Should I take a well-paying job or a clinical, low-paying job in my gap year?

[YoungMoneyMint]

I’m currently in the middle of one of two gap years I’m taking before applying to med school next cycle. I have 3 job offers to decide between: a clinical AmeriCorps position, a Medical Assistant job and a Project Manager position at Epic Systems. The job at Epic pays $70k/year and will go to ~$80-90k next year, while the other two pay ~$25-30k/year. I will get a lot of great experience from the clinical positions though. For the record, I have 120 hours of clinical volunteering, and 300 hours of working as a Medical Assistant.

Should I take the job at Epic and save a good chunk of money for med school, or dig into my savings to take one of the two clinical jobs?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Kardio]

Personally, I would have taken the job at Epic. Seems more interesting and unique (and the extra $40k wouldn’t have been trivial to me). Curious what our AdComs think though.

 

[YoungMoneyMint]

@Goro @gyngyn

 

[Moko]

I’m currently in the middle of one of two gap years I’m taking before applying to med school next cycle. I have 3 job offers to decide between: a clinical AmeriCorps position, a Medical Assistant job and a Project Manager position at Epic Systems. The job at Epic pays $70k/year and will go to ~$80-90k next year, while the other two pay ~$25-30k/year. I will get a lot of great experience from the clinical positions though. For the record, I have 120 hours of clinical volunteering, and 300 hours of working as a Medical Assistant.

Should I take the job at Epic and save a good chunk of money for med school, or dig into my savings to take one of the two clinical jobs?

These three opportunities will help demonstrate different things on your application. If you have a critical deficiency in your application (e.g. clinical experience, service to others, etc.), then pick the experience that will best address that gap. However, if you already have plentiful clinical experiences and community service, then the Epic position may give you an additional skillset/viewpoint that will be complementary to medicine.

Of your three options, the Epic job can most easily transition to a well-paying and comfortable career should your medical school goals not work out. Just my thoughts.

 

[Type2Fiber]

I’m currently in the middle of one of two gap years I’m taking before applying to med school next cycle. I have 3 job offers to decide between: a clinical AmeriCorps position, a Medical Assistant job and a Project Manager position at Epic Systems. The job at Epic pays $70k/year and will go to ~$80-90k next year, while the other two pay ~$25-30k/year. I will get a lot of great experience from the clinical positions though. For the record, I have 120 hours of clinical volunteering, and 300 hours of working as a Medical Assistant.

Should I take the job at Epic and save a good chunk of money for med school, or dig into my savings to take one of the two clinical jobs?

this is a no brainer. you've got 300 hours already as an MA. take the real job and make some money

 

[M&L]

Big money job for sure !!!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Big money job for sure !!!

I agree but only if you’re confident that you will be able to get into med school with your current experiences. Once you’re out of college, opportunities to bolster your application are few and far between unless you work as a research assistant or clinical coordinator.

It’s feels pretty terrible to realize in October/November that you are unlikely to get in and don’t have any way to substantially improve your application before next time.

The spread between the two salaries, especially when you consider that epic salary is taxed at least 12% more, is easily made up by being an attending a year early.

 

[KnightDoc]

I agree but only if you’re confident that you will be able to get into med school with your current experiences. Once you’re out of college, opportunities to bolster your application are few and far between unless you work as a research assistant or clinical coordinator.

It’s feels pretty terrible to realize in October/November that you are unlikely to get in and don’t have any way to substantially improve your application before next time.

The spread between the two salaries, especially when you consider that epic salary is taxed at least 12% more, is easily made up by being an attending a year early.

True, but go back a reread what @Moko said. No one should ever be comfortable they will be able to get into med school, just due to the numbers. In fact, a solid chunk of applicants will never get into med school.

The point here is that, with 120 hours of clinical volunteering and 300 hours of paid clinical work, clinical hours probably will not be the thing holding OP back if OP is not successful. As a result, taking a significantly higher paying job that helps develop skills useful outside of healthcare is the obvious move here.

Yes, any entry level job salary differential is easily made up by becoming an attending a year early, but it bears keeping in mind that a very significant minority of first time applicants will never become an attending, no matter how many times they apply. Prudent people prepare for that possibility if an opportunity like the one OP has presents itself. Aren't you doing exactly the same thing? 🙂

 

[DoctorFate]

You can always just volunteer on weekends of after work to get a few hours every week. I say go EPIC.

However, I actually was in almost the exact same position as you. I received an offer from EPIC for 85k for technical solutions engineer. I turned it down for a 50k offer for Clinical Research Coordinator in Dermatology (not entry-level), because I am certain that I want to pursue a Dermatology residency and I can get a few publications in that field during this gap year. I also had high stats and great ECs, so I was near certain I would get accepted into med school. The only thing I was missing was clinical experience, which this job helped with as well. Plus, it was a reasonable salary- 50k isn't bad.

So definitely do a thorough self-evaluation to determine how competitive you are. Unless a very strong and specific opportunity presents itself though, I would definitely choose the EPIC job. I don't think there's any clinical job I would have taken other than CRC Derm over EPIC.