Taking one or two years off?

[ihatebluescrubs]

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Hi all,

I'm currently a third year with a heavy research experience. My final GPA would be average for mstp, though I'm not sure about my mcat.

I originally wanted to take two years off, to do research in a completely different field that I am working on after I graduate to get a good feel on the subject. However, I'm not so sure if I should take two years before going into a graduate program. I originally wanted to take two years off because I wanted to devote enough time in classes as well as spend enough time in my lab without worrying about the mcat until the end of my senior year.

Is there any significant differences in taking only one or two years off in terms of how it can help mstp admissions?

How much will the competitiveness if mstp change in one year due to the funding crisis? Is it not very significant to be relevant?

I understand MSTP program as long, but at this point I don't think one or two years is very significant...if I could wait a year and get into a better program (with many more labs in my field of interest), I think it's worth it. Does anybody think otherwise or have any suggestions? It's currently a bit daunting as many of my peers are studying for the mcat and preparing their application.

Thanks!

 

[emericana]

Hi all,

I'm currently a third year with a heavy research experience. My final GPA would be average for mstp, though I'm not sure about my mcat.

I originally wanted to take two years off, to do research in a completely different field that I am working on after I graduate to get a good feel on the subject. However, I'm not so sure if I should take two years before going into a graduate program. I originally wanted to take two years off because I wanted to devote enough time in classes as well as spend enough time in my lab without worrying about the mcat until the end of my senior year.

Is there any significant differences in taking only one or two years off in terms of how it can help mstp admissions?

How much will the competitiveness if mstp change in one year due to the funding crisis? Is it not very significant to be relevant?

I understand MSTP program as long, but at this point I don't think one or two years is very significant...if I could wait a year and get into a better program (with many more labs in my field of interest), I think it's worth it. Does anybody think otherwise or have any suggestions? It's currently a bit daunting as many of my peers are studying for the mcat and preparing their application.

Thanks!

Do not take time off if you dont have to. Assuming you are a traditional student who is 18-22 currently you will be surprised what 2 years out of school does to your mind. I have seen many people, myself included who almost completly dropped science after taking a few years off because life happens when you leave school and science pays crap.

 

[oceansoul]

I disagree with the first response; my experience with time off (and that of all the premeds I know and have met on the interview trail) has been very positive. (EDIT: To clarify, I don't dispute that emericana et al. had bad experiences with taking time off, but I disagree with the suggestion to not take time off if you don't need to, since in my experience, feeling poorly about time off is a minority opinion.)

If you want to take time off, and feel it would serve you well to get a good look at this other field you're interested in, then I think you should go for it. Goal-driven time off can be very helpful to you personally and professionally, by giving you a better perspective on [your field, your life, yourself, everything!] just from not being a student anymore, and gives you more to talk about and impress with on your applications and your interviews -- assuming, obviously, that you did at least a few impressive or unique things. And you're right to think that 1-2 years really won't matter to you later; the older you get, the longer you realize life is, and that it is not a race.

I can't speak to how the funding problems might impact MSTP competitiveness, but the difference in your personal competitiveness from time off depends mostly on the strength of your current record. If something needs serious improvement or compensation, then the additional years will help a lot. If you already have a strong track record, then you have less to prove. I can't stress enough how important it is to do what you feel is *right for you*, though. Don't compare yourself to your classmates who are taking the MCAT now; for all you know, they are rushing into something they don't yet fully appreciate.

 

[laxgirl04]

I also think that time off is a good thing. I took 3 years off and will be entering at 25. I did a lot of research (I also had some post-bacc work to do) and while I feel a little like I wish I had entered earlier (to save time), I think doing research a) really strengthened my application - got in at very competitive places, b) clarified some of my interests in medicine and in related research, and c) allowed me to gain perspective on the "real world" which I think is crucial when you are going into a program as long as MD/PhD. Seriously, I think my friends who went straight have this kind of delusional idea about how easy and awesome "regular" jobs and adult life in general are... and while I have had a great 3 years, I now know a lot more about the reality of that comparison than I would have had I never been out of school.

 

[emericana]

I disagree with the first response; my experience with time off (and that of all the premeds I know and have met on the interview trail) has been very positive. (EDIT: To clarify, I don't dispute that emericana et al. had bad experiences with taking time off, but I disagree with the suggestion to not take time off if you don't need to, since in my experience, feeling poorly about time off is a minority opinion.)

If you want to take time off, and feel it would serve you well to get a good look at this other field you're interested in, then I think you should go for it. Goal-driven time off can be very helpful to you personally and professionally, by giving you a better perspective on [your field, your life, yourself, everything!] just from not being a student anymore, and gives you more to talk about and impress with on your applications and your interviews -- assuming, obviously, that you did at least a few impressive or unique things. And you're right to think that 1-2 years really won't matter to you later; the older you get, the longer you realize life is, and that it is not a race.

I can't speak to how the funding problems might impact MSTP competitiveness, but the difference in your personal competitiveness from time off depends mostly on the strength of your current record. If something needs serious improvement or compensation, then the additional years will help a lot. If you already have a strong track record, then you have less to prove. I can't stress enough how important it is to do what you feel is *right for you*, though. Don't compare yourself to your classmates who are taking the MCAT now; for all you know, they are rushing into something they don't yet fully appreciate.

I guess it depends what you do with your time.

I took a year to travel and while traveling i got a completly changed perspective of the world which literally made me almost completly drop medicine/science because i decided when i was traveling that life was too short to work so hard. i forgot what i did all of the hard work for before and became totally lazy. then i took another year to figure out what i would do out of science/medicine and then i finally took the mcats and realized i want to do medicine/science and am now doing podiatry lol.

convoluted?

yes... but my brain got completly and totally morphed by taking a year off. i am thinking of doing a neuro phd along with my podiatry degree just so i can do research on hippocampal plasticity and figure out what the **** happened to me when i took all of that time off.

 

[Neuronix]

Is there any significant differences in taking only one or two years off in terms of how it can help mstp admissions?

It would likely not make a significant difference unless you are able to do something amazing in two years you couldn't do in one year, like knock out a bunch of first author publications. Even then, I wouldn't risk it for the chance of that happening.

How much will the competitiveness if mstp change in one year due to the funding crisis? Is it not very significant to be relevant?

I do not think it will be relevant.

if I could wait a year and get into a better program (with many more labs in my field of interest), I think it's worth it. Does anybody think otherwise or have any suggestions?

If you already have "heavy" research experience, then it probably won't matter much. I define heavy as 4+ years of research with publications. Once you're past that point I'm not sure it's going to matter much to spend more time at it. You might as well just get started on the long training pathway.

That being said, all of this has to be taken with a huge grain of salt. You have not stated your actual GPA, actual MCAT, or actual research experience. I have seen a lot of gross adjective misrepresentations of hard numbers on this forum, so you might want to be more specific if you want more specific advice.

 

[bd4727]

Taking a year or more off to do research can help a MSTP application, but it is relative and there are diminishing returns.

If you are already a competative applicant, taking a year or more off will add almost nothing to your application. In fact, I had a few MSTP program directors (including the place I attend) ask me why I took another year to do research instead of just getting on with it? (I just wanted to relax for a year, and told them this but spun it a little).

Now I think there are two ways in which taking time off to do research can help you if you need it. First, is that if you are low on research experience you obviously just need to have a solid amount of time put in before applying (I think Neuronix has posted a number of months he considers average somewhere on here).

Secondly, if you work for someone who is prominent a LOR from that person can be a big deal in MSTP admissions (relatively small community). That being said, if you start working for someone in June, you will need to have the LOR submitted in August to use for your application, so I am weary of people who say that they are going to take 1 year off to get a good LOR. I think that often you may need to take 2 years just because of the timing of graduation and the med school application cycle. I would say, however, that in my 1 year off my PI (famous guy) wrote me a good LOR after knowing me for like 3 months just because he is a nice guy and I was good on his softball team.

Anyway, overall I think you shouldn't just take years off because you are not confident in yourself-- if you truly have a good shot at MSTP acceptance just get on with it. If you need to put in more time, then a year off is probably more than enough. If you need time plus letters, consider two years. More than two years you are seriously wasting your time and it will start to look questionable.