Medical gap year programs

Gaining valuable experience and skills on your gap year

If you are heading towards a career in medicine, there are a few medical gap year experiences that could be perfect for you and your gap year.

Will it be a hands-on gap year experience?

It is likely that you, like most others on their gap year, are unskilled and unqualified and you therefore may find yourself in medical clinics simply cleaning floors and doing very menial, unrewarding tasks.

However, there are several options of more of a generalist nature that will help you gain experience of having to deal with a wide variety of people and situations, and to exercise your initiative whilst taking real responsibility, all of which is highly relevant to a career in medicine and healthcare more generally.

In particular, gap year volunteering experiences can be especially beneficial and career-enhancing. By way of example, take a look at this article by a gap year volunteer who, before going to medical school, travelled to Uganda on a community project with Africa & Asia Venture (AV).