Is it a mistake to take a research year between M3 and M4?

[ehtsuperstar]

Rising M4 at a mid-tier school in the south. 250 step 1, 4/6 clinical honors including surgery and medicine, unsure if AOA. 4 publications with a few others in the works and few poster presentations. While my resume looks OK for derm, I feel like I don't really have any mentors or advocates. I also don't have any aways scheduled for the year. I was originally planning on taking a research year (between M3 and M4) but feeling unsure if it will just be a waste of time. I was hoping to get publications and more importantly letters and mentorship out of the year. Also I feel like I don't really know my home department really well and wanted to get to know them better. Does this sound like an OK plan? I don't mind taking the research year but I don't want it to hurt me/ take it if I could match this year without it. I'm getting mixed advice from students in my class who've gone through the process and from faculty. What would you guys advise? Thank you in advance!

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[asmallchild]

Rising M4 at a mid-tier school in the south. 250 step 1, 4/6 clinical honors including surgery and medicine, unsure if AOA. 4 publications with a few others in the works and few poster presentations. While my resume looks OK for derm, I feel like I don't really have any mentors or advocates. I also don't have any aways scheduled for the year. I was originally planning on taking a research year (between M3 and M4) but feeling unsure if it will just be a waste of time. I was hoping to get publications and more importantly letters and mentorship out of the year. Also I feel like I don't really know my home department really well and wanted to get to know them better. Does this sound like an OK plan? I don't mind taking the research year but I don't want it to hurt me/ take it if I could match this year without it. I'm getting mixed advice from students in my class who've gone through the process and from faculty. What would you guys advise? Thank you in advance!

A research year almost never hurts unless you plan on doing a research year at a place where you cannot make any connections at all.

As you mentioned, your current application profile is solid but not spectacular. If you are looking for mentors or advocates, a research year is the way to go. I would introduce yourself ASAP to your home department to see if they offer any positions like this. In an ideal world, yes, you would do your research year at a place where you can publish and make connections that would serve as mentors and hopefully provide good LORs down the road.

 

[dermie1985]

I think you could go either way, it's up to you. I would say I really valued my research year personally. It helped me make important networking connections that have been helpful not just for matching into dermatology, but also for getting a job after residency and overall just finding my niche in the field that I like. Also - med school can be busy, and while research years should be busy and productive - it's a different kind of busy than being on wards. I really enjoyed having some time off to take a step back from clinical medicine, spend more time with friends / exploring my home city / travel / shedding my MS3 year extra pounds at the gym, and just enjoy living life. While it may delay things by a year (i.e. attending job, salary, etc.) you have to remember that your medical practice career is supposed to be long (30+ years) and 1 year is a just a drop in the bucket in the long-term scheme of things. It's a marathon not a sprint.

 

[OraclePL]

You're right down the middle where it's hard to tell if a research year will help. What I mean by that is: your stats look good, you'll fit in with all the other applicants, but you won't stand out. So will a productive research year where you make connections help? It should. But I've also seen students that aren't productive in their research years or who make connections with professors who don't have as much sway; for these students it ends up not helping.

I've seen it go both ways. If you're committed to derm, I would do the research year. But I would make sure I do my research on the research year beforehand - has anyone else worked with that mentor before? Did they match? How productive were they during that year? Do you already have a plan for projects that you can realistically get done in a year?