"Why did you take a year off?"

[annabelle.]

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I waited to apply to med school until the end of my senior year, so right now I am in the midst of taking a year off before Aug, when hopefully I will attend med school. I am not quite sure how to answer the question "so why did you take a year off?" In all honesty, I felt that I would do better in med school if I gave myself a break. I am currently working as a nanny for an infant, and am also going to travel to Chile for a month. Does anyone have an opinion?

 

[Rendar5]

exactly what you said.

 

[twinklz]

That sounds like a perfectly decent response.

Its what I tell people half the time. After a stressful 4 years of undergrad it's been nice to be able to sleep, read, play, watch TV, take art classes, etc. etc.

I told my interviewers that, and they agreed with me that it was a reasonable thing to do. It also shows sincere interest if you take a year off from school and are still able to commit yourself to another 4 years of school.

 

[jlee9531]

i had a responsibility towards my family. Noone else in my family can earn an income that can support them. Instead of going into medical school right away, which would have pretty much screwed them over. I wanted to take the extra year to continue to support them as I did throughout college and plan out a course of action that would help them live on their own for the most part (I do plan to do some work in med school to send them money to live on) when I did matriculate into med school this fall.

 

[smfernando]

I also took a year off. I was asked the same question at 2 interviews and my answer was very similar to what you said. As long as your honest and your presenting the experiences of that year as a positive attribute, the adcoms shouldn't have a problem with it. However, you have to show that your slacking off that year. When I was asked about this, they always asked me why I took it off as well as what I did during that year. I'd recomment finding a full time job(what I did) relating to your major or something in a hospital. You can still have fun and work🙂 MOre money, more fun 😀

 

[PreMedAdAG]

I'm taking 1.5 yrs off because I graduated this december and am not applying until June. My reasons? I took the August MCAT, I wanted all of my grades in , and I really didn't have enough clinical experience or for that matter Life experience before applying. I also wanted to travel to Australia and NZ before I journeyed on another four+ years. Simple enough.. I just wasn't prepared yet.

 

[BioMedResearch]

I took time to take a break, gather my self, and recharge for a challenging and exciting four years. I'm in the working world now and exicted to go back to student life. I really feel that honesty is the best policy and that reviewers can see by your grades and course-work why you may have taken time and if it's in accordance with what you told your interviewer.