Taking Time to Fix a Weakness

I took a gap year between Cornell and med school. I would highly recommend others take this year off. My experience at Cornell left me quite burned out and not ready to start med school. The year off provided me with some distance, and also increased my drive to become a physician. 

Here's what I did with my year:

1. Took an Intermediate EMT class (learned to intubate, start IV's, defibilate, and give medications) at a local community college.
2. Took both Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Prehospital Trauma Life Support classes.
3. Worked ambulance jobs, plus volunteered for a squad in my time off.
4. Took a summer medical physiology class.

My advice to those who think they're going to take a year off is:

1. DO NOT WASTE IT! Look objectivly at your application, and decide what your weakest point is, then fix it. If you don't have clinical experience, go work in a hospital, doctor's office, or on an ambulance. If your MCAT is weak, study and retake it. If you don't have a good GPA, take classes, and ace them.
2. Do something you will enjoy, as you'll then be refreshed to jump into med school in the fall.
3. Make sure you really want to do medicine. If, in that year your interest in medicine goes down, that's a good indication that you may want to find something else to do.
4. Find someone to practice interviews with. The interview is important, so you want to do well.

Medical school is a blast. Work hard to get in, because it is worth it.