Leave of Absence before year #1

[Armando Ayerano]

Situation: Taking a leave of absence from a medical school during year #1 (MS1). The way it works is no grades will be reported since it was before the final exam. Reason for LOA is not a very good one (mostly personal, not sure if med school is right for me). Will this still show on my transcript and have to be explained, or can it be considered some sort of deferred admission or year off before school started or something like that? Anyone know the actual way things work? Thanks

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[anon-y-mouse]

Situation: Taking a leave of absence from a medical school during year #1 (MS1). The way it works is no grades will be reported since it was before the final exam. Reason for LOA is not a very good one (mostly personal, not sure if med school is right for me). Will this still show on my transcript and have to be explained, or can it be considered some sort of deferred admission or year off before school started or something like that? Anyone know the actual way things work? Thanks

One of the first few questions on your Dean's Letter / MSPE is "have there been any breaks in the student's education?" or something like that. Your leave of absence will likely be noted there. If you do well in your classes and on your boards, you'll still get your interviews, and this will pretty much have been forgotten! It's really the residency application reader's call as to whether they care. Usually they won't, since you'd be qualified on paper to be interviewed. They may ask during your interview though. Just don't screw up in med school! If you do screw up, then this event will be a red flag. If you don't screw up, this will be more like an incidental thing.

 

[njbmd]

Situation: Taking a leave of absence from a medical school during year #1 (MS1). The way it works is no grades will be reported since it was before the final exam. Reason for LOA is not a very good one (mostly personal, not sure if med school is right for me). Will this still show on my transcript and have to be explained, or can it be considered some sort of deferred admission or year off before school started or something like that? Anyone know the actual way things work? Thanks

It's not going to be considered a deferred admission because you have actually matriculated and attended classes. As the poster above stated, this will likely be addressed in your MSPE (for residencies).

Taking an LOA (compared to tanking your coursework) is a sound thing to do if you are not sure that you can devote your full attention to medical school. How this will work out for you will be largely determined by how you perform once you return to school (if you return to school).

One of the smartest people in my class left after three weeks because he decided that medicine wasn't the course for his life. He is now very happy and very successful as a Ph.D psychologist. In short, medical school wasn't for him and isn't for everyone accepted or not.

Take your time, figure out what you want to do, and if you return, be prepared to devote the time to your studies that they will demand. At this point, there is no particular "spin" that you can put on this other than you took an LOA for personal reasons that those reasons will either resolve or they won't.

 

[premedmind]

It's not going to be considered a deferred admission because you have actually matriculated and attended classes. As the poster above stated, this will likely be addressed in your MSPE (for residencies).

Taking an LOA (compared to tanking your coursework) is a sound thing to do if you are not sure that you can devote your full attention to medical school. How this will work out for you will be largely determined by how you perform once you return to school (if you return to school).

One of the smartest people in my class left after three weeks because he decided that medicine wasn't the course for his life. He is now very happy and very successful as a Ph.D psychologist. In short, medical school wasn't for him and isn't for everyone accepted or not.

Take your time, figure out what you want to do, and if you return, be prepared to devote the time to your studies that they will demand. At this point, there is no particular "spin" that you can put on this other than you took an LOA for personal reasons that those reasons will either resolve or they won't.

I realize this is an old thread, but bare with me.

Is a deferred admission or medical leave of absence before you start your first year seen by residencies? Would it hurt you in any way in applying to a residency? I have a valid reason (injury that would interfere with my courses)

 

[njbmd]

Situation: Taking a leave of absence from a medical school during year #1 (MS1). The way it works is no grades will be reported since it was before the final exam. Reason for LOA is not a very good one (mostly personal, not sure if med school is right for me). Will this still show on my transcript and have to be explained, or can it be considered some sort of deferred admission or year off before school started or something like that? Anyone know the actual way things work? Thanks

Conditions surrounding a Leave of Absence (LOA) are generally "school-specific". Your best source of information is your Dean of Students (or a trusted faculty counselor). You can't "defer" if you have already started classes. Any deferments are granted before classes begin.If you have started coursework, you have matriculated and thus you can't "defer" a year. In terms of transcripts, again this would be "school" specific and would have to be explained on a residency application.

 

[hippiedoc13]

I realize this is an old thread, but bare with me.

Is a deferred admission or medical leave of absence before you start your first year seen by residencies? Would it hurt you in any way in applying to a residency? I have a valid reason (injury that would interfere with my courses)

If I understand your question correctly, you have been accepted to medical school but have not yet started your MS1 year, right? This is the type of situation in which the term "deferred admission" would be correct. As in, you're accepted, but haven't started yet, and you talk with the school and they agree to let you wait a year and save you a spot in next year's MS1 class.

If that's the case, then it should not show up anywhere on your record when you apply to residency.

The term "leave of absence" to me denotes a situation in which you are already a student there (ie, already attending classes) and you have to take a break from your studies. That almost certainly will show up in your Dean's Letter/MSPE for residency applications. One of the first things listed on the Dean's Letter is the date you started med school, and your anticipated date of graduation. If it is more than 4 years (for any reason), then it has to be explained. That's applicable whether it was due to taking a medical LOA, failing/having to repeat a year, taking an extra year to do research/MPH/etc, or getting an MD/PhD, etc, etc.