Hey there,
Yeah, taking time off is incredible. A couple points I'd add from the experience:
1) Continue volunteering/shadowing.
Showing that you have a continued commitment to volunteering is good, it better demonstrates that you enjoy what you do, rather than a person who just clocks in and clocks out.
2) Gain healthcare experience.
Obvious. I know. But, to further that, see if you can be an ER tech or a medical assistant, especially if you are taking two years off. You'd be surprised to see how the working world, contrasts with the academic world in healthcare. Not to mention, you'll interact with interesting people, smell stuff you'd never ever want to experience again, and gain some clinical skills.
3) Diversify your experiences.
Yes, an ER tech or medical assistant is ideal, but I do recognize that it is hard to get these jobs especially when some places require extensive training, etc etc. So, perhaps consider working in healthcare administration. Look at the billing aspect of medicine. Do some customer service. See what it sounds like when a patient tells you that they cannot pay for their extraordinary healthcare bill. Do you write it off? Are they toying with you? How do you write off this guy, but not the next person? In addition, there is a HUGE world of medical informatics that has not been explored, that I'd encourage people to look into. Medical records and the "electronification" of them is a very interesting development as much progress has yet to be made in that department. And it would give people perspective on how the healthcare system talks to each other.
Yes, some of the bullet points are kinda obvious, but I think they're quite important along the admissions process. For me, I worked as an ER tech for a year in a L1 center, which was very eye-opening. Having true responsibility, for over 12 patients all at once, is CHALLENGING. Every patient you walk by has a demand, request, or a complaint they want to share. Last week I had a guy who pissed all over himself after drinking waaaayyy too much, and threw his soaked clothes at me just because he was crabby after he woke up. You learn while working in this environment that school is quite "easy," in that you have a lot of autonomy. You can choose when to study, when to leave, when to show up, etc. Almost like those lab jobs too. haha. But working in the ED, my coworkers depend on me as much as my patients. Sometimes I can only stick a person once to get their blood, because they're afraid of needles. What if I miss?
I also spent a year working in customer service/patient services at a PCP clinic, and did all of the billing, receptionist, and medical records work. It was definitely eye-opening with the amount of administrative work that goes into the system. It makes you appreciate the people behind the desk, making it all possible.
Both of these experiences gave me much to talk about during the interview, and I tried to tell my interviewers that I had experience on both sides of the fence, clinical and administrative, to demonstrate the commitment I was going to make by going to med school.
