What to do during a Gap Year

[connect1234]

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[Blakeb_212]

I’m really surprised you didn’t get in! How was your personal statement and letters of rec? I would say the research will probably be more interesting but being a medical assistant myself I would say that there are perks to that as well. 1) direct patient contact on a daily basis 2) clinical skills that will be helpful in med school 3) the opportunity to work with providers directly and gain interpersonal relationships with staff 4) you are able to shadow and ask any questions about diagnosis/treatment while on the job. I can’t speak much about scribing but just some upside to being an MA. The downside is the pay sucks and the hours are long, you’re essentially doing a nurse’s job at 1/3 of the salary.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

If you are going to be supporting your self completely working part-time probably will not make enough to cover all your living expenses. However, by working part-time you could do some more volunteering (although you have plenty of it as is - more wont hurt especially if its something you are continuing from undergrad). As a clinical research coordinator (from the jobs I was offered) make around 32K-40K a year I am not sure how this compares to being a medical assistant. I think clinical research coordinator position would be the most helpful. You could potentially get a publication out of it too.

Are you reapplying this coming cycle?
What was your school list? When did you have all your secondaries in?

 

[connect1234]

I'm moving back home after I graduate so money won't be too much of an issue for me. I'll make enough as a part time scribe (25 hours a week) to pay for my living expenses if i choose that position.
The clinical research project I'd be working on is a brand new project so there's not much of a chance of an early publication. I'm debating more between research and medical assistant.

In terms of how my cycle went, I applied to 25 schools and finished most of my secondaries in early-mid july but a few of them in mid august since I added more schools in the beginning of august.

I'm also gonna be reapplying this cycle.

 

[sss1219]

Post your school list from this past cycle

@Dr. Meliodas is correct, you need more nonclinical volunteering if anything. Research and clinical exposure are already okay at a glance so I'd pick whichever job allows for more free time to work on this throughout the cycle. I would also ask the PI if the lab is close to releasing any pubs that you can contribute to and be cited on, which would be the most ideal scenario imo

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Usually as a clinical research coordinator you'd have several research projects you'd be overseeing. I'd double check with the PI as @sss1219 said.

Make sure you have your personal essays, EC descriptions, and secondary essays read by several other people. Additionally, try and make sure your application feels like one cohesive story and not like you did all these random different things because you felt that is what is required of a premed. Showing your passion through your app will help you stand out from the sea of competitive applicants. If you are using the same req letters as last year (and you think they were strong letters), it would help your app to send an additional req letter as an update in a couple months from whichever job you will be starting. Posting your previous school list/or your current school list (assuming it has changed) will help you get some feedback.

 

[connect1234]

My old school list was this:
CA Northstate
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
Rosalind Franklin University (interviewed)
Boston University
Tufts
Brody School of Medicine at ECU (interviewed)
UNC (interviewed)
Wake Forest
Albany Medical College
Hofstra
Drexel
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Temple University
Pennsylvania State
Medical University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Vanderbilt
Eastern Virginia Medical School
VCU
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
I applied to the out of state public schools in my list since I have family there

For the 2018-2019 cycle I'm gonna cut out all the out of state public schools and add a few more private schools.
Any suggestions as to what schools I should add?
My personal statement and secondaries I had read over by a few people and I felt like they were strong. My letters of rec might have been a little weak since most of the professors I had for my science courses only taught for a semester before leaving so it was hard to get a strong science letter of rec.

Also I have added more nonclinical volunteering in the form of volunteering with local refugee families. I have about 100 hours since i started back in early november.

 

[slothsrule89]

My old school list was this:
CA Northstate
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
Rosalind Franklin University (interviewed)
Boston University
Tufts
Brody School of Medicine at ECU (interviewed)
UNC (interviewed)
Wake Forest
Albany Medical College
Hofstra
Drexel
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Temple University
Pennsylvania State
Medical University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Vanderbilt
Eastern Virginia Medical School
VCU
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
I applied to the out of state public schools in my list since I have family there

For the 2018-2019 cycle I'm gonna cut out all the out of state public schools and add a few more private schools.
Any suggestions as to what schools I should add?
My personal statement and secondaries I had read over by a few people and I felt like they were strong. My letters of rec might have been a little weak since most of the professors I had for my science courses only taught for a semester before leaving so it was hard to get a strong science letter of rec.

Also I have added more nonclinical volunteering in the form of volunteering with local refugee families. I have about 100 hours since i started back in early november.

One of the schools I know that is really great is University of Minnesota. I'm applying for pharmacy school but I have friends going the medical route. Both schools offer re applicant counseling and I will be taking part of it. I'm sitting that I will be most likely applying next year, I only applied to one school. Applying for UofMN might be a great choice and the reason I chose it is because of the research/international education opportunities.

 

[shapley]

Your research and clinical experience seem fine! Was there a specific component of research that draws to you or medicine? I'd use my gap year to focus on that. That is what I did, I used my gap year to volunteer for things I was passionate about and continued on with the story I was trying to convey with my PS and application.

Did you get rejected post interview as well? You may want some help with interviewing skills if so!

 

[Hopeful101]

You should consider applying DO as well...

 

[fun_me]

Definitely reach out to the schools you interviewed with and see if they’d be willing to give you feedback on your application