Any accepted students thinking about deferring?

[Dr Gerrard]

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I definitely am considering it.

If the school lets me, i will for sure

Does anyone know how merit aid works? Can you defer and still keep any scholarships?

 

[loveoforganic]

I'm deferring if I get a teaching job in a desirable location. No idea about other q's. Dunno why you'd lose it though

 

[mrbuttersworth]

deferring as well-

i hear finaid is just postponed until the following year, using next years data for FAFSA to figure out your EFCs and all that stuff i dont really have the expertise to comment on...

not sure about scholarships though...

 

[Mizoodles]

yes. i'd like to run my last year of track and cross country (since i had to medically redshirt my senior year)

 

[slammer922]

There's about 80 Texas A&M kids that could jump into this thread

 

[333926]

...

 

[Musclemass]

Not every school will give a warm reaction to this question. Some will, some won't. Don't be surprised with the response you receive.

It was you who applied to matriculate in 2011.

 

[Dr Gerrard]

i mean i definitely understand it may not be received well

id rather apply now when i feel like my application is at a peak than feel obligated to do something next year that adds to my application.

if i can defer, great, but not being able to defer is not going to be a dealbreaker by any means

 

[Perrotfish]

Do you have any idea what you want to defer for? Are you looking at research? Learning a language? Traveling? Getting an MPH? Teaching? Starting a family? If you go to them and say you want to defer 'just because' you'll probably get a rough reception at any school other than Texas A&M.

Also, BTW, I hate to get ethical but keep in mind if you defer couldn't you block some poor guy from getting in to medical school? You're taking up a seat next year and it's probably too late to fill your seat for this year.

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

Do you have any idea what you want to defer for? Are you looking at research? Learning a language? Traveling? Getting an MPH? Teaching? Starting a family? If you go to them and say you want to defer 'just because' you'll probably get a rough reception at any school other than Texas A&M.

Also, BTW, I hate to get ethical but keep in mind if you defer couldn't you block some poor guy from getting in to medical school? You're taking up a seat next year and it's probably too late to fill your seat for this year.

I agree with you completely. I personally don't understand the purpose of deferring unless there is something "preventing" you from matriculating (eg:illness).

I mean, those who defer did decide to apply to medical school for entry in Fall 2011 knowing what the financial, social, emotional, and physical obligations would be. Why suddenly change your mind unless you "physically can't"? Please enlighten me, I just can't think of reasons why...

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Do you have any idea what you want to defer for? Are you looking at research? Learning a language? Traveling? Getting an MPH? Teaching? Starting a family? If you go to them and say you want to defer 'just because' you'll probably get a rough reception at any school other than Texas A&M.

Also, BTW, I hate to get ethical but keep in mind if you defer couldn't you block some poor guy from getting in to medical school? You're taking up a seat next year and it's probably too late to fill your seat for this year.

i would say the med school will have less than zero problems in filling his newly vacated seat

 

[Dr Gerrard]

I agree with you completely. I personally don't understand the purpose of deferring unless there is something "preventing" you from matriculating (eg:illness).

I mean, those who defer did decide to apply to medical school for entry in Fall 2011 knowing what the financial, social, emotional, and physical obligations would be. Why suddenly change your mind unless you "physically can't"? Please enlighten me, I just can't think of reasons why...

well for me personally, i just wanted to get the application process out of the way. i don't feel like i need to defer, so if i can't, im not going to be worried about it. my main priority was going to medical school so that was it. but i would defer to travel if it did work out. probably work for the summer and the beginning of the fall, save enough money to go do what i want during the spring.

also, i feel like the whole taking up a seat thing isn't going to be an issue. there is the whole waitlist thing. and also, i don't really plan on dropping my other acceptances until i am sure what my financial aid package will be like at those schools. and finally, im going to ask the school i choose as soon as possible, not at the end of the summer or anything.

feels like the last block of time i will have like this until i retire, so why not.

 

[Perrotfish]

feels like the last block of time i will have like this until i retire, so why not.

It's really not, just so you know. You have all of next summer off (assuming you don't do something dumb like signing up for research) and then the last half of your fourth year is either off or basically off, culminating with a mandatory month of vacation in between the end of medical school and the start of residency. You may or may not also have a significant amount of time off in between step 1 and the start of 3rd year, depending on how your school structures their cirriculum.

 

[patel2]

It's really not, just so you know. You have all of next summer off (assuming you don't do something dumb like signing up for research) and then the last half of your fourth year is either off or basically off, culminating with a mandatory month of vacation in between the end of medical school and the start of residency. You may or may not also have a significant amount of time off in between step 1 and the start of 3rd year, depending on how your school structures their cirriculum.

why don't think you think research is worth it after MSI? Won't it help with residency?

 

[Perrotfish]

why don't think you think research is worth it after MSI? Won't it help with residency?

If you can get a publication out of it, yeah. However if you're not planning on continuing your research during MSII I think that the summer alone is normally too short a period of time to result in anything you can put on your CV, especially if you have no bench research experience and you sign up for bench research (which seems to be a pretty common scenario).

In any event my point was that most people have a vacation for them waiting at the end of MSI. Medical school shouldn't be your last vacation ever.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

Texas A&M: Good things come to those who (are forced to) wait.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

If you can get a publication out of it, yeah. However if you're not planning on continuing your research during MSII I think that the summer alone is normally too short a period of time to result in anything you can put on your CV, especially if you have no bench research experience and you sign up for bench research (which seems to be a pretty common scenario).

I was under the impression that most med students who conduct research during the summer between M1 and M2 conduct clinical research (ie. retrospective stuff)? I agree that it would be pretty dumb to think you can do meaningful basic science research over a summer.

 

[Perrotfish]

I was under the impression that most med students who conduct research during the summer between M1 and M2 conduct clinical research (ie. retrospective stuff)? I agree that it would be pretty dumb to think you can do meaningful basic science research over a summer.

Everyone I knew that did research did bench work. But that's not exactly a large sample size.

 

[mrbuttersworth]

Also, BTW, I hate to get ethical but keep in mind if you defer couldn't you block some poor guy from getting in to medical school? You're taking up a seat next year and it's probably too late to fill your seat for this year.

...then there's always the chance someone deferring already has an idea of what they plan on doing, and will be out of the country for an entire year following-

for example

 

[235009]

I was under the impression that most med students who conduct research during the summer between M1 and M2 conduct clinical research (ie. retrospective stuff)?

clinical research =/= "retrospective stuff"!

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

clinical research =/= "retrospective stuff"!

I never said clinical research means only retrospective studies...

Retrospective studies (at least, in medicine) generally fall under the umbrella of clinical research though. Maybe my using of the word "stuff" instead of "study" threw you off?

 

[235009]

I never said clinical research means only retrospective studies...

Retrospective studies (at least, in medicine) generally fall under the umbrella of clinical research though. Maybe my using of the word "stuff" instead of "study" threw you off?

if that's what you actually meant then it was your misuse of "ie"

i.e.: that is to say; in other words

so yes you did say that it means only retrospective studies. Whether you intended to say so doesn't really matter, just wanted to set the record straight so noone is misinformed.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

if that's what you actually meant then it was your misuse of "ie"

i.e.: that is to say; in other words

so yes you did say that it means only retrospective studies. Whether you intended to say so doesn't really matter, just wanted to set the record straight so noone is misinformed.

I didn't realize that my posts on SDN were held to such high standards. I apologize for my misuse of "ie." I can only hope that most people who read my posts are smart enough to realize what I meant.

 

[mauberley]

I didn't realize that my posts on SDN were held to such high standards. I apologize for my misuse of "ie." I can only hope that most people who read my posts are smart enough to realize what I meant.

Sorry, I also thought you meant "equivalent to." 🙂

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Sorry, I also thought you meant "equivalent to." 🙂

Fair enough. Again, I apologize if people were mislead by my misuse of "ie" and thought that I meant that clinical research only involved retrospective studies. That is not what I meant to imply. 🙂

 

[Badger MD]

Fair enough. Again, I apologize if people were mislead by my misuse of "ie" and thought that I meant that clinical research only involved retrospective studies. That is not what I meant to imply. 🙂

I just read right over it, didn't even notice 😉

 

[ACSurgeon]

Do you have any idea what you want to defer for? Are you looking at research? Learning a language? Traveling? Getting an MPH? Teaching? Starting a family? If you go to them and say you want to defer 'just because' you'll probably get a rough reception at any school other than Texas A&M.

Also, BTW, I hate to get ethical but keep in mind if you defer couldn't you block some poor guy from getting in to medical school? You're taking up a seat next year and it's probably too late to fill your seat for this year.

Some schools actually state in their acceptance that students have the option to defer. They reserve the right to decline your request, but unless there is a large number of people wanting to defer, you don't even need a good reason.

Also, It's only February. Med schools have no problem filling in spots after the May deadline when students chose to go elsewhere. There is NO ethical issue here. Some students take a year off for research (during med school). Some fail out. Some quit. Some doctors chose to work part time. You earn your acceptance, and then your MD. What you chose to do with your life is completely up to you. You don't owe anyone to matriculate this year if you don't want to (even if your only reason was to sleep 14 hrs a day).

 

[slammer922]

Texas A&M: Good things come to those who (are forced to) wait.

These are so great