Taking a year off

[kumar28]

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I have to take a year off (family reasons) and i am in between my 3rd and 4th year of medical school about 2 months away from electives. Is this going to affect me getting a residency...i want either pmr or psychiatry? Anyone have any thoughts? Has anyone had any previous similar experiences? Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks

 

[psych2b]

I took a year off between MS-2 & MS-3, and matched to my first-choice psychiatry residency. No one asked me about it. No one even mentionned it. I did explain in my ERAS CV, as did my Dean's Letter, that it was b/c I decided to spend a year with my new-born son (it was all planned - b/c I'm an OLDER med student, and didn't want to wait until after residency... it just seemed like the right time for us). I didn't do any research or anything like that during my year off - just spend it with my little one, and this did not adversely affect my applications - I was invited to interview everywhere I applied. Good luck!

 

[Poety]

I did a year of research between 3rd and 4th (not really a year off, just as, if not mroe intense than 3rd year) and then a year off after 4th year for my baby - no adverse affects minus the accumulation of ridiculous DEBT pfft Got my first choice psych, am also an older med student.

 

[kumar28]

Thanks alot for your replies...i really appreciate your stories...it really is making this alot easier for me. Anyone else?

 

[Sohalia]

Didn't actually take a year off, but the Duke 3rd year is a research year, during which I got an MPH in epi (no clinical work at all). Then I did what we call a "3.5" year, which is a second research year between 3rd and 4th (pretty common at my school) in geriatric rehab research, again no clinical work, all secondary database analysis. It was hard to come back to the wards 4th year, just because it is so different from grad school/research, but I did fine. I matched in PM&R at my first choice, categorical RIC/Northwestern, an elite program.

Good luck!