What would you do with 1 extra year?

[shishicd]

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I'm considering taking a year off after graduating from undergrad to work on my ECs. (I graduate next May.) I have the grades to get into med school and I have plenty of research experience, but almost no volunteer experience, no clinical experience, and very few leadership roles since high school. I know now that I don't want to go to grad school, but med school was a fairly recent decision and I am not sure if I can justify it to adcoms given my current background. I'm planning to eventually apply to Canadian schools.

But now i'm in a dilemma - what does one do with an extra year outside of university? Is there such thing as full-time volunteering? What are possible leadership positions outside of college clubs? Volunteering overseas for a few months would be great, but I'm concerned about the money. In fact, most of the reason I did not volunteer in university was because I was working at paying jobs instead to stay out of debt.

Has anyone here taken off a year to work on ECs alone? What did you do? And regardless of your current app situation, I want to know what others would do if you had an extra year before applying.

 

[Raindrop423]

I'm just finishing my first year off and it's been really great - I was always skeptical about the whole time-off thing before, but now I absolutely recommend it.

I've been teaching abroad for the past year - I think it can be a great solution to the living abroad issue, because you get to be abroad, but you're also making money (admittedly, not much, but enough to support yourself, anyway) and, depending on where you go, I'm sure you could probably volunteer as well. The only thing about going abroad is that I've been told it would be really difficult to be applying while you're abroad and that you really need to be in the US during your application year. So you might be looking at two years off rather than just one.

I remember researching the options for going abroad a couple of years back and having a lot of trouble with it, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions. 🙂

 

[Mobius1985]

If I were in your position, I'd get a medically-related job with patient contact (full or part time) and also do a weekly volunteer gig for at least four hours in some other venue providing patient care. You could parlay that into a leadership role by being the point person in a fund raising effort. Or do some other community service in addition that is not medically-related where you could move into an organizational leadership role quickly.

 

[siapr92]

Ya, I kinda have the same problem. I wanted to go abroad for a yr in South America after I graduate but then that conflicts w/ Interviews. Would you recommend not going at all or maybe applied first and then deferring for a year?

 

[Exalya]

Work in something medical-like, and volunteer doing something that really makes you happy. Not just something that looks good... but something you enjoy. I think that having some fun during your year off should be a priority. ^.^

 

[n618ft]

I'm reading this after only reading the title of the thread. I'd travel, work a stress-free job I enjoy, volunteer a bit, and take up a new hobby. 👍

 

[ParthVader]

If it were me, I'd probably go live in India for some time, if not the entire year. Spend my time volunteering and teaching there.. maybe applying my undergrad degree as well. Would also try to get some sort of internship and try to make some money.

 

[Pills Of Soap]

definitely try and get some clinical experience. its almost a must. but don't be a full-time volunteer, that would be financially irresponsible.

gotta make that money mang

 

[Poliscidoc]

How about go abroad and get medical experience while your over where ever. I believe this would add to your resume by showing you went abroad and you did some type of medically related activity.

 

[MadTown ChzHead]

I just graduated this spring ... I'm gonna make some $$$, get some more shadowing and volunteering in (now that I have more free time), travel around the country and visit friends, pick up guitar and just ~chill~

 

[ilovebiology]

I'm on the fence about taking a year off or not...it all depends on this year and how well I do. I kind of want to apply this year that way I just go straight into med school, but on the other hand, I've heard so many great things about taking a year off. So, if I actually do take a year off, I plan on continuing to build on my EC's (by then I will have over 3 years of volunteering/clinical experience) and then work to make some $, and relax, possibly travel. 🙂

 

[jzyu]

Watch some day time TV shows (maury show and jerry springer are the best!), max out at the gym, work on my tennis game (second serves), and catch up on some literary classics.

I guess thats what i did during my year off. what a wonderful year that was....

 

[secants]

I'd try to get a full time position where I work now because it has great clinical exposure and I would try to visit aboard if possible and possible start paying some Ugrad loans off. But honestly, since there is no guarantee about getting in the second time around, the only time I would warrant this would be if I deferred a year.

 

[TopSecret]

I'm considering taking a year off after graduating from undergrad to work on my ECs. (I graduate next May.) I have the grades to get into med school and I have plenty of research experience, but almost no volunteer experience, no clinical experience, and very few leadership roles since high school. I know now that I don't want to go to grad school, but med school was a fairly recent decision and I am not sure if I can justify it to adcoms given my current background. I'm planning to eventually apply to Canadian schools.

But now i'm in a dilemma - what does one do with an extra year outside of university? Is there such thing as full-time volunteering? What are possible leadership positions outside of college clubs? Volunteering overseas for a few months would be great, but I'm concerned about the money. In fact, most of the reason I did not volunteer in university was because I was working at paying jobs instead to stay out of debt.

Has anyone here taken off a year to work on ECs alone? What did you do? And regardless of your current app situation, I want to know what others would do if you had an extra year before applying.

Work, make money, volunteer at a hospital for the first half of the year. In the second half go overseas and live like a king for a few dollars a day while volunteering at a health clinic of some sort and applying what you learned in college to help the indigent. Perhaps you could start a nonprofit organization to ship used medical texts to countries that need them.