What to do with a year before medschool

[tofunami]

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This is my situation. I just graduated and I'm in the process of applying for medschool. Since this cycle is for the 2006 school year, what can I do during the year to really boost my chances of getting into a good school? My buddy says I can take extention classes in upper div bio (its akin to post bacc). I know I'm going to continue volunteering, but do you guys have any other suggestions? THAAAAANKS

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Work for Congress 👍

 

[Bob_Johansson]

i would like to know also, as I might be in the same situation

 

[elliott]

I did social work and took a biochem class. The social work job gave me a topic to write about in my update/interest letters to schools that I applied to. It also made me interested in drug awareness and education (seeing as how meth is a huge problem right now).

My advice is to find a job, volunteer, shadow, etc. that is both interesting to you and that could be included as a topic of discussion during interviews, update letters, letters of interest, etc.... Hey, you might even get a letter of rec out of the deal (I did).

 

[Deleted member 72527]

Ok, I am not picking on anyone here. I just have a question. When I interviewed I made the mistake of saying I was taking a year off. What I should have said was that I was taking a year off from school, because I was working at a clinical research job where I was underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked. I met a lot of people on my interviews who were truly taking a year off. Traveling, going to the gym, reading Cosmo. How, exactly, are people taking this time off? Do you live with parents/have extremely generous parents who are paying your rent? Understand that I am not criticizing ANYONE here - I am truly just wondering.

 

[elliott]

Well, in my case, I graduated from grad school in December and I've been working since then. It's not technically a year off for me. Traveling would be nice though, wouldn't it.

 

[LJDHC05]

I have the extremely generous parents who are letting me live at home while I commute into work every day. I'm working as a research tech in a cellular/molecular hearing lab 4 days a week and as a clinical assistant in the ORL department one day a week. I'm also partying some weekends and/or doing yard work.

 

[virilep]

This is my situation. I just graduated and I'm in the process of applying for medschool. Since this cycle is for the 2006 school year, what can I do during the year to really boost my chances of getting into a good school? My buddy says I can take extention classes in upper div bio (its akin to post bacc). I know I'm going to continue volunteering, but do you guys have any other suggestions? THAAAAANKS

I took a year off and tried to find a real job but wasn't successful cuz they wanted more than 9 months. so i was a high school sub teacher and i travelled a lot. i've been told by too many people in med school now that life is hell so have fun. so that's what i did. if u really need improvement on ur app, work on that, but also have fun. my $.02

 

[Shredder]

internship or study abroad

 

[BlondeCookie]

How about some nice place to do some traveling?
Paris
Belgium
Hawaii
Australia
Germany
England
Italy
China
Fiji
Bahammas
Alaska
Argentina
etc.

 

[Burge]

I myself had this problem, but found an easy and rewarding solution: Americorps. If you haven't heard of it I'll explain. It's like peace corps but it only requires a year of service. Basically you do service in the united states, you get a 10,000 living stipend, plus a $4000 loan repayment award at the end of your service. You also get benifits as well. It doesn't make you a whole lot of money, but the work is rewarding and I think it is respected by medical schools. Check out the website: www.americorps.org

 

[GiantGiantsFan]

Just do something your passionate about. Adcoms love that.