Taking a leave of absence for a semester?

[honeypot]

Thanks!

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[Wanna_B_Scutty]

To go to Bhutan for ethnographic research?!?!

It wouldnt just look ok... it would look awesome. Medical tourism for the sake of holding DABs for photo ops looks a little shady and gets some bad press around here. But serious research for your thesis will never, ever, look anything but stellar.

Do it!

 

[honeypot]

To go to Bhutan for ethnographic research?!?!

It wouldnt just look ok... it would look awesome. Do it!

Do you really think so? My parents think taking a leave of absence will look bad

 

[Wanna_B_Scutty]

Do you really think so? My parents think taking a leave of absence will look bad

No, not at all. In fact, I took a LOA and got multiple acceptances.

When you apply, most secondaries will have a question like, "Have you ever taken a LOA? If so, please write a paragraph accounting for your time out of school." This is where you get to write all about what an ethnographic bad@ss you are, thus leaving those adcom types super impressed.

 

[honeypot]

No, not at all. In fact, I took a LOA and got multiple acceptances.

When you apply, most secondaries will have a question like, "Have you ever taken a LOA? If so, please write a paragraph accounting for your time out of school." This is where you get to write all about what an ethnographic bad@ss you are, thus leaving those adcom types super impressed.

Cool! If you don't mind me asking, why did you take a leave of absence? Also, did it ever come up in interviews and did interviewers look favorably or neutrally on it?

 

[Wanna_B_Scutty]

Slightly off topic-- but for a history of the ethnography of "honeypot," click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_(espionage)

Betcha didn't know all of that about your SDN handle... or maybe you did.

 

[Wanna_B_Scutty]

Cool! If you don't mind me asking, why did you take a leave of absence? Also, did it ever come up in interviews and did interviewers look favorably or neutrally on it?

Sure. I took an LOA after a summer of doing Shakespearean acting in NYC. While I was there, I started to realize that maybe acting wasn't what I wanted to do with my life (long, long story), so I came back to campus, took the LOA, and spent a lot of time participating in campus activities, reading, and just thinking about what I wanted out of life. That LOA was probably the reason I switched over to medicine and am becomming a doctor today.

So basically, I was a bum... but a thoughtful bum. And I still got in. You will be doing something actually useful to humanity, so you'll be in tip-top shape.

It came up once in an interview. Thu guy asked me about it, I told him the story, and that was that. I still don't know whether or not it hurt me because the interview was only last week, and the school told me I shouln't expect to hear anything until March. But since this school (like most of them) already had me write a secondary essay about the exerience and still invited me for an interview, I'm not gonna stress it.

 

[honeypot]

Slightly off topic-- but for a history of the ethnography of "honeypot," click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_(espionage)

Betcha didn't know all of that about your SDN handle... or maybe you did.

Oh...lol

 

[honeypot]

Sure. I took an LOA after a summer of doing Shakespearean acting in NYC. While I was there, I started to realize that maybe acting wasn't what I wanted to do with my life (long, long story), so I came back to campus, took the LOA, and spent a lot of time participating in campus activities, reading, and just thinking about what I wanted out of life. That LOA was probably the reason I switched over to medicine and am becomming a doctor today.

So basically, I was a bum... but a thoughtful bum. And I still got in. You will be doing something actually useful to humanity, so you'll be in tip-top shape.

It came up once in an interview. Thu guy asked me about it, I told him the story, and that was that. I still don't know whether or not it hurt me because the interview was only last week, and the school told me I shouln't expect to hear anything until March. But since this school (like most of them) already had me write a secondary essay about the exerience and still invited me for an interview, I'm not gonna stress it.

Cool. I felt I may as well take a leave of absense and do something cool for my senior thesis because I know I'm probably going to be bored if I have to take a whole year off before med school. And this way at least I could do something that benefits my thesis and in the remainder 6 months before med school, I could probably do volunteer work or travel or if I decide to work, it would only be for 6 months before going back to school instead of a whole year

 

[honeypot]

Thanks! What does anyone else think?

 

[SurgeonUFO]

What about withdrawing in the middle of a semester?

 

[ryanl]

Thanks! What does anyone else think?

Personally I'd go for it.... I see no reason AdCom's would look badly on doing this. I agree it would even look good for you for admissions. (In General)Schools are looking for well rounded applicants, and this will add roundedness to your app. It also gives you something good to discuss during interviews, it's always nice to have a unique experience to make yourself stick out from the crowd.

I took a year off to work in the middle of my undergrad, and never did this come up as a negative in my interviews. You just have to make sure you have a reason that you took time off and if it's to do something that interests you that's usually good enough , and if it's related to research, it's a bonus.

 

[Tired]

Do you really think so? My parents think taking a leave of absence will look bad

Your parents are wrong.

In fact, to be completely honest, I thought this post was one of those "Look How Cool I Am" threads that folks occassionally troll with. From your subsequent posts, however, I realize that you are asking a legit question.

Do it, do it, do it. Not only will it be really cool, it will also look really good come application time.