Taking 2 gap years if only 1 is necessary

[fdgjfg]

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I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum lately, and I was hoping to get some opinions from you helpful SDNers. For the last couple of months, I have been planning on applying immediately after graduating from undergrad while taking 1 gap year. LM=75, so by no means an amazing application, but I think I would have a very good shot at getting in somewhere this cycle, with a marginal chance at a top school.

However, while looking for a job for my gap year, I ended up being offered a two year position that has really grabbed my attention. I feel as though the job would allow my research interests to come "full circle" in a way, and I think I could get some valuable training from the PI (MD) whose lab seems to be on a major upswing with a bright future.

I feel really tempted to take two years, because I could shore up the weaknesses in my app (kind of lacking clinical experience/volunteering), gain some valuable professional skills, get more publications, and really bump up my chances at top 20s or scholarships to other schools. I could also have some down time to follow up on a few extracurricular interests/hobbies that I haven't had much time for, and would like to do before I get sucked into the hectic lifestyle. However, I feel torn because I worry about losing out on a year of physician level salary, and having my current peers being M3's when I'm only an M1. Money also worries me since I have some student loans from undergrad, and I won't exactly be raking it in with the position.

Has anyone been through anything similar? Are you glad you took a second year off, or do you wish you just got on with it? Is there any valid reason for delaying till another cycle when you could get in this cycle?

 

[eteshoe]

Do it if you want. You're a solid applicant now, 2 yrs won't diminish that. Personally, I took 4 yrs between UG and med school - didn't hurt me.

 

[ready2go2]

I have never heard anyone say they regret taking 2 years off. It could be a nice break. Necessary is how you define it.

 

[fdgjfg]

Do you live solely to make money? Does your personal status, confidence, and self esteem come from measuring yourself against your M3 peers or is it a self imposed metric? Will having 2 years of clinical research be an asset when you apply for residency, considering about 8%-10% of students take a research or extra year now, many to improve residency chances? Most importantly, what do you want to do in the way you live your life?

Thanks, this definitely helps! What you pointed out is true.

I suppose I'm second guessing myself because whenever I tell any of my peers about my plans, they seem to think I'm making a mistake or being unreasonable. It seems like everyone prioritizes getting to their destination as quickly as possible and only taking a year off if they unquestionably won't make it in during the coming cycle. Getting some additional opinions from others not still in undergrad is helpful.

Will additional clinical research/papers help for residency application even if it is in an unrelated field?

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

I took 4 yrs between UG and med school - didn't hurt me.

Im sure they brought it up...what did you say? What was the general consensus among your interviewers towards it?

 

[Petrichor1]

I would look at the salary that you're going to get from this offer. If it is 30-35kish a year, I would not take up the 2 years. If you're ready now...don't wait to delay your medical training. If you accept the offer, you'll sign a contract and most likely you may not be able to leave.

 

[fdgjfg]

I would look at the salary that you're going to get from this offer. If it is 30-35kish a year, I would not take up the 2 years. If you're ready now...don't wait to delay your medical training. If you accept the offer, you'll sign a contract and most likely you may not be able to leave.

That's another issue I have as well. The pay for the first 6 months or so is only $12.50 an hour, 40 hours a week, with the possibility for overtime, so even less than 30K. For the second year and a half it is a salary around 35K with benefits. I don't think I'll have to sign a contract, but my fate would be sealed as soon as I miss the beginning of the cycle in June, since I don't want to apply late.

 

[eteshoe]

Im sure they brought it up...what did you say? What was the general consensus among your interviewers towards it?

Just said I hadn't realized that I could actually handle medicine until I was basically graduating (I was a 3 yr UG). I had a pretty solid job offer (engineering up in Chicago), so I figured I'd work a bit and see if I liked it and if not I could attend med school later. Worked for 2 yrs (not too intellectually fulfilling), decided to do a master's (2 yrs) to get some more biologically relevant research experience (I had a ton of physical science & engineering research on my CV), connected with a couple MD/PhDs when I was volunteering (during my masters) - helped convince me it was possible to do both. Studied my butt off to do well on the MCAT and took the leap. A lot of the interviewers liked that I had some real world experience and brought a unique perspective. Plus I was still relatively young when I started (~25) so it wasn't too bad

 

[Petrichor1]

That's another issue I have as well. The pay for the first 6 months or so is only $12.50 an hour, 40 hours a week, with the possibility for overtime, so even less than 30K. For the second year and a half it is a salary around 35K with benefits. I don't think I'll have to sign a contract, but my fate would be sealed as soon as I miss the beginning of the cycle in June, since I don't want to apply late.

you should decide what the merits are from this. After all, I don't know your background and I myself have spent nearly as much time out of school.

 

[fdgjfg]

you should decide what the merits are from this. After all, I don't know your background and I myself have spent nearly as much time out of school.

It definitely has its merits. I would undoubtedly be a stronger applicant; right now I'm probably a marginal top 20 applicant, and after a year I think I would have a really good shot at top 20. But even after a while on these forums I can't tell how much importance to place on school prestige. It also seems like a good work environment where I could gain a lot of patient interaction skill, and I know someone who worked there who is now matriculating to med school and really raved about their experiences. I also wouldn't mind having a bit of a mental break; pre med at my undergrad has really been a slog and chronically stressful, so I wouldn't mind having some time to reassess where I'm at before having to scramble on a PS/secondaries/interviews.

The other thing I am wondering, if anybody knows, is if my MCAT will still be good then. I took it in August 2015, so it should still be fine for the 2017 cycle right?

 

[Petrichor1]

it seems you are highly interested in this. I had a lead position in research come up last year and I was also in a bind like you are. I decided against it because I was fed up with wasting time and delaying my true calling. There were a lot of complications in the process and I do regret that but I was very stressed at the time since I would be asking LORs some years out of school at which point, many would probably back out as many of them already have at this point. Ultimately, I don't regret it because I value my time more than anything else. I can read research papers, and I would rather go and spend the years getting a masters in math to obtain data analysis skills. You're lucky that you got this offer straight out of graduation. These 2 year gigs are interesting but sometimes I feel they are not fair to an extent. You're basically getting compensated the same as a tech who has an associates degree.

 

[clippers50fan]

I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum lately, and I was hoping to get some opinions from you helpful SDNers. For the last couple of months, I have been planning on applying immediately after graduating from undergrad while taking 1 gap year. I have a 3.72 cGPA, 3.8 sGPA from a top 15 undergrad, 521(=38) MCAT, 3 years of research+1 paper+1 abstract, ~200 hours non-clinical volunteering and ~150 hours clinical volunteering (full description of my app in the WAMC thread on my profile). So by no means an amazing application, but I think I would have a very good shot at getting in somewhere this cycle, with a marginal chance at a top school.

However, while looking for a job for my gap year, I ended up being offered a two year position that has really grabbed my attention. My research has been in pre-clinical drug discovery, which I have really enjoyed. This position is as a clinical research assistant/clinical research coordinator in a major academic hospital, doing drug trials with the same techniques I have been learning, on the same disease pathology that I have been studying. I feel as though the job would allow my research interests to come "full circle" in a way, and I think I could get some valuable training from the PI (MD) whose lab seems to be on a major upswing with a bright future.

I feel really tempted to take two years, because I could shore up the weaknesses in my app (kind of lacking clinical experience/volunteering), gain some valuable professional skills, get more publications, and really bump up my chances at top 20s or scholarships to other schools. I could also have some down time to follow up on a few extracurricular interests/hobbies that I haven't had much time for, and would like to do before I get sucked into the hectic lifestyle. However, I feel torn because I worry about losing out on a year of physician level salary, and having my current peers being M3's when I'm only an M1. Money also worries me since I have some student loans from undergrad, and I won't exactly be raking it in with the position.

Has anyone been through anything similar? Are you glad you took a second year off, or do you wish you just got on with it? Is there any valid reason for delaying till another cycle when you could get in this cycle?

Take the two years homie. I did and I'm loving it. My applications is so dramatically better now and I've matured more as a person, not to mention I'm having a lot of fun. Not everything in life is about rushing to medical school and if you found a job you think you'd love that pays relatively well, make your application even stronger (3.8/ 38 is amazing, now differentiate yourself), AND have fun? Do it. Don't look back.

 

[RhinB]

I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum lately, and I was hoping to get some opinions from you helpful SDNers. For the last couple of months, I have been planning on applying immediately after graduating from undergrad while taking 1 gap year. I have a 3.72 cGPA, 3.8 sGPA from a top 15 undergrad, 521(=38) MCAT, 3 years of research+1 paper+1 abstract, ~200 hours non-clinical volunteering and ~150 hours clinical volunteering (full description of my app in the WAMC thread on my profile). So by no means an amazing application, but I think I would have a very good shot at getting in somewhere this cycle, with a marginal chance at a top school.

However, while looking for a job for my gap year, I ended up being offered a two year position that has really grabbed my attention. My research has been in pre-clinical drug discovery, which I have really enjoyed. This position is as a clinical research assistant/clinical research coordinator in a major academic hospital, doing drug trials with the same techniques I have been learning, on the same disease pathology that I have been studying. I feel as though the job would allow my research interests to come "full circle" in a way, and I think I could get some valuable training from the PI (MD) whose lab seems to be on a major upswing with a bright future.

I feel really tempted to take two years, because I could shore up the weaknesses in my app (kind of lacking clinical experience/volunteering), gain some valuable professional skills, get more publications, and really bump up my chances at top 20s or scholarships to other schools. I could also have some down time to follow up on a few extracurricular interests/hobbies that I haven't had much time for, and would like to do before I get sucked into the hectic lifestyle. However, I feel torn because I worry about losing out on a year of physician level salary, and having my current peers being M3's when I'm only an M1. Money also worries me since I have some student loans from undergrad, and I won't exactly be raking it in with the position.

Has anyone been through anything similar? Are you glad you took a second year off, or do you wish you just got on with it? Is there any valid reason for delaying till another cycle when you could get in this cycle?

I was in a pretty similar situation and am still in a similar-ish situation now. You can look at my MDapps for my stats/medical school cycle/how I've done, but the point is that we're similar enough.

Last spring (2015), I was debating doing 1 gap year or 2 gap years. Fall of 2014, I applied for healthcare consulting jobs and landed one in October-ish and had a lot of time to decide. Because of my MCAT timing I decided to just apply anyway and see where it lead me. I was weighing between getting full experience at this job, or delaying for a year. Now that I've gotten in, I'm thinking about deferring acceptance for a year and seeing where that leads me. I've got my owns reasons for taking the 2 years: potential MBA recommendations, connections in the future, I like my job and I just get another year to grow and relax a bit before committing my life to medicine. Granted, I have a cushy salary but just wanted to share some perspective.

 

[Dr.TonySoprano]

I think if I took a second gap year I'd die of boredom. 1 year is just enough if you have the chance.

 

[Johnny123321]

1 years is more than enough. but 2 years... i've never even heard about such a gap. try Adderall for focusing.

 

[-----MD]

I was in a similar situation. I planned on starting in the fall of 2015 and had everything lined up. Got a new job that was supposed to be a one year gap thing, but I ended up staying a second year. I really loved the job and would have left some really cool projects unfinished. I would have been able to apply and probably get in to a school or two at that point my but I didn't want to bail on something I was happy with. Looking back, I think I made the right decision.

Despite a below average MCAT, my application cycle turned out well. I got 5 acceptances, including a near full ride at a top 10 school. My theory is that it is because of my current job and both the personal and career growth I experienced because of it.

Now obviously, all this is anecdotal and Hindsight is 20-20, but I am a big believer in not rushing. The average age of medical students are going up, and it's becoming increasingly common to take multiple years off and medical schools are recognizing the value of a mature applicant.

TLDR. Do it if the experience will be meaningful. Don't do it only for application padding.