How do I let adcoms know about my gap year job if I start after I submit my app? Need advice.

[PreMedStudent55555]

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I have a planned gap year job that I want to commit to but I won't be able to include it in my application unless I start it prior to the AMCAS submission date. The reason why this is an issue for me is simply because the job requires a minimum of a dedicated 20 hours a week.

With school being a priority right now and me having other commitments already like research, I don't have the time to dedicate 20 hours a week to a job. I also don't want to commit to something that I wouldn't be able to fully commit myself to as I feel that would be unfair to my employer and their clients. I could try to fit in the gap year job now but it'd be risky to my GPA because it could interfere with my GPA and studying. Also, once again, I would feel horrible to commit to something that I really couldn't commit myself fully to.

So what do I do? I'm afraid adcoms will look at my application and see that I'm not doing much in my gap year because I wouldn't be able to tell adcoms about this gap year job that I plan to do in my application since I'll be starting in June. I'm scared that adcoms will think I'm doing nothing during my gap year due to this.

Tl;dr I plan to start my gap year job in June (for the above reasons mentioned) but I won't be able to state it on my app since I start in June. I know some secondaries let you tell adcoms ur gap year plans but not all so what do I do? I don't want adcoms to think im not working during my gap year.

@LizzyM @Catalystik

 

[LizzyM]

Submit your AMCAS application on July 1.

 

[PreMedStudent55555]

Submit your AMCAS application on July 1.

Isn’t there more benefit to applying early? I guess my question is if med schools will possibly be alarmed I don’t have a gap year job listed on my app? Or is it common and can I explain that I actually do have a gap year job in interviews

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Isn’t there more benefit to applying early? I guess my question is if med schools will possibly be alarmed I don’t have a gap year job listed on my app? Or is it common and can I explain that I actually do have a gap year job in interviews

July 1 is early. Please avoid the SDN neuroticism that applying later than the day amcas opens is late.

 

[LizzyM]

Anytime before July 4 is early (4th of July rule).
Having your application complete including secondaries and letters by Labor Day is another rule.
Later we can talk about the Turkey Rule (Thanksgiving) and the the Mardi Gras rule.

 

[965978]

Have to disagree with everyone here. Most secondaries ask about plans during the application year. And if not, they usually ask if the applicant is taking a gap year and display a text box if an applicant answers "yes". Even then, there may be a place for "any other information you would like us to know?" that OP can use. And even after all of that, the OP can just send an update.

I highly doubt that more than a couple schools on OP's list that will absolutely not ask nor provide any space for the applicant to provide gap year plans AND not accept updates. Schools like that probably won't even care about gap year plans....

Now comes the problem of pre-secondary screening. I don't think that's such a significant problem because a lot of those screens are fairly easy to pass if you have a decent MCAT/GPA and decent EC's. I highly doubt that any pre-secondary screen is so rigorous that it will reject an applicant for not providing gap year plans.

 

[965978]

So I just checked a bunch of the school's on my list and couldn't find any of them that somehow didn't have space to put gap year plans in the secondary. OP can also get creative with how they do it. For example, UC Davis asks a question to addresses concerns to the committee, which would be a perfect place to put in gap year plans.

 

[PreMedStudent55555]

So I just checked a bunch of the school's on my list and couldn't find any of them that somehow didn't have space to put gap year plans in the secondary. OP can also get creative with how they do it. For example, UC Davis asks a question to addresses concerns to the committee, which would be a perfect place to put in gap year plans.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at that for me. I’ll probably just use the secondaries as my chance to talk about my gap year jobs. Thanks again!

 

[965978]

No problem! All schools have their own threads with published secondary questions. So I highly suggest that you make your school list, check out how many of them have secondary questions that will allow you to weave in your gap year plans, and how many of them accept updates, and then you can make your own decision regarding whether or not to apply in June after that!!

 

[965978]

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at that for me. I’ll probably just use the secondaries as my chance to talk about my gap year jobs. Thanks again!

Check my post above, I wrote my reply to your comment but forgot to click the reply button 🙂

 

[Catalystik]

With school being a priority right now and me having other commitments already like research, I don't have the time to dedicate 20 hours a week to a job. I also don't want to commit to something that I wouldn't be able to fully commit myself to as I feel that would be unfair to my employer and their clients. I could try to fit in the gap year job now but it'd be risky to my GPA because it could interfere with my GPA and studying. Also, once again, I would feel horrible to commit to something that I really couldn't commit myself fully to.

So what do I do? I'm afraid adcoms will look at my application and see that I'm not doing much in my gap year because I wouldn't be able to tell adcoms about this gap year job that I plan to do in my application since I'll be starting in June. I'm scared that adcoms will think I'm doing nothing during my gap year due to this.

Tl;dr I plan to start my gap year job in June (for the above reasons mentioned) but I won't be able to state it on my app since I start in June. I know some secondaries let you tell adcoms ur gap year plans but not all so what do I do? I don't want adcoms to think im not working during my gap year.

@LizzyM @Catalystik

If you've had any slightly-related experience that you can list in the AMCAS activities section, you can tack mention of the upcoming employment onto the end of that description, but you wouldn't have much space beyond a segue, job title, starting date, etc. More details can emerge in your responses to Secondary prompts.