Scheduling Vacation Early in 4th Yr..is it bad?

[rendezvous14]

I am a 4th yr student applying for the match this year. I want to take the first 2 months (~7/20-9/20) of the year off for vacation to finish up some research projects/publications that I've been working on as well as take Step 2.


I am sure what I want to go into, so I don't need to do sub-i's in a couple of areas to help me decide, and I already have all my LOR's. Also, my Step 1 score and 3rd year evaluations were all solid, so I don't desperately need a really good sub-i eval. But I am concerned how an extended period without clinical work at the beginning of 4th year will come off on my application..will I be perceived as lazy? Will programs wonder why I'm not doing sub-i's during that time?


Thanks in advance..

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[Law2Doc]

I am a 4th yr student applying for the match this year. I want to take the first 2 months (~7/20-9/20) of the year off for vacation to finish up some research projects/publications that I've been working on as well as take Step 2.


I am sure what I want to go into, so I don't need to do sub-i's in a couple of areas to help me decide, and I already have all my LOR's. Also, my Step 1 score and 3rd year evaluations were all solid, so I don't desperately need a really good sub-i eval. But I am concerned how an extended period without clinical work at the beginning of 4th year will come off on my application..will I be perceived as lazy? Will programs wonder why I'm not doing sub-i's during that time?


Thanks in advance..

It's not wise. The first few months of 4th year are typically to (1) take some electives to help rule in/rule out other possible specialties you wouldn't have had yet, (2) get some additional evaluations/grades for your Dean's letter, (3) possibly do some away ("audition") rotations in your desired field, (4) meet with advisers/LOR writers/etc to get your application started, etc.

Yes, how you do on a sub-I (where you were actually functioning as a quasi-intern) will impact your application far more than how you did in your XYZ core rotation during third year where you have far less responsibility, so at a minimum you probably want to do one of those to get the evals into the dean's letter, or maybe an LOR from someone who can attest to how you might function as an intern.

It's not so much that you will be perceived as "lazy" as much as you will have an application with a bit less substance than your peers, which is not ideal. Do what everyone else smartly does -- save the vacations for (1) interviewing, (2) Step 2 studying, and (3) so you can basically kick back and relax next spring after the match has come and gone.

 

[rendezvous14]

Thanks for the reply..but hear me out with a few more specifics..



For your points:
1) I am doing Radiology and not considering anything else.
2) I realize that during this time I can get some additional evaluations and grades for my dean's letter, but how important is this. As I mentioned, my Step 1 and 3rd yr rotations were solid, so I feel like 4th year evaluations can only hurt me (suppose I do poorly), whereas if I do well, they probably won't change anything.
Per your point about evaluating my capability as an intern.. even if I do rotations during those 2 months, I am not signed up for sub-i's..I'd be doing electives in Radiology, which are a little bit lighter and not good markers of my ability to perform as an intern.
3) I am not planning on doing any away rotations.
4) These things I can and will do even if I am "on vacation."


I realize it's a bit unorthodox, but as I mentioned, during this time I will finish some publications and take Step 2, so I am sure I could explain it pretty well on an interview. I really want to take this time, but first I want to make sure that this kind of scheduling is not a major red flag for even getting an interview in the first place?

 

[IHeartNerds]

I would ask someone at your hospital's program, since the inner workings of a radiology program are probably beyond the scope of the average SDN poster.

I did have an academic advisor in my MS1-2 years who was an academic radiologist and he seemed to place little/no weight on Sub-Is for radiology, as you mention. If your plans allow you to put a few more abstracts / research projects on your ERAS, more power to you.

However, depending on your graduation requirements, you might be tasked with taking courses over December/January when lots of interviews are, and I assume that most people interview at a lot of rads programs. I would be wary trying to do so while still doing rotations, even if they are "easier" electives.

 

[hippiedoc13]

Instead of taking the time as vacation, is it possible to schedule a "research block" during that time? (Since it sounds like you will be using a good chunk of the time on legitimate research pursuits anyway.) My med school allowed us to schedule up to 8 weeks of a "research block" as an elective rotation during our 4th year, for which we got the same credit as doing a clinical elective. This would have 2 potential benefits for you: having that time labeled as "research" on your transcript may look better than taking vacation, and also as someone else pointed out, you may need to save up your vacation time for the Dec-Jan interview season crunch, especially as a radiology applicant who will likely interview widely, plus you have to interview for both radiology and prelim/transitional.

 

[Law2Doc]

Instead of taking the time as vacation, is it possible to schedule a "research block" during that time? (Since it sounds like you will be using a good chunk of the time on legitimate research pursuits anyway.) My med school allowed us to schedule up to 8 weeks of a "research block" as an elective rotation during our 4th year, for which we got the same credit as doing a clinical elective. This would have 2 potential benefits for you: having that time labeled as "research" on your transcript may look better than taking vacation, and also as someone else pointed out, you may need to save up your vacation time for the Dec-Jan interview season crunch, especially as a radiology applicant who will likely interview widely, plus you have to interview for both radiology and prelim/transitional.

Agree with this somewhat. However (1) for radiology it's actually not a bad idea to actually do some research during your research block (this is one of those fields that prizes research highly), and (2) you are definitely going to need evaluations and LORs from a radiology elective in your app or no radiology program is going to take you seriously, so yes, this is something you are going to need to take before you apply.
Agree with the point that for advanced programs you have to budget your vacation because you might need to interview with a dozen transitional year/prelim year programs on top of the radiology programs, so folks applying for advanced programs can easily spend over a month on the road.

 

[Law2Doc]

... As I mentioned, my Step 1 and 3rd yr rotations were solid, so I feel like 4th year evaluations can only hurt me (suppose I do poorly), ...

Maybe you can convince yourself of this, but I doubt the rest of us are going to buy it. You will be applying against folks with both 3rd year core evals and early 4th year evals (especially including sub-Is, away rotations and/or electives in their desired specialty) reflected in their MSPE/dean's letter. Programs are gonna wonder why yours is so much shorter than theirs, and at a minimum this will force them to ask you why. And vacation isn't going to be a winning answer.

The academic portion of fourth year isn't exactly burdensome compared to the other three years of med school. You will undoubtedly get the least education for the money that year, no matter how you slice it, between vacation months, easy electives and days away from campus for interviewing. So just suck it up and push forward for the few months until the match. Then you can coast to the finish line.

 

[drizzt3117]

if your step 1 was solid why are you taking step 2 at the beginning of 4th year? If you're looking for things that can't really help you but could hurt you, seems like that's an obvious one.

Thanks for the reply..but hear me out with a few more specifics..



For your points:
1) I am doing Radiology and not considering anything else.
2) I realize that during this time I can get some additional evaluations and grades for my dean's letter, but how important is this. As I mentioned, my Step 1 and 3rd yr rotations were solid, so I feel like 4th year evaluations can only hurt me (suppose I do poorly), whereas if I do well, they probably won't change anything.
Per your point about evaluating my capability as an intern.. even if I do rotations during those 2 months, I am not signed up for sub-i's..I'd be doing electives in Radiology, which are a little bit lighter and not good markers of my ability to perform as an intern.
3) I am not planning on doing any away rotations.
4) These things I can and will do even if I am "on vacation."


I realize it's a bit unorthodox, but as I mentioned, during this time I will finish some publications and take Step 2, so I am sure I could explain it pretty well on an interview. I really want to take this time, but first I want to make sure that this kind of scheduling is not a major red flag for even getting an interview in the first place?

 

[Law2Doc]

if your step 1 was solid why are you taking step 2 at the beginning of 4th year? If you're looking for things that can't really help you but could hurt you, seems like that's an obvious one.

Agreed. Most of the advanced programs, including rads, don't need Step 2 scores to be completed before you apply unless you are IMG/FMG, and a poor Step 2 score can undo a solid Step 1 far more effectively than a snide comment in a 4th year elective.