The Gap Year

graduate & continuing studies | premed info

What is the Gap Year? 

A year spent working, completing a post bacc program, volunteering, or doing research prior to applying to medical school, known as a "gap year" or a “bridge year.” 

Most students who are accepted to medical school take at least one gap/bridge year(s). Balancing school, extracurricular activities, clinical volunteer experience and research is difficult enough. Throw in the MCAT, medical school applications, and interviews and the task can be truly overwhelming. 

Considerations: 

You will have more time to study for the MCAT. 

Waiting to apply means you have more flexibility in terms of when you can/should take the MCAT (or other professional exams). Just remember, MCAT scores generally expire after three years. 

You can use the extra time to solidify your GPA. 

If you apply to go directly into medical school after your time at Concordia, that means that your cumulative and science GPAs will only be comprised of courses you take from first year through junior year. If you choose to take a gap/bridge year, you will be able to include your senior year coursework on your application (and typically, students do well in their senior year courses!) 

You might secure stronger letters of recommendation. 

More time to proactively build relationships with potential recommenders generally yields stronger recommendation letters. 

You can get your finances in order. 

Medical or health professions school is expensive, as is the process of applying. Taking time away from school means that you may have to start repaying any student loans, but paid work experience may allow you to make payments on loans (to defray some debt load) while also saving some money to put toward applications and future expenses. 

You have more time to focus on the preparations required to apply. 

You have essays to write, letters of recommendations to gather, the MCAT to study for, schools to research, as well as the rest of real life to figure out. If you cannot spend the time you need on application prep now (and secondary essay writing this summer), it might be better to start getting organized now, but focus on applying in a future cycle. Using the time productively may be more attractive to admissions committees because of their new experiences as well as the maturity gained from being in the ‘real world’ for a time. 

Gain more experience and practice articulating your career interests. 
You can participate in activities that allow you to serve the community and to build the skills you need to be a health professional, so you can show schools that you have a realistic understanding of what you are about to undertake. The more time you spend in these settings, the better you will be when interviews come, and the easier it will be to focus on applications since you will have a more solid goal to work toward.