Taking year off to do research - will it help?

[SoyMilk]

Would taking a year off to do research in EM help my application to residencies? I go to a school in california and want to stay in california.

My stats and clinical grades are pretty average

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[Tiger26]

If you do something that significantly advances the specialty, then yes. If you get some sort of advanced degree from it, then perhaps. If you do some no-name little study, then unlikely, especially if you're only doing it to stay in California rather than a love of research.

Having helped selected applicants as a chief, research was very low on our list of criteria.

There's a lot of other great places--consider leaving your comfort zone and explore the possibility of living somewhere else for a few years.

 

[@JackShephard]

Focus on clinical grades and Step 2. Then great EM rotations and letters.

Research is way behind all of those.

Wait, are you M1/M2/M3?

 

[BoardingDoc]

Focus on clinical grades and Step 2. Then great EM rotations and letters.

Research is way behind all of those.

Wait, are you M1/M2/M3?

M3.

He asked some similar questions in this post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...no-honors-top10-school.1060184/#post-15018019

SoyMilk, I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I strongly suspect you're going to get the same responses to this question as you did to the thread above.