What is the best use of a year between college and medical school?

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

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I will have a year in between when I graduate college and when I go to medical school, assuming I am accepted in my first application cycle. Having said that, what is the best option for me to pursue for that year in between. I will have about $25,000 loan debt from college when I graduate. Should I:

1) Find a job and start paying off loan debt while improving my resume with volunteering/shadowing. If I could find a job in the health field or in a lab doing research for a year that would obviously be ideal.

or

2) Enroll in a one year Biology MS program to avoid loan payments and improve my resume by taking medical school level courses. This option would add about another $10,000 in student loans unless I can find a way to decrease this amount.

So, having said all of that what seems to be my best option? I want to keep improving my resume, but I also do not want to drown myself in loan debt.

 

[aSagacious]

Do you need money? What do your current grades look like? What sorts of ECs do have already? Etc.

 

[BarcaBest23]

depends on your current "CV"... if gpa, mcat, and ECs are there.... get a job and do some damage control on your current debt (plus save a little for some expenses you might have along the way during med school)...

I usually am strongly against SMPs and MS degrees that only put you more in the hole and barely help during the app process .... I have seen way too many kids take SMPs and come away with nothing but an extra 50K in debt from a useless degree (most MS are the same unless you want to work in biotech where it will bump you up from a whole RA 1 to RA 2 position WHOOP!

 

[AZFutureDoc]

This is something I recently became concerned about. I was hoping to do some research here, and some volunteering there, and maybe work part time. But overall, is it so wrong that I want to take a year to just chill before starting med school? I feel like Im shooting myself in the foot on these secondaries that ask this question, and I say I'm gonna look for a part time job, and some random experiences here and there. But one year from now, I will have 4 years of med school, residency, and then practice, and this is really our last chance to just chill for a while!!!

 

[patineurMD]

If you are applying early enough in the cycle and you do actually get in on your first try, what you do in your year off really won't have the chance to improve your application - it's possible you could have an acceptance as early as October. That being said, if you don't get in this year what you do will matter and you need to make wise decisions.

The option I chose to follow is more like your #1. I didn't see the point in spending a lot of money on classes that won't even factor into my undergrad GPA, so a master's (or even post-bacc, really) seemed kind of irrelevant for my purposes. Instead, I am working at a free clinic, doing a lot of volunteering and shadowing, and taking a trip to Ecuador just because I could. I'd definitely recommend paying down your debt and getting some real-world experience rather than burning out on school.

 

[patineurMD]

Ugh.. double post. Sorry!

 

[Ride Big Sky]

Get a job while still shadowing/volunteering. You can spin it as real world experience/maturity while having a life, seeing friends and family, and possibly paying down a little bit of debt.

 

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

Ok, so it seems that it may not be necessary to do the masters program unless I need a grade boost, which I don't think will be the case. I guess it would make more sense to work full time and work on my debt. Is $25000 after undergrad really that outrageous? I have heard that is about average for a liberal arts school.

 

[kpcrew]

Ok, so it seems that it may not be necessary to do the masters program unless I need a grade boost, which I don't think will be the case. I guess it would make more sense to work full time and work on my debt. Is $25000 after undergrad really that outrageous? I have heard that is about average for a liberal arts school.

i think that having any kind of debt from education is outrageous. there are so many places where money is wasted or outright stolen, so it's kind of a shame that so many people have to start out with such a burden. but yea the best thing may be to get some kind of job, perhaps clinical research or something of the sort.

 

[EsseQuamVideri]

I think the gap year provides a real opportunity to stand out from the average premed while taking some time for yourself. Plan it out well so you can articulate your goals for the year to adcoms but retain your sanity, take a break from academics, improve weak areas of your application, and above all do something that you enjoy while you still can

Personally, I chose research/travel/advising my youth group and tutoring HS students in science/math. Looks good and it's a lot of fun before the demand of med school starts.

 

[ucsfstudents]

work to strengthen your application, whether that is GPA, extracurriculars, clinical experiences, research, etc. outside of that, you can do what you want as long as it is within reason and you can proudly talk about it during interview season.

 

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

So is it relatively easy to find a clinical research job with a BA? I will have to work to pay loan debt, but would like to do some type of research as well.

 

[aSagacious]

So is it relatively easy to find a clinical research job with a BA? I will have to work to pay loan debt, but would like to do some type of research as well.

Not easy, but you might be able to find a spot somewhere doing clerical work or data input.

 

[bucks2010]

get a job.