third gap year - options?!

[luckyducky87]

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I am currently finishing up my first year off out of college. I graduated in May 2009, and I've been working in a research lab since September 2009. Long story short, I was going to apply to schools this summer, allowing me to matriculate in 2011 (i.e. take 2 years off). However, I did not, and now I am looking at having a 3rd year off. But for reasons I won't go into, I'm not sure that it'll be good for my mental health to stay in this lab for a 3rd year (bleh). But I will be here till at least next summer because that's what the PI and I agreed on at the beginning, that I'd stay for at least 2 years in the lab.

Is it a silly idea to try to look for another job to occupy me for just a year? (ie. should I tough it out in this lab for the 3rd year off?) It's not so much a problem with research so much as a problem with this particular lab, and I've considered looking for another lab to work in for the 3rd year, but I don't know what labs around here would take me with just a 1-year commitment.

Unfortunately, money is indeed a factor for me, and I can't afford to take a year off just to do some volunteer work. I started thinking about maybe looking for a job at a nearby hospital, but I'm not sure what I can do without a certification of any kind (besides the dry, administrative, phone-answering jobs, which doesn't sound very meaningful to me). My next option was to teach at a high school, but I don't have a teaching degree (so my options are very limited in the first place), and it also requires so much preparation even just to teach for 1 year.

Any suggestions or ideas?? (If it matters any, I was a biochem major in college, and I currently live in Boston, so I assume there are many opportunities existing around here... I just have to find it)

 

[Seven of Nine]

hmm, i'm not sure what to say. i'm not familiar with boston.

what other interests do you have? perhaps you could pursue something that might not be directly related to medicine that would be fulfilling for you. you might have more to gain in long-term satisfaction/well-roundedness. i don't know though.

my question/concern is... when did you take your mcat?

 

[luckyducky87]

I already took the MCAT in March, and I'm good with the score. My GPA is fine, and I already have prof's who can write me positive rec letters. So it's really the 'experience' part that I'm trying to improve (I am a reapplicant). I have no idea what doing something completely non-medical/scientific will do to my application, in terms of if I'm really committed and genuinely interested in pursuing medicine (which I think was borderline iffy the last time I applied, and one of the reasons I ultimately didn't get accepted to anywhere)

 

[akwizeguy]

Im kind of in a similiar situation, but Im applying this current cycle, and looking for some research work to pay the bills (easy work). It is indeed very difficult to find a lab position with just a year commitment, even though I have an extensive research background. But for you in your position, I would say at the minimum, to find any type of job that would pay the bills but are lenient in scheduling. And spend the rest of your time finding a physician to shadow, this will just increase your clinical exposure which in my opinion would strengthen that part of your application at the very least.