How bad do skipped semesters look?

College Life
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<p>To keep it simple, I returned to college to finish a premed biology degree a couple years ago. At 28, I have financial obligations that I couldnt have imagined at 18 while living at home. I missed one semester because of serious kidney problems that required several hospital stays, but am fully recovered now. I also had to take another semester off to work full time because the only alternatives were to attend school while living out of my car or take out loans. I’m very proud of having managed to pay for undergrad expenses/tuition debt free and really don’t want to think about loans until grad school. </p>

<p>I’ve never failed a class and will most likely have a 3.9 gpa by graduation plus intern experience and great recommendation letters but I’m worried that the part time attendance and missed semesters will make me look flaky to grad schools that don’t know about my circumstances. Should I just go ahead and take on debt so I can afford the luxury of taking 16-18 units a semester without working the rest of the way?</p>

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<p>If might help to add some details about the job, which is on a farm. The workload is really heavy during harvest season in the fall, but not as bad the rest of the year. It usually pays well and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to be involved in agricultural science work rather than just some crappy retail job. If I give it up, I probably won’t find anything else remotely as good right now.</p>