Do adcoms specifically ask what I did during my each gap year?

[libraryismyhome]

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I am a student who is waiting for my green card, and fortunately I would be able to apply during this upcoming cycle since I will be getting it this October. However, I am very concerned about being unproductive during this gap year.

During college years, I was pretty productive. My GPA is 3.75 in both science and cumulative. I did volunteering for 400 hours and did research for 2.5 years with honors thesis, poster presentation and a publication.

For this year, I am trying to improve my MCAT score, and this is my third time. My previous scores were 28 and 27 due to low verbal. (6~7 on verbal and double digits on sciences) Fortunately, I have been scoring 33s on practice exams with 9 on verbal, so hopefully I could do well this time.

While studying for MCAT this year, I tried to get a job. I applied to almost 50 different places but didn't get a job offer. I believe this is happening cause I neither have a green card(though I have an employee authorization) nor a certification(like CNA or EMT). I am currently volunteering at hospice and at church.

As soon as I take my MCAT on May, I will make myself productive again. During my "second" gap year, I will be working as a cna and a volunteer research assistant. Hopefully I could work as a CNA once I have a license. Will every med school specifically ask what I did during each gap year? Are they going to perceive my circumstance as a cheap excuse?

 

[bucks2010]

The question is fair game. I would be prepared to answer it. I can't tell you how it would look. Obviously if you did something (volunteering) it's better than doing nothing at all. And it's not like the economy is just overflowing with jobs. Nothing you can do about the past now... just come up with a good way to explain it.

 

[boobelle]

I am a student who is waiting for my green card, and fortunately I would be able to apply during this upcoming cycle since I will be getting it this October. However, I am very concerned about being unproductive during this gap year.

During college years, I was pretty productive. My GPA is 3.75 in both science and cumulative. I did volunteering for 400 hours and did research for 2.5 years with honors thesis, poster presentation and a publication.

For this year, I am trying to improve my MCAT score, and this is my third time. My previous scores were 28 and 27 due to low verbal. (6~7 on verbal and double digits on sciences) Fortunately, I have been scoring 33s on practice exams with 9 on verbal, so hopefully I could do well this time.

While studying for MCAT this year, I tried to get a job. I applied to almost 50 different places but didn't get a job offer. I believe this is happening cause I neither have a green card(though I have an employee authorization) nor a certification(like CNA or EMT). I am currently volunteering at hospice and at church.

As soon as I take my MCAT on May, I will make myself productive again. During my "second" gap year, I will be working as a cna and a volunteer research assistant. Hopefully I could work as a CNA once I have a license. Will every med school specifically ask what I did during each gap year? Are they going to perceive my circumstance as a cheap excuse?

Most schools have a section on the secondary asking you to explain what you did during any interruptions in your education (e.g. time off during college or after college). That said, hospice volunteering, research and working as a CNA are all fine...the bigger concern for med schools are for the applicants who don't do *anything* related to medicine in their time off.

 

[libraryismyhome]

Most schools have a section on the secondary asking you to explain what you did during any interruptions in your education (e.g. time off during college or after college). That said, hospice volunteering, research and working as a CNA are all fine...the bigger concern for med schools are for the applicants who don't do *anything* related to medicine in their time off.

ok. I better engage in activities as soon as MCAT on May is done.

 

[CurrySpice]

What do you do with all of your time?

I doubt you just lay on the couch. Can you start training for a marathon or teaching yourself Spanish? That will give you something tangible to tell the adcom in addition to your volunteer & shadowing work.

 

[libraryismyhome]

What do you do with all of your time?

I doubt you just lay on the couch. Can you start training for a marathon or teaching yourself Spanish? That will give you something tangible to tell the adcom in addition to your volunteer & shadowing work.

That's a great idea. How much Spanish do you think I could learn in 1.5 years? I took 3 Spanish courses back in high school.

 

[Law2Doc]

What do you do with all of your time?

I doubt you just lay on the couch. Can you start training for a marathon or teaching yourself Spanish? That will give you something tangible to tell the adcom in addition to your volunteer & shadowing work.

I disagree with this advice -- you are setting yourself up for issues when you "manufacture" activities that you think will look good on an app.

If you spent a year training for a marathon as your primary activity, adcoms are going to expect a competitive time -- the expectations are much higher if it's not something you are just squeezing in on the side in an otherwise busy schedule. Also there are quite a few applicants who have run marathons in their lives, so it doesn't set you apart as much as you think.

Worse still is saying you taught yourself a foreign language, because you are basically inviting them to call your bluff. There are numerous stories of folks who said they taught themselves X language only to be paired up with an interviewer who speaks X language and conducts the interview in that language. (For this reason I didn't even put down any foreign language skills on my app despite having 4 years of high school and two years of college in a language -- because at this point in my life I'm not fluent). Similar calling of bluffs can happen if a person claims they taught themselves a musical instrument, etc. "I just happen to have a violin right here -- can you play me something?".

OP, you are far better off saying you "spent the year volunteering at a hospice and church while working to improve your MCAT score", than trying to make it look like you are all of a sudden a self-taught spanish speaking marathon runner.

 

[eablackwell]

I agree with L2D, foreign language proficiency is probably the worst thing to put on the app unless you're 100% sure you can hack an interview in that language.

You can put it down as a hobby, practicing Spanish, but honestly, I think that's more along the lines of, "They think this is one of the most important things they've done?!?" rather than being impressive.

I lived in Vienna for 2 years and graduated summa cum laude in German, and I still had nightmares about a possible interview in German after putting it down on my app. Of course, that's likely me being paranoid, but still...

I suggest volunteering inside and outside a hospital environment. If you have nothing else to do, serve food at a soup kitchen on a regular basis, shadow doctors, volunteer in ERs or free clinics, help out with a habitat for humanity project or something of that sort.

Good luck! 🙂

 

[kansaskid]

I agree with L2D, foreign language proficiency is probably the worst thing to put on the app unless you're 100% sure you can hack an interview in that language.

You can put it down as a hobby, practicing Spanish, but honestly, I think that's more along the lines of, "They think this is one of the most important things they've done?!?" rather than being impressive.

I lived in Vienna for 2 years and graduated summa cum laude in German, and I still had nightmares about a possible interview in German after putting it down on my app. Of course, that's likely me being paranoid, but still...

I suggest volunteering inside and outside a hospital environment. If you have nothing else to do, serve food at a soup kitchen on a regular basis, shadow doctors, volunteer in ERs or free clinics, help out with a habitat for humanity project or something of that sort.

Good luck! 🙂

Yeah I've been in francophone West Africa for almost a year now and speak proficient French for the region but the idea of an interview in European French is pretty terrifying. I'm going to put it on the app, though, with a locational caveat.

 

[libraryismyhome]

ok, folks thank you so much for your help. But I am still anxious cause I spoke with a pre-health adviser yesterday and she was saying that I need to be more prepared to answer questions about my gap year.

If I tell them that I was training to get a CNA license during this term, will they consider this as a reasonable schedule along with two volunteer work? Some places take the whole semester 3 days per week but I found this one place which could be done in 4 days. If adcoms ask how long I spent in getting it then I would tell honestly, but I am hoping that this would be unlikely.

Normally, I am not this squeamish. I threw 20 hours per week research, 6 hours volunteering while taking 20 credits during my junior year and still got 3.8. The reason that I am reluctant in engaging in activities is because this is my 3rd time mcat and I feel obliged to do well, so I cannot risk myself of doing other stuff which takes time. 🙁

 

[HAV000]

ok, folks thank you so much for your help. But I am still anxious cause I spoke with a pre-health adviser yesterday and she was saying that I need to be more prepared to answer questions about my gap year.

If I tell them that I was training to get a CNA license during this term, will they consider this as a reasonable schedule along with two volunteer work? Some places take the whole semester 3 days per week but I found this one place which could be done in 4 days. If adcoms ask how long I spent in getting it then I would tell honestly, but I am hoping that this would be unlikely.

Normally, I am not this squeamish. I threw 20 hours per week research, 6 hours volunteering while taking 20 credits during my junior year and still got 3.8. The reason that I am reluctant in engaging in activities is because this is my 3rd time mcat and I feel obliged to do well, so I cannot risk myself of doing other stuff which takes time. 🙁

wow this is quite the quandary. I would suggest focusing on the mcat because that's how they evaluate you first, every adcom for every school. What you did during your gap year may come up later on in an interview, or it may not. It didn't for me for a good number of them. I would take my chances and make sure that I demonstrate improvement in that imho.