Leave of Absence? Bad Idea?

[UT_mikie]

Hi guys. As you can see by my signature I'll be entering med school at UT Houston. This is absolutely where I wanted to end up and I'm excited about going here.

However I tried my best to get them to give me a deferrment so that I could participate in a program that was important to me personally. Unfortunately, my school has a REALLY strict non-deferrment policy, and it looks like its not going to happen.

I was thinking about perhaps taking a leave of absence and doing it inbetween my 1st and 2nd year of med school (they are more lenient about this). But I have to ask you guys, is this a bad idea? I have 2 main worries. 1.) My step 1 scores will suffer from being out of the game for a year. 2.) I'll be put back and therefore be somewhat of a drifter in the class of 2010 because I wasn't there from the beginning. I hear contacts and friendship is everything in getting through med school.

Perhaps there are other unforseen problems to this. Anyway if you guys have any opinions I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

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[gschl1234]

Hi guys. As you can see by my signature I'll be entering med school at UT Houston. This is absolutely where I wanted to end up and I'm excited about going here.

However I tried my best to get them to give me a deferrment so that I could participate in a program that was important to me personally. Unfortunately, my school has a REALLY strict non-deferrment policy, and it looks like its not going to happen.

I was thinking about perhaps taking a leave of absence and doing it inbetween my 1st and 2nd year of med school (they are more lenient about this). But I have to ask you guys, is this a bad idea? I have 2 main worries. 1.) My step 1 scores will suffer from being out of the game for a year. 2.) I'll be put back and therefore be somewhat of a drifter in the class of 2010 because I wasn't there from the beginning. I hear contacts and friendship is everything in getting through med school.

Perhaps there are other unforseen problems to this. Anyway if you guys have any opinions I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

You could take a leave of absence between 2nd and 3rd years. I've heard of people taking time in between these years to pursue other interests. Can your program wait another year?

 

[quideam]

Yup, i'm planning on taking a year off between 2nd and 3rd to pursue certain personal interests. Taking off between 1st and 2nd isn't a good idea because Step 1 is important, though.

 

[DrKicker]

I am taking a year off beginning in June to do research in another state. I am between 2nd and 3rd year. You mentioned that you were afraid to forget everything for the boards if you took off between 1st and 2nd...don't worry, you will forget most of the details anyway, and the basics will stick with you. I am a little worried about forgeting everything for the wards when I come back...but oh well, it will definitely be work the year off. Also, I made it a point this year to get to know some of the MS1s well...they will be my classmates when I come back. I will miss my class, but again, its worth it! Weigh the positives and negatives and decide...I could not pass this opportunity up.

 

[UT_mikie]

Bump, any other opinions out there? Particularly anyone out there who thinks I shouldn't do this?

Yea, I think probably the biggest negative will be the loss of my classmates, but this is something I feel strongly about and I believe its worth doing, but I simply don't want to jeopardize my chance at a good residency. I've always kept an outside interest that has kept me sane, but I hope taking a leave of absence is not taking it too far.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll get some perspective once I'm going through my MS1 and MS2 years. Thanks for the comments guys.