Why I Decided to Take a Gap Year

For Berkeley students, its pretty typical to take a gap year before plunging into a health professional school. I think its becoming more and more common, as people begin to realize the amount of debt they will be in as soon as they finish med/dental/opto/whatever school, and see that there's significantly less room for simply enjoying life. Plus, Berkeley kids are usually burned out from 4 years (or more) or camping out at the library, being constantly caffeinated, and just getting too little sleep.

So why take a gap year? Here were my reasons:

Sleep, play, and learn. 

Becoming a doctor, fully explained

In high school and early college years, I've met many pre-meds who only think about getting into medical school. But what about after that? Med school is really only the first step. It's important to think about the entire process of becoming a doctor, before committing yourself to the long and arduous journey.

The path to medicine in the U.S. requires...

1. Undergraduate education (BS/BA). 4 years.

2. Gap year, post-bac program, or master's program *if necessary*. 1-2 years. I only add this is because it's increasingly common these days for pre-med students to take time off between college and med school in order to improve their competitiveness for med school. Most people I know took a gap year.

3. Medical school (MD). 4 years - 2 years in the classroom, 2 years clinical (in hospitals/clinics).

4. Residency. 3-5 years, depending on the residency. A residency is where you receive the training to specialize in the specialty of your choice. You pretty much need to complete a residency in order to practice clinical medicine. Those who don't do one might go into research, teaching, or working for some biotech company. *Note: sometimes people get confused about an intern year. An internship refers to the first year of post-med school education, but this is usually incorporated into residency. In other words, "intern year" = "first year of residency".

MCAT: choosing a prep class

*Disclaimer: these are my own opinions, but hopefully they are useful if you're making these decisions. I took Princeton Review for 10 weeks during the summer before my senior year, and am happy with my decision.

To take a prep class or not...
This depends on three things: money, time, and self-motivation.
1) Money: A prep class costs anywhere from $1000-$2000. Honestly, this is not that much money compared to the total cost of med school applications/interviews. But if you really have trouble affording this, then it's not worth it. Anything you learn from class you can learn from books that you can borrow from friends for free, or buy online.
2) Time: Lectures are not time efficient. You'll end up reviewing any material you learned in class anyway, unless you are the type of person who only needs to see something once to know it forever. I  devoted most of my summer to MCAT-ing, so many hours a day to spare. However, if you are are studying during the school year, I would recommend NOT taking a prep class. I believe your limited time is better spent self-studying.
3) Self-motivation: I ultimately decided to take a prep class because I knew I needed the extra motivation to keep me going all summer long. If you are very self-motivated and can stick to a schedule, then you'll be fine without a class (again, just buy/borrow books). Looking back, this is the sole reason that I am happy with my decision to take a prep class. I stuck with the class homework/study schedule and it helped pace me for the whole 10 weeks.