I'm a US allopathic school senior and decided to switch to Psych a week or so before applications were due.
However, my question is about doing a Prelim intern year OR a gap year next year.
This might get a little complicated, so please bear with me.
I'm a non traditional med student, 230 on step 1, 4rth quartile first two years, 3rd quartile after 3rd year. Between 2nd and 3rd year I took a LOA for 1.5 years. The LOA was for medical reasons (surgery, recovery etc), and its addressed in my PS and Deans letter. I have 1 Psych LOR so far and will be getting more Psych letters after rotations in the Spring. (Other letters are Medicine and EM).
My husband was going to apply to dental residency this cycle, but due to some unforeseen circumstances he had to delay his application till next cycle. There is no dental-medical couples match, but they match in January and I was planning on applying very broadly and hoping to narrow my match list based on where he goes. This is not a sure fire way I know, but its the best we could come up with. We have been long distance for the last 6 or so years (excluding the time during my LOA); so matching in a place where we can be in relatively close proximity to each other is quite important at this point.
He (like me) will be doing a dental prelim year next year, and this way we would both apply to categorical spots next cycle.
My application to Prelim spots was quite late given all of this (even more so because I was stupid enough to overlook assigning my step 1 score till yesterday
. I applied to 30 prelim/TY programs and only have an interview from my home institution.
I'm worried at this point. I don't want to spend another year (especially a medicine intern year) away from my husband. I know its just a year, but with all the years adding up its really started to take a toll on both of us. Although we are both passionate about what we are going into, I think we are getting to a point where we are beginning to lose our drive and motivation because we aren't able to live a half way normal personal/family life.
My question is, how badly will I be hurting my Psych application for next year if in case I don't match into a Prelim spot where he will be, and instead of SOAPing chose to do something else that year ( like research with the Psych department wherever my husband will be)? I realize this is probably not a good option given that I already took 1.5 years off in med school. I have no problem with doing a prelim year; and I suppose if we have to be apart for another year, we will make it work; but I'm trying to see if I can save us the heart ache and possibly still be okay with apps. I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!
However, my question is about doing a Prelim intern year OR a gap year next year.
This might get a little complicated, so please bear with me.
I'm a non traditional med student, 230 on step 1, 4rth quartile first two years, 3rd quartile after 3rd year. Between 2nd and 3rd year I took a LOA for 1.5 years. The LOA was for medical reasons (surgery, recovery etc), and its addressed in my PS and Deans letter. I have 1 Psych LOR so far and will be getting more Psych letters after rotations in the Spring. (Other letters are Medicine and EM).
My husband was going to apply to dental residency this cycle, but due to some unforeseen circumstances he had to delay his application till next cycle. There is no dental-medical couples match, but they match in January and I was planning on applying very broadly and hoping to narrow my match list based on where he goes. This is not a sure fire way I know, but its the best we could come up with. We have been long distance for the last 6 or so years (excluding the time during my LOA); so matching in a place where we can be in relatively close proximity to each other is quite important at this point.
He (like me) will be doing a dental prelim year next year, and this way we would both apply to categorical spots next cycle.
My application to Prelim spots was quite late given all of this (even more so because I was stupid enough to overlook assigning my step 1 score till yesterday
. I applied to 30 prelim/TY programs and only have an interview from my home institution. I'm worried at this point. I don't want to spend another year (especially a medicine intern year) away from my husband. I know its just a year, but with all the years adding up its really started to take a toll on both of us. Although we are both passionate about what we are going into, I think we are getting to a point where we are beginning to lose our drive and motivation because we aren't able to live a half way normal personal/family life.
My question is, how badly will I be hurting my Psych application for next year if in case I don't match into a Prelim spot where he will be, and instead of SOAPing chose to do something else that year ( like research with the Psych department wherever my husband will be)? I realize this is probably not a good option given that I already took 1.5 years off in med school. I have no problem with doing a prelim year; and I suppose if we have to be apart for another year, we will make it work; but I'm trying to see if I can save us the heart ache and possibly still be okay with apps. I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!
