Gap year working abroad?

[Lily20]

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Hey everyone! I just graduated from UC Berkeley and I'm not applying until next summer, so I'll have 2 gap years. Right now over summer I'm doing research on campus, and afterwards I'll be home preparing for the MCAT (tentative test date in January). I had planned on working in research at UCSF and continuing to volunteer at a hospital in the bay area afterwards, but now I'm considering doing research/clinical work abroad like the UK or Australia. Does anyone have experience with this or have any ideas/opinions?

Thanks!

 

[SN12357]

It'll make scheduling interviews tricky. If you will be able to swing blocks of time to come back to the states to interview it could work, I certainly met people who were currently working abroad on the interview trail.

 

[iceet]

Staying in the U.S. might be better for your application because principal investigators here may have more clout with medical schools than international scientists. This is just my speculation though. If you get a good job here in the states why not take it? Is there any reason you want to go abroad? Are you itching to travel?

 

[DokterMom]

Working abroad would be interesting for you and could be appealing to Ad Coms. But I notice you're focusing on UK and Australia, both English-speaking countries which are about as similar to the U.S. as you can be while still leaving the continent. I'd like to suggest that you'd learn more and have a more 'marketable' experience if you were to go some place a bit more exotic.

Then there's also the difficulty interviewing angle...