Gap year prompts question!

[jinjames0]

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Hi SDN!

Do you guys know if there is a particular reason that med schools ask us to describe current gap year activities or activities since graduation when they have our "works and activities"? Should we be describing these differently than we did in "works and activities?" Some gap year prompts are specific, but others just ask us to explain or describe the activities.

Thank you and good night 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

Often the applicant has not yet found a gap year job when submitting the primary so the secondary question, completed later in the application cycle, is an opportunity to provide that information that might be missing. Even if it is in the W&A section, it is helpful for a reviewer to be able to look at that one section of the secondary rather than scrolling through pages of W&A to answer the question "what is the graduate doing now?"

 

[jinjames0]

Probably because the work activities can be pretty mixed together. For example, my longest running activity that I started in undergrad is one that I am continuing during my gap year. Rather than have the adcom member parse out all the information themselves, it could be quicker and more efficient to have the applicant just let them know which activities were in the gap year/continued into the gap year. Also, gives the applicant the opportunity to list future activities, describe activities that did not make it onto the primary, or explain new details that they weren't aware of regarding an activity when they first submitted the primary. Idk though, I'm a current applicant and just spitballing here in all honesty.

Often the applicant has not yet found a gap year job when submitting the primary so the secondary question, completed later in the application cycle, is an opportunity to provide that information that might be missing. Even if it is in the W&A section, it is helpful for a reviewer to be able to look at that one second of the secondary rather than scrolling through pages of W&A to answer the question "what is the graduate doing now?"

Thank you for your replies! This was helpful! I never thought about it that way. Scrolling down the W&A section is definitely a hassle.