a year off

[trotter]

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Hello,

Just wondering if anyone here has taken a year off from med school or knows someone who has.

I am considering taking a year starting next month (essentially between 3rd and 4th year). I am toying with this idea for a number of reasons. I have recently decided to pursue a competitive field and feel unprepared to apply at this point. I thought that some research in the field may bolster my application. Also, I love to travel, and feel that this may be a great opportunity to combine some sort of medical work with international travel and spanish language education. For the most part, graduating a year later doesn't seem like it should be big deal, particularly if it isn't a result of any academic difficulty (I've done pretty well in med school so far).

Some concerns are: how do PDs view taking a year off? Will this hurt my app? How do people go about finding a good research project/international activities to get involved with? How do people finance such an endeavor?

Any general advice or experiences would be appreciated.....thanks

 

[miko2005]

I am not sure how PDs view year off since I am just applying for residency this year. However, I really don't think it would hurt you if you do research. To finance the year, I applied for and received a Howard Hughes fellowship. However, the deadline for that probably already passed if you are planning to take this year off. I am sure there are other fellowships like that out there.

 

[EMApplicant]

I took a year off to work internationally (on a health project) and found that this fact was met with great enthusiam on the interview trail. I also matched at my #1...so no harm done. Maybe even helped! In the end, follow your interests and you won't go wrong.

 

[trotter]

thanks for the replies Miko2005 and EMapplicant, much appreciated.

EMapplicant, I was just wondering what type of international project you were involved with and how you went about discovering/organizing/financing it. I would love to go abroad and be able to become involved in something health care related. I'm assuming you're now an emergency medicine resident, did you find something specifically related to EM? Are you aware of any leads for possible international projects?

Also, does anyone know of any international or domestic research fellowships that are available other than the Howard Hughes fellowship? I'm going to check online, but I was just curious if anyone out there had any tidbits of info to offer...

thanks, trotter

 

[P Diddy]

I am considering taking a year starting next month...

Some concerns are: how do PDs view taking a year off? Will this hurt my app? How do people go about finding a good research project/international activities to get involved with? How do people finance such an endeavor?

Any general advice or experiences would be appreciated.....thanks

I think a year off is a great idea. It will be viewed favorably by PDs if you do something that conveys your interest in medicine such as research or a clinical project. It will be viewed favorably by you if you smoke up all year, but this may adversely affect your app.

in terms of financing and research projects, such matters should be ironed out well beforehand. from what you wrote it sounds like you're just coming to this decision, limiting your options. you could always take out more financial aid. you could look for a parttime job to supplement your income when not researching/traveling. the best approach, in my opinion, is to look within your own med school for funded research opportunities. ideally these would be cocordant with your specialty of choice. one of my friends did something like that at UMich in neurosurgery for a year and matched there for neurosurgery; I think that year was instrumental in her match position.