Gap years for medical school?

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sshamu

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2+ Year Member
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The classic question! I have two years for a gap year and am debating whether I should do basic science research or work as a scribe. I have around 350 clinical hours (direct pt care), 250 hours as a RBT and limited research in undergrad (200 hours with one abstract and not really meaningful experience). I have a high GPA but need to take the MCAT for a better score. I'm interested in doing MD or DO (not MD/PhD) and am shooting for any medical school (my mcat won't really hit the T10s and T20s based on my practice tests). The research is really cool (immunology which I am excited about) and the scribe job is working with underserved communities which is also important to me. I'm not worried about the pay since its actually about the same. I can't do both since the research job requires me to be full-time. I can try to find a research job part-time later but its definitely not guaranteed.


Any advice? I know labs tend to have a lot of work and this one is definitely requires me to get lots of training and work outside of lab but I know I can get published sometime and is really good experience. The scribe job is not considered direct pt experience under the program I am in. I'm interested in child and adolescent psychiatry and want to help my community as a physician. I also am a CA resident, ORM


I also do need to study for my mcat while working full time so would also love advice on that. 🙂
 
I'm being a bit of a gunner here but I'd do the research gig and then be a hospice volunteer on the side. Kind of kill two birds with one stone. I'm also one person, don't be afraid to disregard my advice.

For the MCAT- use Anki if you're studying for more than a couple months. And do as many practice questions/exams as possible. I took and fully reviewed 10 full lengths. A little extreme I know, but I scored very well