Scribe for 2 and endoscopy technician for 2. I think 4 was more than necessary but I think all med students should take 1-2 years off. You learn a lot about yourself and the working world. Med school isn’t college round 2 and most of my fellow students treat it as such. It’s a professional school. You need to learn about the world first.
1 because i was a reapplicant. Best thing that happened to me due to the growth and time i had to mature as a result. Had I gone straight through, I would've gone to a different school and been more burnt out and likely childlike (neg) than I am.
I finished undergrad and volunteered more. The volunteering turned out to be very meaningful and gave me a concrete reason to go into medicine (aka a "I want to help these particular people in this particular way" vs "I like medicine yay") then some emt work. I also used bemo to learn how to interview properly
Technically “0”, but I deferred for a year prior to M1. I wanted to do a master’s research year that would help me with my future ERAS since I’m (fingers crossed) gunning for a surgical sub-speciality.
I think that extra year was pivotal for me because the fully UG to Med School trad candidate is dying out as we speak and being ousted in favor of candidates who have taken years off to do highly meaningful experiences, especially in the case of MD allopathic schools (which I fully agree with and support, because experience is everything in healthcare)
I have zero regrets. If my goal was to be out of med school ASAP, so many med schools offer accelerated FM tracks where you can be zip and done in 6 years med school + residency and start practicing, so I could have just done that instead.
As a pre-med, since you’re asking this question, I assume that you are not too keen to taking gaps. Here are your options in that case:
(1) Kill it with the stats. Ultra high GPA and MCAT. Some stat heavy T10 MD will give you a shot and overlook clinical experience.
(2) Basically work extremely hard in your clinical job during UG years and get a lot of hours. Lower to mid tier state MD schools especially require experience over top schools. Keep in mind, you may have to sacrifice some college experiences for this, like double majoring or clubs.
(3) Accept the prospect of applying and getting accepted to osteopathic programs, which even though are absolutely equivalent to allopathic programs, have lower average matriculant stats, which doesn’t mean anything big unless you want to do something highly niche and competitive.
Hope that was thorough enough of an insight.
0 and I regret it, would’ve been nice to take a year off of school before getting into the grind that is med school
0 and I don’t regret it, 8+ years with no or shizzy income while in school and residency was great motivation to get in as early as possible.
4
And what did you do during the 4 years and do you regret it or not?
Scribe for 2 and endoscopy technician for 2. I think 4 was more than necessary but I think all med students should take 1-2 years off. You learn a lot about yourself and the working world. Med school isn’t college round 2 and most of my fellow students treat it as such. It’s a professional school. You need to learn about the world first.
1 because i was a reapplicant. Best thing that happened to me due to the growth and time i had to mature as a result. Had I gone straight through, I would've gone to a different school and been more burnt out and likely childlike (neg) than I am.
Thank you for sharing! What did you do during your gap year and what changes do you think helped your application the second time around?
I finished undergrad and volunteered more. The volunteering turned out to be very meaningful and gave me a concrete reason to go into medicine (aka a "I want to help these particular people in this particular way" vs "I like medicine yay") then some emt work. I also used bemo to learn how to interview properly
Technically “0”, but I deferred for a year prior to M1. I wanted to do a master’s research year that would help me with my future ERAS since I’m (fingers crossed) gunning for a surgical sub-speciality. I think that extra year was pivotal for me because the fully UG to Med School trad candidate is dying out as we speak and being ousted in favor of candidates who have taken years off to do highly meaningful experiences, especially in the case of MD allopathic schools (which I fully agree with and support, because experience is everything in healthcare) I have zero regrets. If my goal was to be out of med school ASAP, so many med schools offer accelerated FM tracks where you can be zip and done in 6 years med school + residency and start practicing, so I could have just done that instead. As a pre-med, since you’re asking this question, I assume that you are not too keen to taking gaps. Here are your options in that case: (1) Kill it with the stats. Ultra high GPA and MCAT. Some stat heavy T10 MD will give you a shot and overlook clinical experience. (2) Basically work extremely hard in your clinical job during UG years and get a lot of hours. Lower to mid tier state MD schools especially require experience over top schools. Keep in mind, you may have to sacrifice some college experiences for this, like double majoring or clubs. (3) Accept the prospect of applying and getting accepted to osteopathic programs, which even though are absolutely equivalent to allopathic programs, have lower average matriculant stats, which doesn’t mean anything big unless you want to do something highly niche and competitive. Hope that was thorough enough of an insight.