Would it look bad if I worked at a tobacco shop during my year off?

[USC 22]

I will be applying next May and thought it would be a good idea to work during that time. My dad owns a tobacco store right next to a major university, and he makes a ton of money (he made $350,000 in 2011). He pays his employees 60K a year for working about 45 hour weeks, which isn't bad considering most of them are high school drop outs. I see a ton of pre-meds getting jobs that will look good on their application, so is it bad if I take this one? There's no way in hell I can make that much money doing research or scribing at a hospital, etc. I'm in my twenties and I want to be a little crazy with money (buy rims for my car, etc.), is that so wrong? With such a high income, I would be able to have an amazing year before I start med school. What do you guys think?

Edit: I would also save up for med school, obviously (but only half of what I make 😉 )

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[notbobtrustme]

youre fine

 

[FSU2013]

As long as its a tobacco shop, not a head shop. People probably wouldn't love seeing it on your app, but it's not a big deal. Also, you can easily say that it's your family business and the money was right. It sounds like it would also be a good opportunity to do some part time volunteering or research (or both), depending on what flavor med school you want to attend.

Also, save every penny you can. You're never going to regret not buying clothes or seeing a movie. You will, however, have disdain for your student loans.

 

[Law2Doc]

... People probably wouldn't love seeing it on your app, but it's not a big deal...

I might not put this on the resume at all. Most physicians deal with the sequela of smoking and many are pretty vocal about their views. if you do this, make sure you also spend a good chunk of time doing something else EC related you can put own on the resume during this time period, so you don't have any gaps.

 

[BABSstudent]

I personally wouldn't put the name of the businesses or even suggest what you did. I would just say you worked 45 hours a week at a businesses and list contact information.

 

[USC 22]

I might not put this on the resume at all. Most physicians deal with the sequela of smoking and many are pretty vocal about their views. if you do this, make sure you also spend a good chunk of time doing something else EC related you can put own on the resume during this time period, so you don't have any gaps.

If I'm working 45 hour weeks, it'd be difficult to do a "significant amount of EC" don't you think? 🙁

 

[sector9]

I personally wouldn't put the name of the businesses or even suggest what you did. I would just say you worked 45 hours a week at a businesses and list contact information.

I would think it would look pretty suspicious if you put down on your app that you worked 45 hours/week at a "Job" at a "Local Business" (not to mention that your contact is your father. The adcom will be like ) but never said what the business was

 

[USC 22]

I would think it would look pretty suspicious if you put down on your app that you worked 45 hours/week at a "Job" at a "Local Business" (not to mention that your contact is your father. The adcom will be like ) but never said what the business was

So then what would you recommend? My friends that have research positions make $10/hour and work 30-40 hour weeks. 🙁

 

[FSU2013]

If I'm working 45 hour weeks, it'd be difficult to do a "significant amount of EC" don't you think? 🙁

No. You should be able to do that easily if you are only working 45 hours a week. If you can't find a way to work an extra 15-20 hours a week, you'll get rocked in med school. I'm not trying to be harsh, but medicine is a field that requires a ton of hours regularly.

 

[Josh7]

Just list it and explain it was the family business

 

[notbobtrustme]

I might not put this on the resume at all. Most physicians deal with the sequela of smoking and many are pretty vocal about their views. if you do this, make sure you also spend a good chunk of time doing something else EC related you can put own on the resume during this time period, so you don't have any gaps.

eh, I don't think it's that big a deal. In this economy, people are lucky to have jobs in the first place. The bills aren't going to pay themselves. 45 hours is a significant investment of time which would preclude most other ECs anyways unless the OP wants to go down the rabbit hole of falsifying/lying about ECs.

 

[notbobtrustme]

No. You should be able to do that easily if you are only working 45 hours a week. If you can't find a way to work an extra 15-20 hours a week, you'll get rocked in med school. I'm not trying to be harsh, but medicine is a field that requires a ton of hours regularly.

The difference is that it's all in one site in medical school. It's so much easier to work a single job at 60 hours a week than two jobs at 40/20 or 30/30. For example, you can go to class, study and attend lab all on the same campus, which lets you optimize downtime and travel time. Contrast that with a job that goes 8am-4pm then another job at 6pm-9pm at a different site. Traveling/eating/getting ready for these separate commitments can eat into the downtime which is way more stressful than a simple 8am-8pm day. At least that's been my experience.

 

[tiedyeddog]

I would not list it if I could. It could come off as terrible, depending on who reviewed your app.

 

[pietachok]

I will be applying next May and thought it would be a good idea to work during that time. My dad owns a tobacco store right next to a major university, and he makes a ton of money (he made $350,000 in 2011). He pays his employees 60K a year for working about 45 hour weeks, which isn't bad considering most of them are high school drop outs. I see a ton of pre-meds getting jobs that will look good on their application, so is it bad if I take this one? There's no way in hell I can make that much money doing research or scribing at a hospital, etc. I'm in my twenties and I want to be a little crazy with money (buy rims for my car, etc.), is that so wrong? With such a high income, I would be able to have an amazing year before I start med school. What do you guys think?

Edit: I would also save up for med school, obviously (but only half of what I make 😉 )

Just say "retail store" or something vague.
The biggest reason to work in a medically related job is that you need to strengthen your app -- it sometimes increases the # of hours of shadowing, patient contact, possible LOR's, etc. It doesn't hurt an otherwise strong app if you worked another job instead.

 

[Praefectus]

Don't be dumb and buy rims. You can invest that money and pull out 10x the value in 30 years due to compounding interest. Save as much as you can and invest it into a low risk fund (muni's, T-bonds, or even corporate bonds) so that you take out less in loans. The reason why I'd recommend low risk bonds is that you'll need that money within a year and you don't want to lose a good chunk if small-cap stocks tank.

 

[pkwraith]

If I'm working 45 hour weeks, it'd be difficult to do a "significant amount of EC" don't you think? 🙁

Eh, 45 hours is pretty par for full time job. Just look at the non-trad forum to see people pull decent ECs while working more than that.

It just comes down to a matter of priorities. You can work for the money and have a slightly less attractive application. Or you can get that small boost in acceptance chances but make less money. (Or get in the time machine and get a better major to get a good paying job that still looks good on applications).

Either way, it's a choice of valuation. You can't have everything. +/-3% acceptance rate or +/-20k (numbers for illustration)? Who knows. That's an individual preference. You're going to have to make a determination based on intrinsic and extrinsic worth.

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

I would think it would look pretty suspicious if you put down on your app that you worked 45 hours/week at a "Job" at a "Local Business" (not to mention that your contact is your father. The adcom will be like ) but never said what the business was

Yeah, if I was an adcom and saw something that vague, I would probably assume something much worse than working at a tobacco shop.

 

[MedPR]

If I'm working 45 hour weeks, it'd be difficult to do a "significant amount of EC" don't you think? 🙁

I work 40 hours and am in school and have significant EC hours as well. It's not difficult.

 

[USC 22]

I work 40 hours and am in school and have significant EC hours as well. It's not difficult.

I agree.

And to answer all the other posts about building up my application by working in the medical field, I already have almost 1,000 hours of healthcare related experience. Most of my friends that were accepted had between 100 and 300. I've worked with 4 doctors, and have shadowed another 3. But I guess you're right. I guess I'll just pass on this job 🙁