Should I stay or should I go? (voluntary gap year)

[eddyiceberg]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone,

I am a fourth year "pre-med" student in Canada on the verge of completing my bachelors. I've applied to the med school in my home province and will likely receive an admission offer as I have great stats for an IP applicant. I'm confident that medicine is what I want as a career, however, I'm having major second thoughts about beginning next year.

The main reason I want to take a gap year is to study Spanish in Latin America. Yes, I know what you're thinking.. nobody even speaks Spanish in Canada. Despite the small percentage of Spanish speakers in Canada, I have fallen in love with the language and hispanic culture after taking four semesters of classes at my university. My dream would be to move to Latin America for a year, and ideally challenge the DELE C1 level (internationally recognized diploma). I don't know if 3 months (summer before med school) would be enough time to achieve the Spanish level I desire.

side note: money is not really an issue as I earned lots during the summers and payed for tuition with scholarships.

Some of the things I am wrestling with/curious about as I make my decision are:

If I am going to study medicine eventually, is it silly to delay the inevitable for something that may just be a hobby?

For people who have spent time abroad, how much did 1 year improve your language skills? and were you able to retain these skills years later?

How important is knowing Spanish for medical employment in the heavily populated hispanic regions of the United States?

 

[ciucia53]

I don't think it would be silly to delay your application to become proficient in Spanish. I have worked with both native and non-native Spanish-speaking physicians and it is so much easier than having to deal with the translator service. The merits of knowing another language will always outweigh any possible downsides, in my opinion. One thing I would say is that if you decide to do this, it's really important to get some kind of exposure to medical terminology. You can learn Spanish enough to communicate with a person on the street, but then when you are with a patient and don't know the term for cough or runny nose, it's awkward. 🙂