Need advice for LOA length for maternity/baby for 3/4th year

[OreoIcecream]

Hello everyone, my husband and I recently found out we are pregnant. I just started 3rd year. I'm having a meeting to discuss options for maternity leave with my school soon but wanted to also see what people's experience were here.

My school forces students to take a leave of absence no matter what time length so that box will be checked on eras.

My current options are to take April (end of third year) off and come back a year later (May) to start fourth year, or to use up all of my flexible time to create a 8 week maternity leave and then jump back in to clinicals/take level 2 shortly afterwards. This would leave no cushions if I were to fail a rotation for some reason (haven't failed anything yet).

My board scores were above average and I did well in my preclinicals. I'm interested in FM, community setting, either in midwest or out west (in FM with women health/OB focus).

How bad does a year off look for maternity leave if I do volunteer work during it to residency directors? Will I be shooting myself in the foot? It'd be easier to take a year compared to 2 months but I don't want to hurt my residency chances. Please let me know any experiences anyone has had in this.

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[calvinhobbes]

No one will care especially if it’s because you’re pregnant, happens ALL the time, don’t worry! As for which option, it really depends … of course waiting an extra year is good for you mentally, but you also miss out on applying to programs as applicants are rising each year… maybe some others can chime in.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agree this is not a concern at all. Do what you want. Programs, especially FM, will not care at all. If you want a year with your new baby, that's what you should do. The biggest practical issue is that you put off getting a salary for another year.