Should I take a year off during undergrad?

[Pwny]

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Hi everyone. I've spent most of my college career trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. The soul-searching took a toll on my grades, especially as I began college as a freshman. During my second year, I decided to pursue a career in medicine and thought my grades would improve knowing that I now had a solid goal. However, I still struggled with my science classes and my grades suffered. Again, I promised myself to work harder to show an upward trend.

I am now in my third year of college struggling with my GPA of 2.7. I know some people can attribute poor grades to wanting to enjoy their college years, but I work hard and am completely dedicated to getting myself to medical school. After doing so poorly last quarter, my self confidence has been wavering and I am starting to have doubts that this may be a sign. Most importantly, it frightens me that I am still doing as poorly as I did when I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.

I am very sure that I want to become a doctor, and I am willing to go through the necessary time it will take to bring up my grades and make myself a confident applicant. I am feeling that the time off will be beneficial so that I can re-focus and sort a few things out. I know I am capable of the course load; what I don't know is what is holding me back.

Here's my question: Would you advise taking a year off during undergrad? I would be doing something productive with the time, such as research or international service. A big concern is that I would be leaving my extracurriculars that I have established for myself, which make up a majority of my life and have great meaning to me: clinic, my research position, conference work, etc.

Thanks in advance for reading. I'm all ears, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kcin]

That GPA is going to give you problems with MD and DO schools. I'm not sure what taking a year off is going to help you accomplish. If you can't handle the course work, you can't handle the course work. Delaying it won't help.

What is your study schedule like? Do you work? Have you done any mcat prep? When are you taking the mcat?

Honestly I'm not sure there's much you can do at this point unless you do an SMP. It seems like it'd be pretty hard to pull a 2.7 up to an acceptable level for MD/DO since you're already coming up on the end of your third year. I'm not sure an SMP would be a good idea either since you can't figure out why you're messing up now, so the result would be the same.

I'm a pessimist so maybe someone else can offer more hope.

edit: I'm amazed nobody has stopped by to berate me/prop up the op after a few hours.

 

[Catalystik]

Here's my question: Would you advise taking a year off during undergrad? I would be doing something productive with the time, such as research or international service.

Taking time off and doing productive work will serve you better than continuing to earn mediocre grades. It won't hurt you that you did so if you can eventually get together a competitive application.

Be aware that if you retake low grades, the DO med school application service only includes the retake grade when calculating your application GPAs, provided the credit hours are the same or greater.

 

[Pwny]

That GPA is going to give you problems with MD and DO schools. I'm not sure what taking a year off is going to help you accomplish. If you can't handle the course work, you can't handle the course work. Delaying it won't help.

What is your study schedule like? Do you work? Have you done any mcat prep? When are you taking the mcat?

Honestly I'm not sure there's much you can do at this point unless you do an SMP. It seems like it'd be pretty hard to pull a 2.7 up to an acceptable level for MD/DO since you're already coming up on the end of your third year. I'm not sure an SMP would be a good idea either since you can't figure out why you're messing up now, so the result would be the same.

I'm a pessimist so maybe someone else can offer more hope.

edit: I'm amazed nobody has stopped by to berate me/prop up the op after a few hours.

I'm a part-time student this quarter taking 8 units; after last quarter, I decided to invest time in sorting out a few personal issues. I study every day for at least 3-4 hours and there are definitely ways I can improve studying efficiently because my effort hasn't pooled any good results.

I haven't done any MCAT prep yet because I figured I should try to earn decent grades first. I definitely do not plan on applying straight out of college.

 

[Pwny]

Taking time off and doing productive work will serve you better than continuing to earn mediocre grades. It won't hurt you that you did so if you can eventually get together a competitive application.

Be aware that if you retake low grades, the DO med school application service only includes the retake grade when calculating your application GPAs, provided the credit hours are the same or greater.

Thanks for the advice and information 👍.

 

[LEUNIT]

Confucius say: if struggle now, struggle more later.

 

[r1012]

Hi everyone. I've spent most of my college career trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. The soul-searching took a toll on my grades, especially as I began college as a freshman. During my second year, I decided to pursue a career in medicine and thought my grades would improve knowing that I now had a solid goal. However, I still struggled with my science classes and my grades suffered. Again, I promised myself to work harder to show an upward trend.

I am now in my third year of college struggling with my GPA of 2.7. I know some people can attribute poor grades to wanting to enjoy their college years, but I work hard and am completely dedicated to getting myself to medical school. After doing so poorly last quarter, my self confidence has been wavering and I am starting to have doubts that this may be a sign. Most importantly, it frightens me that I am still doing as poorly as I did when I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.

I am very sure that I want to become a doctor, and I am willing to go through the necessary time it will take to bring up my grades and make myself a confident applicant. I am feeling that the time off will be beneficial so that I can re-focus and sort a few things out. I know I am capable of the course load; what I don't know is what is holding me back.

Here's my question: Would you advise taking a year off during undergrad? I would be doing something productive with the time, such as research or international service. A big concern is that I would be leaving my extracurriculars that I have established for myself, which make up a majority of my life and have great meaning to me: clinic, my research position, conference work, etc.

Thanks in advance for reading. I'm all ears, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

As other posters have said, time off sounds like a good idea -- you could perhaps look into if there is any way you can continue your ECs during your year off (if you do research at the same institution, etc).

Regardless, it sounds like you need to seriously reevaluate and change your study habits for upcoming years (no matter what field you want to go into). A 2.7 during freshman year when you don't know what you want to do is fine. A 2.7 in your third year is not good. That said, a 2.7 when you are clearly focused doesn't mean that you aren't studying enough, it means that you aren't studying effectively. Do you need to do more practice problems? Take mock exams under test conditions so that you don't choke during the test itself? Do you need to go to office hours more? Do you understand the material well enough to explain it to a classmate?

Also - I'm not sure if this is over the line (and if it is, I apologize), or if you've already looked into it, but maybe you should consult a professional about whether you have some type of ADHD. Even if science just isn't your thing, being focused and cognizant of studying does not usually result in a 2.7.

 

[Musclemass]

OP, no personal criticism intended, but you seem to be too introspective and tentative. When you decided to pursue medicine, you needed at that point to start reeling off As in your science classes, and not expect that something magic was going to happen to change your academic performance. The goal is not to just "have a goal", but rather to do what is necessary to achieve the goal. You haven't done that.

There are many other allied health careers that you may find rewarding. Take a break if you need to, but be realistic in choosing your direction.

 

[hmockingbird]

Maybe you could look into resources your school has re: studying effectively. My school has a lot of options through student services and counseling - you can go to a professional counselor to get personal studying help, or go to classes that teach you how to study more effectively, or get a "study coach" (basically a person to help you come up with a plan and keep you on track while starting it). It's all free. I would see if your student services, tutoring or even the health clinic has something similar to any of these. Maybe just having a person who isn't involved look at what you are doing and how you could improve would help.

As far as taking time off, if you think you need to, I don't see anything wrong with it, but I would put more thought into plans for the time off before you commit.