more CY-related questions, feel free to PM me. Good luck!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I'd scribe because clinical experience is more important than non-clinical volunteering (IMO, although you need both). Scribing will also be more flexible with hours and give you time to do volunteer work and/or research on top of it. City year is really demanding and you'd be working all the time, so it'd be hard to fit other volunteering or clinical activities on top of it.
 
Currently finishing my city year program (only 10 months). Simultaneously, I applied and went to med school interviews this spring. The CY work hours are long. I wake up at 4:50AM in order to catch the train to get to school by 7:20. Most days I don't get home until 7:30PM (I love ~1 hour away from school) so don't expect much free time during the weekdays. In terms of going to interview, there plenty of premeds in CY who will be in the same boat as you. The staff knows this and will work with you to fit your interviews in. I had 12 total personal days so I used majority of them for interviews- scheduling them on Monday/Fridays are nice since with planes you don't need to take more than 1 day off.

I know you are wondering..what if you go beyond the 12 days? If you do go over, you can submit a special ticket to the staff and explain you situation and they will do their best to grant you an exception/makeup...I have not had to do that yet so I do not know what is the % it gets approved. If it fails, you just get kicked out of the program...you really only lose the 10K academic award. At this point you still would've gained a lot of experience and been paid bi-weekly up to the point where you were exited.

Msg me if you want more information about CY specifically- it is a self-rewarding program. I applied for it for the same reasons you did. I had a lot of teaching background..tutoring in college, academia advocator etc etc so it made a lot of sense and fit with my strength.
 
Last edited:
Top