DS is taking a gap year because his MCATs got cancelled last year and with all of the associated uncertainty he decided a gap year would be prudent. In college he had EMT and some shadowing experiences. Gap year options seem to be ER Tech and Anestesia Tech. He is most interested in practicing medicine, not research so wants his gap year to be hands on rather than research. Between the two current choices, would one look better on his med school applications?
“look[ing] better on his med school application” shouldn’t be a consideration. Partly because there’s no difference in the impact either job will have on his application. Both offer hands-on patient exposure.
Does he have job offers in hand for both jobs?
If not, he should take whichever job he’s been offered.
If so, he should choose the job that:
– he likes better (or offers better working conditions)
–the one that pays the most (to help defray the cost of applying to med school and to develop a savings cushion for med school expenses)
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Thank you @WayOutWestMom . He has one offer in hand in a high cost area with a lower pay and will hear back next week for the higher pay in lower cost of living area. I appreciate your input! If one would give him an advantage for future plans it is worth knowing before he decides!
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A med student’s choice of specialty change several times during med school. (I believe the average is 3-4 times during MS1-3.)This is due to a lack of exposure to all the different fields of medicine plus not knowing if their academic grades, clinical grades and step scores will support an application to a specific specialty until near the end of 3rd year.
The job market for various specialties waxes and wanes.
EM is facing a job crunch right now due to Covid. (Counterintuitive, I know, but the number of non-covid ER patients have cratered so demand for ER physicians is down also. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/04/er-doctors-covid-jobs/) So is pathology. And radiation oncology. Demand for anesthesiologists is down due to mid level encroachment. Radiology is being outsourced overseas or to AI systems.
I wouldn’t take a job just because it may help him gain exposure to a particular medical specialty.
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He might also want to consider what type of patient population he will be serving and what kinds of hands on experiences he will be getting in both positions. I know for my D applying this round one of the key buzz words on applications and in interviews was diversity. Every single med school application had at least one essay about it and every interviewer asked her about it. So if one of your DS potential jobs has a more diverse patient population he might want to take that into consideration too. GL to him!!
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Gap years are incredible opportunities to improve your application standing through work and through studying. Many people were able to gain admissions into a higher ranked school they eventually attend during a focused gap year. Not only should the work be medically related, but also it should allow enough time and enough energy to study for the MCAT the entire time.
Meantime a job on a team of more caring and passionate colleagues also has an untold benefit on the person’s future aspirations and decisions.
A nearly perfect MCAT score alongside work experience that is related is a terrific setting for a top acceptance. It never hurts to talk to a consultant.