Are these the right reasons to take a gap year ?

lhh2003

I am torn between medical school and engineering. My friends are all applying to med school , taking UKCAT and now is kind of the crunch time for me to decide whether to take a gap year or apply to med school when I am uncertain if it is for me.

I feel like I am veering towards medicine, but then I regret I am not doing engineering, working to solve problems logically through design, which offers a whole load of entrepreneurial opportunity. When I consider engineering, I regret not becoming a practitioner; saving lives with a lot of value to society, in a highly respected field.

Whatever option I choose, I am riddled with regret. I really feel like it is essential for me to do physics and further maths intensely for a year to get a taste of engineering (I don't do them at the moment ! I'll have 5 a levels by the end of it) and work in hospital wards for weeks at a time volunteering.

I am so , so lost. I keep posting on these forums to try and consolidate my own thoughts, nothing works.

I am wired in such a way that when I see all of my friends become doctors (every one in my friends group is doing medicine/ dentistry..) when I am not , I will be crippled with regret , but I don't want to do a job just because they are via FOMO. I just don't know why I want to do medicine. Or whether or not engineering is something I would prefer without the prestige of medicine.

I don't know if I want to do medicine as its been drilled into me, I don't know if I want to do it as it is my calling (the idea of helping people tittillates me).

The UKCAT exam is fast approaching and I've done no prep for it. Id take the exam mid September if I was going to, so I would have to start pretty damn soon.

My skills and interests are just so varied, and I literally think I have an attention deficit in how rapidly I change from career to career (think Fe - Ti grip for an ENFJ ).

Is a gap year right for me ? I just don't want to feel like I am left behind knowing my current "equals" will be one year ahead to me, one year "superior". (sounds arrogant , I know, but it's the way I am wired.)

Btw, I am sorry for constantly posting sh*t like this but I have gave up my life since year 10 to study so its is a huge decision to make and I can't stop until I have clarity