Should I take a year off?

[ojosfantasticos]

Congrats to all of those who matched!

I am a third year medical student who is in a dilemma with regards to planning for fourth year and am hoping a recent applicant or current resident might be able to help me out.

I am very interested in Opthalmology, although my experience is limited to some recent shadowing experiences. I am wrapping up third year and have a whopping two weeks in March/April to do electives which is when I am hoping to do an opthalmology elective. However, I have to plan/declare my fourth year schedule this upcoming week. Because of my limited exposure to opthalmology, I am stressed that if I do plan my 4th yr around applying to opthalmology I will be at a significant disadvantage for matching.

Because of family issues, location is a huge priority for me, specifically southern California. Since the programs in soCal seem extremely competitive, I am debating whether or not to take a research year off to better position myself to match in this geographic area.

Stats: Step 1 265+, Step 2 Not taken, Clerkship: All honors, with one non medicine/surg rotation to go, Research: 2-3 Published Abstracts in non-optho fields, 2 Manuscripts under review (non-optho related), No published manuscripts yet, No basic science research, no optho research. School: Mid Tier West Coat Med School with home program.

Would it be worthwhile to take a year off to do research? If so, should I do it at my home program or at a different institution in southern CA?

Really appreciate any input or advice as I am really lost. Thanks

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[ophthope]

Your stats are great, I'm not sure a year off for research will make you any more likely to match in SoCal but someone else may know better than I do about that.

What I want to bring up is this: if the area is that important for you, I have heard that SoCal salaries are absurdly low for Ophthalmologists. I've heard of starting salary offers around $80,000. The area is supposed to be way over-saturated with eye care providers.

So if being in the area is of long-term importance you may want to check out other fields. Others may disagree but as a family man myself if it was that important to me this is something I would be considering.

 

[eyesteve]

OjosFantasticos: First of all, congrats on your outstanding Step 1 score and clinical grades. Though I don't want to stroke your ego, and assuming you're a normal/cool person, programs will likely be interested in having you interview.
That being said, if you applied today, I would say that your limited exposure to ophtho may be somewhat of a weakness as you pointed out. As I just stated on another thread, it is only mid-late January right now and your application isn't due for another 7 months. While it stinks that you will not be able to do your two week ophtho elective until March/April, it isn't the end of the world. You are in a great position, but try and get as much ophtho exposure as you can before time comes to submitting your application.

Firstly, I would suggest that you need exposure so that you can be sure this is the field for you. And, in light of your somewhat restrictive "family issues" and given the possibly saturated job market in SoCal currently as ophthope pointed out, certainty that you want to do ophtho is critical. Tag along with the residents on call, go to ophtho grand rounds if you can make it, talk to ophthalmologists, all in an effort to solidify your decision.

Secondly, you have 7 solid months to do alot of damage (in a good way) for adding ophtho publications to your CV. Ask past ophtho applicants/residents from your school/program which attendings are good to work with, set up a meeting, and get involved in some ophtho research. Not only will this help you get strong letters, but by doing research you will be forced to read ophtho textbooks/journals/etc, thus helping you see if you enjoy studying the material and confirming your desire to go into the field.

Finally, to actually answer your question about taking a year off. Given that it is only January, I don't think you need to take a year off, but that you can get plenty of ophtho-related research done in these next 6-7 months to beef up your resume sufficiently. What about the need to stay in SoCal? Unfortunately, the reality is that the SoCal programs are notoriously difficult to match. Unless you have an ankle bracelet that requires you to stay in SoCal or you are taking care of an ill loved one and can't move under any circumstances, you need to recognize that you may need to move out of SoCal for residency. If you must stay in SoCal, I would try and diversify your exposure to as many programs as you can so that you are a known entity when your application is reviewed this coming fall. Hopefully your home program knows you well (or will get to know you when you start doing said clinical research this spring), so try and do some combo of aways/research rotations at nearby programs and help them get to know you and your absolute necessity of staying in SoCal.
Hope you don't feel too lost. Scheduling fourth year is a stressful time with lots of decisions to be made. Hang in there! You'll be great!