Two Gap Years - Suggestions?

[BillrothI]

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Hey Everybody,

I failed to land an acceptance this cycle and am currently preparing to embark on my second consecutive gap year.

I work full-time and volunteer every week, but I miss the challenge of undergrad and would like to stay mentally active for the next fourteen months. I probably have about 10-20 hours/week of downtime that I want to make the most of.

Any suggestions? I don't really want to do an informal post-bacc, but is there a way to enroll in classes without receiving credit? I'm an older, non-traditional applicant and I already feel like I'm going to be at an academic disadvantage compared to my younger counterparts. I'm just hoping to stay sharp this year and do whatever I can to prepare for med school.

Thanks for any advice.

-Bill

 

[Quizlet04]

What's the argument against doing an informal post-bacc, other than your not wanting to. You mentioned a while back that your GPA wasn't incredible. Wouldn't a few solid grades help you out so you can update the schools with new, spiffy transcripts after you submitted? I did that after I submitted my AMCAS. I took an easier bio class and a few humanities to inch my grades up higher. Auditing just sounds like a waste of time where you can show nothing for it to the ADCOMs.

 

[DeezyP]

I work at a university and the school's policy is that staff can audit a certain number of classes every year, so maybe that's an option for you. Alternatively, you can take an online course, like from edX, which is what I'm planning on doing after I'm done with AMCAS a bit. It's at least something structured that will scratch that itch to do something productive and educational. There's a variety of courses on edX and they're mostly free: https://www.edx.org/course-list/allschools/medicine/allcourses?page=1

 

[nemo123]

You don't need to enroll in courses or give your money away to a college to stay mentally active. There are lots of free resources out there to self-teach yourself whatever you want academically.

 

[lmn]

There are tons of online courses out there from places like edx, coursera, stanford online, etc etc etc. Check out all of those if you are interested in doing some outside learning, or even check youtube and follow some channels that you are interested in, there are ones that go through different topics weekly or ones that do short videos on questions or topics that you may be curious about that aren't necessarily something you'd learn in a normal course.

 

[BillrothI]

Thanks, all.

What's the argument against doing an informal post-bacc, other than your not wanting to. You mentioned a while back that your GPA wasn't incredible. Wouldn't a few solid grades help you out so you can update the schools with new, spiffy transcripts after you submitted? I did that after I submitted my AMCAS. I took an easier bio class and a few humanities to inch my grades up higher. Auditing just sounds like a waste of time where you can show nothing for it to the ADCOMs.

I would really like to enroll in some courses for credit, but I think the risks outweigh the benefits. A couple of semesters of straight A's would barely touch my GPA while an "F" or a "W" might result in a rejection or rescinded acceptance. I travel fairly often for work these days and there is a small chance I could miss a major exam.

There are tons of online courses out there from places like edx, coursera, stanford online, etc etc etc. Check out all of those if you are interested in doing some outside learning, or even check youtube and follow some channels that you are interested in, there are ones that go through different topics weekly or ones that do short videos on questions or topics that you may be curious about that aren't necessarily something you'd learn in a normal course.

I work at a university and the school's policy is that staff can audit a certain number of classes every year, so maybe that's an option for you. Alternatively, you can take an online course, like from edX, which is what I'm planning on doing after I'm done with AMCAS a bit. It's at least something structured that will scratch that itch to do something productive and educational. There's a variety of courses on edX and they're mostly free: https://www.edx.org/course-list/allschools/medicine/allcourses?page=1

Thanks! I love MOOCs. Do you have any recommendations? My favorite over the past year, by far, was Medical Neuroscience through Coursera. Are you aware of any other classes that are similarly rigorous?

-Bill