Week off during medical school?

[DAPI]

Hey guys,

I have been given the opportunity to serve on a consumer advocacy committee that is related to the medical field I see myself in when med school, residency, and fellowship is all said and done. Basically the committee advises the larger organization and other committees on how they think research information should be made available to the general public and on how to get clinical trial and research opportunities out to patients. The reason I have this opportunity is because I was a long time patient within this field, have done clinical research within the field, and my doctor, who has became my mentor over my four years at college, is apart of the larger organization and has recommended me.

So the commitment is fairly light throughout the year with small projects here and there, but once a year, they meet in mid to late February Wednesday-Sunday somewhere across the US (it changes ever year). Do you guys think it is possible to take that time off during MS1 and MS2 years and then further on if I stay on the committee for more than one term (one term = 3 years)? Also, they pay for travel and hotel stuff, so little cost to me

I guess also of note is that this is a world wide organization and a leading research organization in my field of interest, so not only would it be a huge resume boost, but would probably open up doors later on in my career just from making connections. Also, obviously, I am genuinely interested in their work.

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[armybound]

depends on the school's schedule and if anything has required attendance. really hard to speculate without more specific information.

if there's nothing required, you could not show up for a week and nobody would know or care.

 

[bigloley]

Some schools on quarter systems have break's during mid February for the end of Winter Quarter. It depends on your school, you might get lucky with a school that has a break that coincides with your project

 

[Ilovewater]

Are you required to go to this week long meeting?

It's difficult to say because it all depends on your school's schedule. During M1 and M2, there are a lot of required labs, small groups, etc. so you cannot predict what your schedule will be like during Feb. Most schools will not let you re-schedule exams if an exams happen to fall in the time that you'll be gone. So, if the meeting is a requirement to be a part of this organization, it's best to not do it because you don't know you can commit to it.

 

[DAPI]

Yeah, I am not sure if its required at this point or just highly recommended. I have sent an email off inquiring about this, but I thought I would get your guys' take on it.

Thanks!

 

[TheMightySmiter]

As long as you know well in advance, I think most schools would be pretty accommodating--if it's just once a year.

 

[Law2Doc]

As long as you know well in advance, I think most schools would be pretty accommodating--if it's just once a year.

You'd have to talk to the school. In 3rd year they probably might not be very accommodating because there are ACGME requirements for the core rotations that could be impacted, and not a lot of time to make up missed time built into most schedules. The first two years really depends on the school, but even if you don't have any mandatory lectures/labs/tests during that week, you can't just plan to fall a week behind and catch up -- med school doesn't work that way, so you will be spending much of your time during that week with your med school books. Honestly, although it seems like a good idea while you aren't in school yet, when you actually get going in med school you are going to be very unhappy that you saddled yourself with this obligation on top of what is already too heavy a load. If it's not mandatory, plan to skip it. People regularly miss family and friend events while in med school due to time constraints, and those are usually just a weekend.

 

[Raryn]

Hey guys,

I have been given the opportunity to serve on a consumer advocacy committee that is related to the medical field I see myself in when med school, residency, and fellowship is all said and done. Basically the committee advises the larger organization and other committees on how they think research information should be made available to the general public and on how to get clinical trial and research opportunities out to patients. The reason I have this opportunity is because I was a long time patient within this field, have done clinical research within the field, and my doctor, who has became my mentor over my four years at college, is apart of the larger organization and has recommended me.

So the commitment is fairly light throughout the year with small projects here and there, but once a year, they meet in mid to late February Wednesday-Sunday somewhere across the US (it changes ever year). Do you guys think it is possible to take that time off during MS1 and MS2 years and then further on if I stay on the committee for more than one term (one term = 3 years)? Also, they pay for travel and hotel stuff, so little cost to me

I guess also of note is that this is a world wide organization and a leading research organization in my field of interest, so not only would it be a huge resume boost, but would probably open up doors later on in my career just from making connections. Also, obviously, I am genuinely interested in their work.

Depending on the school, there's a good chance you can make it. During M1/M2, med school runs M-F, so you're only taking 3 days off from class (W,Th,F). Some schools do have required small groups, but for a legitimate activity like an advocacy conference they will usually accommodate a student. (I'm a member of a fairly active org with students from all over the country, and we regularly get people from just about everywhere to show up to meetings). You might only make it for Th-Sun or F-Sun, but you'd certainly be able to make it for a large portion of the meeting.

A few caveats: If your school has an exam or some such that Friday, you're almost certainly not going to get the time off. Can't control for that though. Also, catching up with schoolwork after being gone for 4-5 days is annoying, but unlike what L2D said, it's perfectly doable, especially for an M1. It really depends on your surrounding exam schedule though, you certainly couldn't take a week right before an exam (or block of exams) off, so while you could still likely go to (at least part of) the meeting, you'd need to be hitting the books in the evening for sure.

Regarding M3, different schools have very different time off policies and it varies from rotation to rotations. Many rotations (i.e. anything outpatient) only run M-F, so getting 2-3 days off on top of the weekend is doable (and I've done it). Other rotations run 6-7 days a week and getting 5 continuous days off when you are only allotted 4 days off a month is impossible. You can almost always request which weekend days in the month you get off (within reason and not screwing over the other student(s) you're rotating with), so at the very least you'd probably be able to make Sat-Sun.

M4s can pretty much take humongous chunks of time off from anything except their SubIs and rotations don't usually care, especially after the residency applications are submitted.