After Graduation...

[Aec4321]

I'll be graduating from my undergrad in May, and after recently being placed on the waitlist, I'm unsure what is the next best step for me. 

 

I applied to the advanced nursing program that I could hypothetically start in September, however the other option is to take a year off. I'm conflicted, as I know I'd get good clinical exposure through the nursing program, and would be able to jump right into the next phase of my education without the fear of getting off track. 

 

On the other hand, I've been reading on PM101 that a lot of those who were waitlisted or rejected after they had graduated and took a year off really enjoyed the time to pursue other interests and expand on the content of their application.

So does anyone have any suggestions? 

[js660327]

I'm taking the year off and I am frankly stoked!

[MarsRover]

I have decided if I don't get into MUN that I am taking a year off. I looked at it this way I almost made waitlist, and it was really just cause my interview wasnt great.. you made waitlist so likely just the extra year thats already happened of EC's plus familiarity with the interview should get you a spot for sure next year. So that year of school isn't going to make any difference, and if you don't get in next year and apply next summer more school probably wont change anything if you have a good MCAT/GPA.

 

 Your end goal is medicine and you will more than likely get there, so I thought why waste money on schooling that won't affect me. Especially because once you have an undergrad with good grades they really dont care about more school. So take the time off to work, enjoy life, travel, volunteer. Then if you do get in for class of 2021 (assuming you dont get in off the waitlist which i hope you do), you had a fun year. If you dont get in 2021 and apply again next summer for 2022 you could then also apply for nursing (if thats your back up). Well then you had a year chalk full of ECs and fun that will build your application way more than the few ECs you could do on top of being super stressed with a school program. That way if you don't get in again and decide to go with your back-up plan nursing you aren't set behind that bad just took a year off. which shouldn't matter because im 100% sure that if you got waitlisted, you will either get in this time or next!!

 

Just my 2 cents!! 

[MarsRover]

also sorry if that paragraph is disjointed !! been thinking about it all myself.. while writing an essay on a topic i don't know or care about right after finding out i didn't get in.. and only writing it now and on a deadline because i couldnt focus on writing it before cause i was anxious of when letters would come out  hahaha

[_ _]

I have decided if I don't get into MUN that I am taking a year off. I looked at it this way I almost made waitlist, and it was really just cause my interview wasnt great.. you made waitlist so likely just the extra year thats already happened of EC's plus familiarity with the interview should get you a spot for sure next year. So that year of school isn't going to make any difference, and if you don't get in next year and apply next summer more school probably wont change anything if you have a good MCAT/GPA.

 

 Your end goal is medicine and you will more than likely get there, so I thought why waste money on schooling that won't affect me. Especially because once you have an undergrad with good grades they really dont care about more school. So take the time off to work, enjoy life, travel, volunteer. Then if you do get in for class of 2021 (assuming you dont get in off the waitlist which i hope you do), you had a fun year. If you dont get in 2021 and apply again next summer for 2022 you could then also apply for nursing (if thats your back up). Well then you had a year chalk full of ECs and fun that will build your application way more than the few ECs you could do on top of being super stressed with a school program. That way if you don't get in again and decide to go with your back-up plan nursing you aren't set behind that bad just took a year off. which shouldn't matter because im 100% sure that if you got waitlisted, you will either get in this time or next!!

 

Just my 2 cents!! 

This was basically my plan as well! I was lucky enough to get an acceptance this time around, but my view was the same as yours. Why spend money on a degree you are planning/hoping not to need? 

I was going to work/volunteer for a year, whilst taking the anatomy pre-req I'm missing for most AST nursing programs. Then at the end of the year I'd be going into med or nursing. 

 

If I still didn't get into med (i.e. boosting ECs wasn't enough) then I could boost my GPA through the new degree, and also prepare for a great career. If I felt like applying to med 5 years down the road, I'd have only more experience (and money lol) under my belt.

[MarsRover]

This was basically my plan as well! I was lucky enough to get an acceptance this time around, but my view was the same as yours. Why spend money on a degree you are planning/hoping not to need? 

I was going to work/volunteer for a year, whilst taking the anatomy pre-req I'm missing for most AST nursing programs. Then at the end of the year I'd be going into med or nursing. 

 

If I still didn't get into med (i.e. boosting ECs wasn't enough) then I could boost my GPA through the new degree, and also prepare for a great career. If I felt like applying to med 5 years down the road, I'd have only more experience (and money lol) under my belt.

 

That's just it. If your back-up plan is to do research, or you have disposable income and just think 2 years of research could be fun then great go for it. Not for everyone though. I mean here at mun the grad student fees are only 1000$ for a full year, and in my faculty the stipend is 13,000$ a year. So it sort of is like working a job for less than minimum wage (no real cost).. but I think the point still remains. 

[btdubs]

Just for the sake of the other perspective: I did a fifth year and it was the best decision I ever made. Since I wasn't bound by course requirements anymore, I took everything that interested me and would help me become a better doctor: Canadian politics, history of gender in medicine, health psychology, health care ethics, ethics of life and death, neuropsychology, business ethics, social psychology, two semesters of elementary Russian... and, just for fun, I took up swing dancing. I can honestly say that this year has taught me more about what kind of doctor I want to be than all of high school AND my chemistry degree combined. So, if money is not an issue and the prospect of exploring other areas excites you, I definitely recommend doing more schooling.  

[MarsRover]

Just for the sake of the other perspective: I did a fifth year and it was the best decision I ever made. Since I wasn't bound by course requirements anymore, I took everything that interested me and would help me become a better doctor: Canadian politics, history of gender in medicine, health psychology, health care ethics, ethics of life and death, neuropsychology, business ethics, social psychology, two semesters of elementary Russian... and, just for fun, I took up swing dancing. I can honestly say that this year has taught me more about what kind of doctor I want to be than all of high school AND my chemistry degree combined. So, if money is not an issue and the prospect of exploring other areas excites you, I definitely recommend doing more schooling.

 

haha i wish our school had electives like swing dancing

[btdubs]

Actually, I did the swing dancing outside of school in a community club. If you're actually interested, most bigger cities have a swing dance society, and even some of the smaller ones.

[Aec4321]

Wow thank you guys all so much for your responses, they are super helpful! 

 

Ultimately I am leaning towards taking the year off, assuming I don't get off the waitlist. I just wish I could figure out a way to get clinical exposure around here in Halifax, as I feel that is something I am missing on my application (I'm also missing research but I'm reallllyyyy trying to avoid it hahaha)

 

It's a little scary thinking of an entire year without school, but I definitely think a lot of personal growth could come from it!

[MarsRover]

Wow thank you guys all so much for your responses, they are super helpful! 

 

Ultimately I am leaning towards taking the year off, assuming I don't get off the waitlist. I just wish I could figure out a way to get clinical exposure around here in Halifax, as I feel that is something I am missing on my application (I'm also missing research but I'm reallllyyyy trying to avoid it hahaha)

 

It's a little scary thinking of an entire year without school, but I definitely think a lot of personal growth could come from it!

 

I am actually not a huge fan of the way Dal's Extracurricular portion of the application is laid out for a variety of reasons, that being one of them. MUN actually seems to have a slant towards not caring about that and just seeing if you are well rounded and pursued your interests be it work, volunteering or hobbies. 

 

 

 I think that makes me sense because not everyone has clinical exposure, and not all of the exposure one could get ie hospital volunteering etc is even slightly close to being relevant to a doctor.

[btdubs]

 I think that makes me sense because not everyone has clinical exposure, and not all of the exposure one could get ie hospital volunteering etc is even slightly close to being relevant to a doctor.

 

Yeah, I'd agree with that in part. I think some of the clinical exposure just has to do with wanting to make sure that premeds know what they're getting into. While you may not get a whole lot of interesting/useful tasks volunteering at the hospital, it will allow you to observe the hospital dynamics a little bit, as well as what a "usual day" looks like. It might just be a way of ensuring that people's expectations of hospital life come from somewhere else than just Grey's Anatomy or House.

[mbed11]

Just for the sake of the other perspective: I did a fifth year and it was the best decision I ever made. Since I wasn't bound by course requirements anymore, I took everything that interested me and would help me become a better doctor: Canadian politics, history of gender in medicine, health psychology, health care ethics, ethics of life and death, neuropsychology, business ethics, social psychology, two semesters of elementary Russian... and, just for fun, I took up swing dancing. I can honestly say that this year has taught me more about what kind of doctor I want to be than all of high school AND my chemistry degree combined. So, if money is not an issue and the prospect of exploring other areas excites you, I definitely recommend doing more schooling.

I did a similar thing last year when I didn't get off the waitlist and deferred my graduation to take a 5th year. It has been really nice because I was able to finish a Biology minor and take courses I wasn't able to previously when I had to meet certain pre reqs. I am in a classical music course right now and also able to take on some different research projects and publish my thesis from last year. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is unsure what to do during there year off. The only down fall is that my student loans are less than ideal, haha.