What do medical schools think when they see that you took a gap year before medical school? Could it hurt your application? What else is there to consider?
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Our student today, Dylan, is a nontraditional premed student. He’s a 29-year-old career changer.
Dylan’s first question is about gap years before medical school. Personally, I’m a fan of taking gap years when needed. Not every student needs to take a gap year, but it can often help give you time to finish everything you need to.
If a gap year will help you apply early in the cycle, do better on the MCAT, or just help you manage the overall process of applying to med school, then go ahead and take one.
How are gap years viewed by medical school? They really don’t care. As long as you keep medicine in your life somehow during your gap year, taking a gap year won’t hurt you. It doesn’t suggest that you’re abandoning this path or that you aren’t dedicated to it.
Dylan specifically has been considering taking a gap year to get more clinical experience before going to medical school. That sounds absolutely fine. It’s okay to take those steps to conquer each piece of the med school application as you need to.
Dylan also had a question about medical school interview days and what can go wrong. Generally, interview days go pretty smoothly because the medical schools put a lot of resources into running them efficiently and professionally.
A lot of students have a stressful experience of their med school interview day just because THEY are stressed. But interview days are really set up to recruit the student, as well as getting to know them. So usually interview days are fun if you allow them to be.
We also briefly discuss how to dress for the med school interview. I emphasize that a suit and tie is not over-dressing for men. That’s perfect.
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