Non-Trad Gap Year

[banana_phone]

Hi everyone --

I am a 26 y/o non-trad who is about to take the MCAT (this saturday, 4/23) and apply to medical school this cycle. I was recently accepted to work as a scribe, which was so exciting, but as I've learned more about the program, I discovered the hours/scheduling leaves something to be desired. The pay is horrible too, as someone who has to support themselves.

My question is if its necessary for me to have a clinical job during this gap year. As a non-trad, I do feel its important to maintain clinical activity (I would keep volunteering regardless), so I figured scribing was the best way to do this. The schedule looks like I will sacrifice significant time with my s/o, which is something I would like to avoid during this year, since medical school is sure to be difficult on the relationship. I was an educator before making the switch to medicine, so am very hesitant to take any sort of job related to that, despite that area being where much of my experience is (I considered nannying -- its lucrative -- but I don't know how that would look to an adcom)

What do you guys think? Should I suck it up and take the scribe job? Or look for something non-clinical that lets me have more of a life?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MD89]

I'm pretty much in the same position. I'm not that interested in scribing though because it would mean I would need to work pretty full-time with that in order to pay the bills, whereas with my nonmedical (soon to be former) career, I can work very part-time and still pay the bills. Working part-time means that I can spend lots of time volunteering (medically related) and working on my primary/secondaries/interviews so for me, that's what I'll be doing my gap year. It just makes the most sense. Of course I'd rather be working in something healthcare related but other than scribing, there's not much else out there that doesn't require a special license/certificate and pays more than minimum wage.

Also, my current job is super flexible and they all know about my med school plans, so it's actually rather cushy for a gap year job. I love the people I work with and it's a super easy commute, plus zero stress.

I was looking for research jobs but didn't manage to line one up (not surprisingly - I have no experience and just the basic science prereqs).

So, while this is not advice exactly, this is just what makes sense for my situation. It sounds like the scribing thing isn't really what will make you happy this next year - could you perhaps look into maybe doing it part-time and then tutoring on the side part-time? As a former educator, you could charge a nice hourly rate. This way, you can work less than full-time but still make enough to pay the bills.

 

[banana_phone]

I just don't know how it will look in the eyes of an adcom to do something working-with-kids related after I made the decision to switch. I would already be doing scribe part time, nanny part time to make ends meet.

Would it look bad to nanny full-time and volunteer 4-8 hours a week? The scribe job is horrible for an adult with other obligations because they only release the schedule 2 weeks in advance, with a huge mix of shifts. Hard to plan a life around that. However, if not doing the clinical work is going to hurt my app, I'll suck it up. @Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM @gonnif can you share any wisdom here?

 

[LizzyM]

I have always told the many nontrads that I have advised, logistics of how you live matter as much to the success of becoming a physician as anything else. Inability to make sufficient pay, having an inflexible schedule, and working in an unfulfilling job, will affect your sleep, stress over bills, and quality of life, that will be reflected in GPA and MCAT. So to both @MD89 and @gribear , I suggest you take the job you need to and work around that for the other items that a premed need to succeed.

If the OP is taking the MCAT this weekend then GPA and MCAT will not be influenced by the gap year job. Talk it out in your mind as you think about what your answer would be if you were asked during your interviews what you are doing during your gap year. Are you proud of being a nanny ? Will you be enthusiastic in describing it to your interviewers as how you have chosen to spend your gap year?

Another thing to think about in terms of whatever job(s) you take: will it offer flexibility for attending interviews?

 

[banana_phone]

If the OP is taking the MCAT this weekend then GPA and MCAT will not be influenced by the gap year job. Talk it out in your mind as you think about what your answer would be if you were asked during your interviews what you are doing during your gap year. Are you proud of being a nanny ? Will you be enthusiastic in describing it to your interviewers as how you have chosen to spend your gap year?

Another thing to think about in terms of whatever job(s) you take: will it offer flexibility for attending interviews?

You touched on everything I was worried about. I don't think I would be able to enthusiastically talk about it. I nannied throughout college alongside teaching preschool, as well as after college for some time, so I don't want it to look like I'm still happy on that track. I do think the scribe job would be more interesting, offer more to talk about, and drive the point home that medicine is what I want to do with my life.

It sounds like scribing is the way to go, which is what I thought. I was hoping for a more 9-5 schedule to spend time with my s/o before the marathon of med school/residency begins but that might be unrealistic. The scribe company indicated they would be flexible, but I just learned about an 'unofficial' requirements of weekends/nights that was unadvertised as of hiring, and it doesn't actually seem particularly flexible.

In any case, I appreciate the insight!

 

[Goro]

Concur with my learned colleague Gonnif that you don't need a clinical job (this is a common pre-med fallacy), but any job. You can always find time to volunteer to get in your clinical exposure.

Having a work history is valued because of the experience and maturity it brings. For many new MD and DO graduates, residency is the very first employment they'll have, and as such, PDs are noticing (poor work ethic, or rather, poor adjustments to having a full time job (as in, "no you can't take vacation time after one week on the job!"

Hi everyone --

I am a 26 y/o non-trad who is about to take the MCAT (this saturday, 4/23) and apply to medical school this cycle. I was recently accepted to work as a scribe, which was so exciting, but as I've learned more about the program, I discovered the hours/scheduling leaves something to be desired. The pay is horrible too, as someone who has to support themselves.

My question is if its necessary for me to have a clinical job during this gap year. As a non-trad, I do feel its important to maintain clinical activity (I would keep volunteering regardless), so I figured scribing was the best way to do this. The schedule looks like I will sacrifice significant time with my s/o, which is something I would like to avoid during this year, since medical school is sure to be difficult on the relationship. I was an educator before making the switch to medicine, so am very hesitant to take any sort of job related to that, despite that area being where much of my experience is (I considered nannying -- its lucrative -- but I don't know how that would look to an adcom)

What do you guys think? Should I suck it up and take the scribe job? Or look for something non-clinical that lets me have more of a life?