Consulting (corporate) during gap year before med school

[Delta2037]

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[partypantss]

I would say it's not a good or bad idea, just neutral. If you just work an unrelated job during your gap year than it simply doesn't add or take away from your app. I'm working as a personal trainer this year and I would say that similarly falls under the umbrella of "they don't care, it doesn't help or hurt your app." You may want to get involved in something in addition to the full time job if you think you need a bit more beef on your app. Whats your volunteer experience look like? Consider adding more clinical volunteering or if you have a lot of clinical volunteering, consider doing some general community volunteering (food pantry, etc.)

 

[timetraveling]

Financial consulting jobs are very competitive and the interview process is gnarly. If you got it, do it. But they probably wouldn't give you a good reference if you dipped after a year.

Some friends of mine interviewed (and now work) for Deloitte and other elite firms in uptown Charlotte and it was hard to do. Working full-time will help you, but working in finance as someone who needs to display altruism for medicine may be a problem you'll have to offset w/ volunteering

 

[timetraveling]

So I guess I just feel slightly burned out from research 24/7 and so I would like to try something else to develop softer skills, so to speak (rather than working with cells all day).
I have more than enough clinical/shadowing and volunteering experience so I think I am good on that front, but since I am looking at nearly two more years of research/gap years I think it would be nice to do something else for a change! 🙂

Maybe find something easier to break into to develop your soft skills. This seems rather risky. my .02

 

[aldol16]

If you have no experience in finance, then getting a job in that industry will be challenging unless you have a degree in engineering, physics, or math. Even then, experience is the currency of the realm. What you do with your gap year doesn't really matter that much - not everyone has the money to go volunteer all year or do Americorps.

 

[james11]

So I guess I just feel slightly burned out from research 24/7 and so I would like to try something else to develop softer skills, so to speak (rather than working with cells all day).
I have more than enough clinical/shadowing and volunteering experience so I think I am good on that front, but since I am looking at nearly two more years of research/gap years I think it would be nice to do something else for a change! 🙂

Your reasoning makes sense to me, I say why not give it a try. Re med schools, they will either not care or be sort of skeptical that you just want your MD as a credential to go back into healthcare consulting and sell your soul, so you will need to have a good business case for why you did it. Also be warned that consulting can be very time intensive and stressful, so applying on top of consulting will be a very busy lifestyle for you. But it can and has been done. I spent some time in consulting so PM me if you have any questions about the work.

 

[Gibbward]

Like everyone's said, consulting is a grueling field, both in the interview process and the actual work load (good pay tho). I will also add that I've met a handful of people in the interview trail that's currently doing healthcare consulting, so it definitely wouldn't hurt your chances in any way.

 

[albastrudiavol]

Every major consulting firm has already finished recruiting for full time, so you're a little late if you're still just considering,

 

[DokterMom]

So I guess I just feel slightly burned out from research 24/7 and so I would like to try something else to develop softer skills, so to speak (rather than working with cells all day).
I have more than enough clinical/shadowing and volunteering experience so I think I am good on that front, but since I am looking at nearly two more years of research/gap years I think it would be nice to do something else for a change! 🙂

As someone who has spent a number of years in consulting, a few points:

• If you're looking for an analyst position to help develop 'soft skills' -- well🤣 That's not how those jobs usually play out. Soft skills would help you advance in the field, but entry-level analyst jobs are sweatshops. There's money. There's prestige. The work is interesting and challenging even. But I would not suggest that entry-level consulting is a good place to develop people skills.
• As @timetraveling has suggested, there may be a bit of prejudice and an assumption that you went into consulting for the money. (That's generally a significant factor for most consultants.) So yeah, you'd need to compensate with some visible altruism. If you've already got plenty of volunteering on your resume, just continue a few activities to show you haven't 'sold out'.

 

[Delta2037]

As someone who has spent a number of years in consulting, a few points:

• If you're looking for an analyst position to help develop 'soft skills' -- well🤣 That's not how those jobs usually play out. Soft skills would help you advance in the field, but entry-level analyst jobs are sweatshops. There's money. There's prestige. The work is interesting and challenging even. But I would not suggest that entry-level consulting is a good place to develop people skills.
• As @timetraveling has suggested, there may be a bit of prejudice and an assumption that you went into consulting for the money. (That's generally a significant factor for most consultants.) So yeah, you'd need to compensate with some visible altruism. If you've already got plenty of volunteering on your resume, just continue a few activities to show you haven't 'sold out'.

After nearly 4 years... Im just kind of tired with staring and working with cells and I want to do someone in a people-oriented environment where I can learn new things and do things outside of my comfort zone.
I don't plan on moving out of my city so I will continue with volunteering activities which I started several years ago but at this point, the nature of consulting or business related jobs are problems I would dream of having as many of them won't even look at my resume since I did not go to a target school... haha :/

 

[LizzyM]

After nearly 4 years... Im just kind of tired with staring and working with cells and I want to do someone in a people-oriented environment where I can learn new things and do things outside of my comfort zone.
I don't plan on moving out of my city so I will continue with volunteering activities which I started several years ago but at this point, the nature of consulting or business related jobs are problems I would dream of having as many of them won't even look at my resume since I did not go to a target school... haha :/

Have you considered working as a personal assistant to a disabled person? The pay is lousy and I have no idea how one finds such a position but it is certainly "people-oriented". I have seen applications from people who have worked with disabled adults who were either university students or university faculty. There is a physical component to the care required as well as help with tasks such as driving, note taking.

Consulting usually involves considerable travel unless you are doing data analysis in which case you will look at a computer all day and never interact with people. I don't know how that would work with your plan to stay in your city and continue with volunteer activities.

 

[libertyyne]

Welp, so a recruiter actually got back to me (which I appreciate!) and he said that my school is not a target for campus recruiting and thus, they consider those applicants first and then if they can't find anyone, they will seek out applicants from their online applications.
Any advice fellow SDN-ers?

Apply to lower tier consulting companies. The big three usually only recruit from the ivies and a handful of other places. It's a prestige thing.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Several of my classmates were in consulting before they came here.