research year - when?

[exeunt]

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i'm currently a MS2 planning on taking a year off, but really not sure when to do it. i've asked a lot of upperclassmen about their thoughts regarding taking a year off after 2nd vs. 3rd year and there doesn't really seem to be a consensus (interrupting clinical years and thus not being at your best for sub-i's 4th yr vs. forgetting everything you learned 2nd year for rotations and waiting until you're sure about what you want to go into). one person even told me this was a "hotly contested" topic. deadlines for programs are approaching and i'm still really conflicted.

just curious--what do you guys think? i'm interested in something competitive and am pretty sure i want to go into it, but of course, i haven't taken step 1 yet and don't know if i will still be competitive afterwards, in which case i might feel differently about taking a year off. any advice is appreciated! 😕

 

[UVAbme2009]

After 3rd year is the most logical.

-Hopefully you could figure out what field you want to enter prior to making a decision on a project so that it could be relevant to your career path.

-You would get to do your rotations with all of your classmates. This makes the experience all the more pleasant.

-4th year AIs are important, but you can make the time to do a little refreshing prior so that you aren't completely unprepared. You're likely going to do this anyways. I don't think that year off hurts you that much. It would be harder having a year gap prior to 3rd year when you already enter it having no idea how to clinically manage patients.

 

[Valadi]

I think between 3rd and 4th year is most appropriate. It's what I'm doing. It will influence your research in that after a year of being on the wards you will understand what is clinically relevant and what is esoteric. Moreover, 3rd year is an extra year to improve your familiarity with the literature on whatever you plan on going into, so you can get a jumpstart on the research. Lastly, you'll be doing your presentations during 4th year if you do research 3rd year, which works out perfectly for meeting and networking in your residency field.

Sure, you might forget the USPSTF guidelines in a year away, but seriously.. who cares? You're not going to forget the important concepts; the details will get quickly filled in when you jump back on ship.

 

[CatFactorial]

After third year makes sense to me. There's the continuity from preclinical, one has a better idea of future career, and chances are that you can have some clinical responsibilities so you don't forget third year.