Should You Take A Gap Year?

In short: YES, you should. Now, I know what you are thinking, “Wow Marisa, what a stance! An opinion! A decision! You never do that, what’s wrong with you.” You’re absolutely right, I have a big bold stance on gap years and I’m not afraid to say it.

Per usual, a gap year is ~not for everyone~ and you have to decide for yourself what is best. However, let me try to convince you that a gap year is actually the exact thing you need. Yes, YOU, your humanness. Maybe you as a student don’t “need” it, but I can guarantee your personhood absolutely needs it.

First, let me discuss the opposite. Not taking a gap year between undergraduate school and graduate school is a perfectly appropriate option that thousands upon thousands of students choose every year. The only reasonable explanation I can think of for this, is that they simply don’t want to take a gap year. It isn’t important to them, they don’t feel it will benefit them personally or professionally in any way that is truly NEEDED, and they just want to get the show on the road. I get it, medicine is already a lengthy journey, why prolong your race to the finish line. However, I think framing a gap year in a different way can be extremely useful. 

For the longest time, I thought of the practicality of gap years. What can it practically give me? What can I do to objectively improve my application? How can I tangibly make some extra money before grad school? While the practicality of a gap year is important (and yes, the main reason for many taken), it is not the whole picture.  Let me give you 5 additional reasons (and might I argue the most important reasons) why taking a gap year is the way to go:

You get to experience a once in a lifetime thing

Whatever you are doing in your gap year, it is almost certainly the only time you will be able to do that exact thing. Of course, this is a broad statement, but you get the point. Soon, you will be in training, then more training, then a job…. Forever. Seriously, how many times in your life will this one-off-serious-but-exciting year be available? And with such ease! You likely have very little responsibility right now. That my friend, is the most perfect time to try something new. No strings attached. For one year.

You are able to lean out of the box

I want to go a step further and encourage you to not only take a gap year, but take a WILD gap year. Do something totally out of your comfort zone. Move to a different country. Live with strangers. Pursue volunteer work. Start a project. Yes, you will want to be moving the needle forward in some way (I am not one forget about the importance of practicality- especially my fellow pre-PAs, you need those clinical hours!) but hell even if you aren’t, who cares! It’s your year to get what YOU need out of it. And small plug, if you then need help describing to admissions committees why your gap year was actually EXTREMELY beneficial and important for your future career as a PA, I’m your girl.

You will learn more than you can imagine

Have you ever had a year where you weren’t in school? Have you stopped moving, ever? Are you racing to a finish line but you don’t even know where the hell it is? I promise you, slowing down just a little and shifting gears is SO good for your car. You don’t know what you don’t know. I want you to allow yourself to adjust speeds. Even if you don’t like it, then that’s it- you now have discovered that you don’t like it. There’s utility in that discovery. There is no way to leave a gap year without knowing more than when you came into it. Often really really precious, important, deep, amazing, jaw dropping things about yourself, your beliefs, your passion, your mission, and your values. You get to do all of this outside of your formal training and career. When will you be able to do that again?

You will have an “experience”

I am a firm believer in trying to experience as many things as I can, in as many different places as I can, with as many different people as I can. Yes, it will *literally* be another experience on your resume, but even more, it will subtly make you a better medical provider. I want to squeeze as much out of life as I possibly can, and it is important for me to expose myself to people, places, and things that I haven’t seen before. It allows me to remain dynamic and not stagnant. This is important for taking care of hundreds of different types of people as a provider. Let yourself experience a whole year of something new. It is quite literally, impossible, to regret that.

It will humble you

Finally, I think a gap year has the potential to humble you in a really important way. If done right, you should learn a few immense aspects of yourself (good and bad). You will question preconceived notions, consider your prior beliefs, discover what you believe to be the truth, and get comfortable making mistakes. If you are like me (and most pre-med students), you are not super jazzed with the idea of “messing up”. I guarantee your gap year will be filled with mess ups (because you are a walking, breathing human with a pulse). This will be humbling and important. Very important. I encourage you to mess up quickly and often, as that certainly means you are doing something right.