<p>My D is a second semester sophomore and recently met with the pre-med sponsor at her university's career center. This advisor strongly encouraged our D to consider taking a gap year before applying. Why? Our D is a collegiate cheerleader and has been cheering since she was six; it's a sport she truly loves. Suffice to say, there is a huge time commitment especially in the fall during football season. The advisor explained interviews are generally conducted during the fall of senior year, and it would be essentially impossible to juggle both (mandatory attendance for all games/practices). She told our D she could quit; however, she might have regrets later on in life. Our D is really worried about losing momentum by taking a gap year, and for her, the idea is not something she finds appealing. Is there anyway possible to do both? BTW, not sure if it makes a difference but she's a resident of TX and will be more than satisfied with UT Southwestern if she somehow manages to pre-match there. Her GPA is very, very high (so is everyone's though), and she has not yet taken the MCAT. She has a list of about 20 schools she's considering.</p>
<p>Is it necessary? Of course not. </p>
<p>Might it be a good idea? Certainly. Is it better to take a gap year? I don’t think it’s possible to know that answer.</p>
<p>In the end, only you and your daughter know how much of a committment her cheering schedule is and only by asking her coach will she know what she can miss and what she can’t. </p>
<p>In the end it’ll come down to priorities, and I’ll posit that medical school/residency/being a physician is one perpetual string of sacrifices, sacrifices of things that are important. I write this sitting in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at my hospital, having just come on shift for the night. I’ve worked the last two nights, and have another 3 nights after tonight. Absolutely, I’d prefer to be spending Christmas Eve with friends and family, but I have a responsibility to my patients. Is sacrificing cheerleading the first big, necessary, sacrifice for your daughter? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she’ll be able to do it all next year, cheer, interview broadly (probably the most overlooked aspect of gaining acceptance to medical school). </p>
<p>As for losing momentum with a gap year, in general, so long as she’s productive during that time, gap years are not a big deal. Lots and lots of applicants get forced into involuntary gap years. Medical schools know that many, many people will not be applying while still in undergrad. If her cheering schedule has limited her in other ways, then it’s possible that a gap year would actually be highly beneficial.</p>
<p>Yeah, her life would be easier if she took a gap year. That said, why not give it a shot and see if she can pull it off. If she is really passionate about both things, then she should find a way to make it work.
People are usually pretty understanding and lenient with college students. If interviews were offered at inconvenient times she could have them reschedule, and I’m sure she can skip at least one game in a pinch.</p>
<p>Good luck, D.</p>
<p>Themedstudentblog.blogspot.com
John</p>
<p>My daughter took two years off before medical school. The work she did those gap years enhanced her application and made her a better candidate…and not just on paper. IMHO, a person that has gotten to the end of undergrad and has positioned themselves to eventually apply to medical school is not likely to lose momentum. </p>
<p>DD had enough on her plate during undergrad that a gap year became part of the plan early on. It became two years after she was accepted into an extended master’s program. BigRed speaks truth in that sacrifices are made every step of the way and that quitting cheering might need to be one of them (though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it). My daughter took up rowing in grad school, found she had a talent and developed a real passion. More than one med school interviewer was interested in talking about that. </p>
<p>I think that your D’s advisor is correct in telling her that it would be very tough to deal with interviews and a non-negotiable cheering schedule. Applying as a Texas resident adds another dynamic and there are people on CC who know about that. Hopefully one of them will jump in with some words of wisdom. Best of luck to your D. </p>
<p>And now, off to the kitchen. Christmas dinner won’t happen if I don’t get it together. Happy holidays!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. The ability to do both and do both well seems like a huge challenge. She has to be the one to make this decision, but life is all about difficult choices. Hmmm…it’ll be interesting! :)</p>
<p>Just wanted to jump into the discussion and offer my $.02 as a cheer mom (competitive and school cheer). </p>
<p>Some people have a passion for cheerleading and it is a wonderful sport. However, it is not something that she will do forever. Her future lies in the plans for med school. The coach should support her through this period of time where she will have to juggle both, and if the coach is not supportive then she will have to make a decision. I cannot believe that the coach will expect her to delay her future plans for cheerleading. Again, I love cheer- my youngest D is in competitive cheer and between fees, travel, and private lessons for her backhandspring, tuck, and full the bill totals in the thousands. However, your D needs to put things in perspective and if the coach cannot work with her she may have to look to the future and hang up her cheer shoes for good. </p>
<p>Good luck to your D!</p>
<p>Son took a gap year before med school and one of the reasons was because he played college football ad interviews did take up alot of the fall season. His first interview was early Sept. and was interview heavy until the end of Dec. Picked up again in Jan/Feb/March. Having a gap year without a D1 sport made travel much much easier.</p>
<p>Of note he was still in school (pursuing a second/third degree) at another university which did allow for a more lenient study schedule/test/exams than his first university.</p>
<p>Worked out great in the long and short run. Is enjoying his MS1 year.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>DD took a gap year which was when she was attending interviews, I recall it being much less stressful for her than for friends who had to juggle studying & exams & ECs. DD also had paid work in a field that improved her overall application strength and her personal understanding of her future in medicine. Another benefit to a gap year is being able to use your senior year classes for GPA, but more importantly to use that year to connect with profs to get strong LORs. DD was very happy she was forced by circumstances into a gap year.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if your DD is applying in TX, doesn’t TX do many interviews for in-state residents in the summer?</p>
<p>Gap year could be a good idea for many cases. However, one should be careful about gapping into 2015 since it may be the year before the MCAT change. Everyone will try to take MCAT before the change and submit the application that year. Brutal competition is to be expected.</p>
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<p>Can you elaborate? Are you saying those entering med school in fall of 2015 will have it worse than those entering in 2014?</p>
<p>The MCAT is being reformatted and the new test will roll out in 2015. Sounds like a pretty thorough overhaul.</p>
<p>I believe what ace is alluding to is the idea that many people may want to take the test in 2014 to avoid having to take the new test (which has never been administered before and thus may be more challenging to prepare for). So if, say, the people who normally would’ve waited a year decide to go ahead and take the test, the test might be artificially harder in 2014 because of the increased competition. </p>
<p>However, I’m not exactly sure how competition would come into play because allegedly the MCAT is not graded on a curve, it’s scaled. The difference has been explained to me a few different times but I personally find the differences hard to keep straight. As far as I can tell, curve compares you to other test takers and scale compares you to a national standard that only sort of takes into account the other test takers (feel free to revise this). </p>
<p>But if you think about it, everyone from 2015 and beyond will be taking the 2015 test. Medical schools will have to adjust based on the new scores (will 45 even be the max?). Regardless of the content of the MCAT, it will still be a new experience for your kiddo. Allegedly, the new MCAT will include content about ethics and social aspects of medicine and the “softer” stuff, so perhaps having some classes in those areas would be beneficial. Then again, most schools (that I’m familiar with at least) require students to take a wide variety of classes including some in the social and/or behavioral sciences fields–so she’ll probably be prepared for the new content anyway. </p>
<p>The new MCAT changes–that’s IF they even come out on time, which remains to be seen–will affect all test takers that year and will require all schools to modify entrance requirements. I personally wouldn’t plan my life around whether this test changes or not–but that decision is ultimately up to you!</p>
<p>Thanks for the very thorough explanation, Kristen! As it currently stands, assuming she does not opt for a gap year, she’ll be taking the MCAT at the beginning of 2013. She plans on prepping this summer, intermittently this fall, and then intensely next Christmas break. She will enroll in a prep course this summer but has yet to decide which one. It doesn’t sound as though the change will affect her. Again, thanks for the response!</p>
<p>I don’t see how your D would “lose momentum” if she took a gap year. She would be applying virtually right after graduation during the summer. Once she gets interviews, she’d have natural excitement for those. </p>
<p>It would be different if the apps would be going in months and months after graduation. Instead, they’d be going in just weeks later.</p>
<p>Think she’ll take a prep class? If she does, that’s probably all she’ll really need to study (prep classes are a few days a week for like, 3 months). Don’t see any harm in studying summer, fall, and winter…but the jury’s still out on whether all that extra prep really helps. The thing is, most MCAT questions aren’t strictly knowledge-based content questions (there’s 13 out of 52 questions) which are what most people study when they’re studying for a long time. Rather, they’re based on passages which are usually loosely based on prereq classes (but allegedly, you can answer all the questions just based on the passage and don’t need additional knowledge). So if I were in her shoes, instead of going over questions, I’d much rather subscribe to something like the Economist or Science or New England Journal of Medicine, and really amp up my skills reading and understanding difficult material. Just my $0.02.</p>