Two or More Gap Years

[Dr_OneDay]

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Anyone planning on taking two or more gap years? I feel like I'm the only one.

Feel free to share if you are planning or have had two or more gap years.

 

[eagle311]

I graduated in 2012 so ive had a few gap years. Just worked and volunteered. I may potentially be taking another one depending on my mcat score..

 

[68PGunner]

What's your reason for your gap years?

 

[pageantry]

I'm a nontrad accidentally taking two after my post bacc. Tried to study during my last semester. Didn't feel ready. Decided to postpone MCAT to January and app to the next year. Does the application cycle count as a gap year? If so, then I'm taking two, yeah.

 

[DrMidlife]

if you feel like you're the only one not going straight from college to med school then you should actually read some posts in this forum. being 24+ when you start med school is normal in the US. being over 30 is normal in this forum. you don't have to have a med-school-worthy reason for everything you do. you can legitimately take a 3rd or 4th or 10th year if you want. go backpacking in vietnam, work on a farm, fall in love, play in a band, live in NYC, wait tables, get off your parents' dime, become somebody you'd like to meet. become somebody who has something in common with the majority of your future patients. med school isn't going anywhere.

 

[Dr_OneDay]

My gap years are to increase my very low sGPA and cGPA and get some shadowing in.

I was originally planning on taking two gap years, but my advisor scared me that my application will be autoscreened and that any reapplication will just make it harder for me to get into med school.

 

[68PGunner]

What are your stats and ecs? People here know about med school application than your advisor.

 

[DrMidlife]

My gap years are to increase my very low sGPA and cGPA and get some shadowing in.

So this isn't an "I want to take more time off" story, it's an "I'm not ready to apply and need more work" story. "Gap year" doesn't apply to you. You're probably doing an extended postbac.

my advisor scared me that my application will be autoscreened and that any reapplication will just make it harder for me to get into med school.

So many problems here.
1. premed advisers usually don't have the tools to advise low GPA premeds
2. autoscreens don't go away because you take more time or classes.
3. reapplying doesn't change your chances
4. reapplying doesn't make things harder: low GPA makes things harder

Search SDN for "low GPA" and get yourself up to speed. Depending on how low your GPA is, two years of postbac work may not be enough. You're not saying if you've made the changes necessary to start getting A's in difficult science coursework yet. You're not saying if you've figured out where to take more classes yet. You're not saying if you've learned what a DO is yet.

You have to be the grownup in charge of whether you get into med school or not.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Dr_OneDay]

So this isn't an "I want to take more time off" story, it's an "I'm not ready to apply and need more work" story. "Gap year" doesn't apply to you. You're probably doing an extended postbac.


So many problems here.
1. premed advisers usually don't have the tools to advise low GPA premeds
2. autoscreens don't go away because you take more time or classes.
3. reapplying doesn't change your chances
4. reapplying doesn't make things harder: low GPA makes things harder

Search SDN for "low GPA" and get yourself up to speed. Depending on how low your GPA is, two years of postbac work may not be enough. You're not saying if you've made the changes necessary to start getting A's in difficult science coursework yet. You're not saying if you've figured out where to take more classes yet. You're not saying if you've learned what a DO is yet.

You have to be the grownup in charge of whether you get into med school or not.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the information. @ DrMidlife, I'm taking 30 credits of upper level bio and chem courses at a local uni so that my science GPA increases. I should hopefully get higher grades because most of the family problems are being solved, the classes are smaller, the professors are more accessible, and some of the material is a repeat of former classes.

I see that you also overcame a GPA issue in undergrad. Do you have any specific or general advice?

 

[DrMidlife]

Do you have any specific or general advice?

There's nothing I can tell you that I haven't posted about, in lengthy detail, on SDN, literally 1000 times before.

 

[Dressagequeen 247]

Haha I'm also taking a gap year while SLOWLY getting ready to complete pre reqs. I attempted to start out of the gate but did horribly. At this point I just don't have the drive to complete them. I was stressing myself out over my timeline and I finally had a bit of a breakdown so that kind of signaled me to stop for a bit. It's funny that drmidlife mentioned working on a farm since I'm doing just that. Job just bought a nice piece of property so I'm learning what goes into owning and operating a midsized farm. Absolutely loving it despite the hard work since its my dream to own a farm one day. So I apply later then expected, I'm kind of over it now and just enjoying my experience 🙂

 

[ADSigMel]

I graduated from undergrad in 2004, graduated from law school in 2007, and have been practicing law since then. I'm going to do some shadowing for the next few months in an attempt to determine whether the practice medicine is really as awesome as I have always thought it would be. Then I'm looking at Fall 2018 before I can apply, since I need 6-7 prereqs before I can take the MCAT (or so the pre-med advisor informs me). I don't know how many gap years that makes. 3? 11? 14? Whatever. The one and only med school I'm considering loves non-traditional students, so hopefully I won't be alone in my advanced age.

 

[MD89]

Like pageantry, I too completed my post bacc and am having a few accidental gap years (don't ask how one turned into what'll end up being three, lol). But it's my path/journey and I get to make my choices. And in the end, well, even now, I can see how it's been the right thing for me personally.

 

[rilte4]

Thanks for the information. @ DrMidlife, I'm taking 30 credits of upper level bio and chem courses at a local uni so that my science GPA increases. I should hopefully get higher grades because most of the family problems are being solved, the classes are smaller, the professors are more accessible, and some of the material is a repeat of former classes.

Taking an extra year to ready yourself for the challenges of med school (personally and academically) is infinitely better than getting accepted prematurely, and then failing out. Find comfort in that.

 

[QofQuimica]

I had a gap decade in between finishing college at age 21 and starting medical school at age 31.

As DrM pointed out, people not going to med school straight out of college ain't exactly a rare phenomenon. I joined SDN 11 years ago as a premed, went through the entire process myself, and have four years of adcom experience. At this point, I've heard and read literally thousands of people's "path to medicine" stories. So every time I see someone start out a post on SDN about how "unique" their situation is, I have to chuckle a bit. Almost no one's situation is unique or blazing a new path into med school. Including yours, OP. It may not seem like it, but rest assured, you are in very sizeable company. 🙂

 

[familyaerospace]

I earned my BS in 2003, MS in 2007, and was accepted in 2015 so it's been a few years.