Unmatched, defer graduation?

[ohshux]

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Was hoping someone could offer some advice on this issue. Apologize if it's been repeated already but couldn't find it myself.

Went unmatched. I am debating choosing a new field entirely. I have heard some ppl say that deferring graduation and reapplying as a senior medical student is more advantageous than as a graduated medical student. The reason being: applying as a snr student is aesthetically better and chances are lower that you would be screened by a program because of the stigma that comes along with being a graduated md (independent applicant).

Was hoping anyone could offer some advice. Obviously those who have been in this position would know best. Thanks in advance...

oh shux....

 

[anamarylee]

If you defer graduation you would have to explain why it's taken you longer than 4 years to finish med school (ERAS has a question about this).

 

[Top Gun]

Was hoping someone could offer some advice on this issue. Apologize if it's been repeated already but couldn't find it myself.

Went unmatched. I am debating choosing a new field entirely. I have heard some ppl say that deferring graduation and reapplying as a senior medical student is more advantageous than as a graduated medical student. The reason being: applying as a snr student is aesthetically better and chances are lower that you would be screened by a program because of the stigma that comes along with being a graduated md (independent applicant).

Was hoping anyone could offer some advice. Obviously those who have been in this position would know best. Thanks in advance...

oh shux....

I don't think there really is a stigma against applicants who already have their MD. I already had my MD going into the Match this year and I was able to match. A friend of mine had an MD going into the Match last year, and he was able to match as well. And what about residents who change specialties? Quite a few of them manage to match.

 

[Blade28]

Deferment or extending your med school education (i.e. taking more than 4 years to finish) can be a red flag if you don't have a valid excuse.

So be careful about considering this.

 

[lord_jeebus]

What field are you thinking about?

If it's competitive, it might be a good idea to defer graduation and start a research project now.

What would you do next year if you graduated?

 

[Top Gun]

Just to modify my previous statement, I don't think there is necessarily a stigma when an applicant entering the Match already has an MD. However, if the applicant has had the MD for a number of years, and has not obtained a residency, then that becomes a problem because programs obviously want someone who has recent clinical experience. Depending on how long ago you graduated medical school, this may or may not have an adverse effect.

 

[ohshux]

thanks for the replies. i was thinking of deferring only for a couple months so that i could reapply as a senior and take advantage of being a student. by that i mean being able to do rotations via my school, use our deans office for all their services(sending crap to eras/lors/etc)....i never even considered this until i heard several ppl mention this(but their reasoning was mostly "it looks better applying as a snr rather than graduate and prevents the automatic screening because of your status")

a field like rads is what i was considering. obviously this being a field completely different than the field i applied for and did not match last year i would doing research in the offseason as i put together my application....

thanks again for the replies...

 

[Ypo.]

I'm a third yr med student, so take it with a grain of salt, but I've considered taking a year off in the middle of fourth year, then finishing up the following year. I do think it's better to take a year off while in medical school before applying as opposed to graduating and then applying to the match. Like you say, you can also have the advantage of doing away rotations (huge perk) and if you take a year off rather than extend, you don't have to pay for another year's tuition. However, I was thinking of doing this for a different reason than your situation. For you, you need to consider what you would be doing during this year. Like Jebus says, doing research is a great idea.

Another thing for you to consider (and I don't know the answer); do you tell programs next year that you've already been through the match once unsuccessfully? And if you are switching specialties, you'll have to have a reason better than "it's my backup plan in case i didn't match into rads" or whatever.

 

[Long Dong]

If I did not match derm last year I was told by my adviser to take a year off/post pone graduation to do research and reapply again as a senior. That's what I would've done.

 

[ohshux]

long dong,

did she offer a reason as to why you should defer? i too was planning to do research but only postpone graduation by a couple months so that I don't pay a considerable sum to stay a student while having the benefit of "being a senrior". please let me know as i would love a "why" in this matter....

-o

 

[Substance]

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[Long Dong]

long dong,

did she offer a reason as to why you should defer? i too was planning to do research but only postpone graduation by a couple months so that I don't pay a considerable sum to stay a student while having the benefit of "being a senrior". please let me know as i would love a "why" in this matter....

-o

I was told by my advisor that your best chance of matching into a competitive res is as a senior medical student. And that when you take a year off to do research doesn't really matter, just as long as something/publishing comes out of it. I know plenty of people who did a year of research get tons of interviews at great places who I think wouldn't have if they didn't do that year of research. I was told by my adviser not to reapply as an intern because not much on my application would have changed if I decided to just do my internship and reapply. Also if I went ahead and reapplied after internship my adviser told be that the best bet would be to reapply after internship during a research fellowship. This meant having to wait 2 years (after internship and then research year) before reapplying, this seemed like to long of a wait, and I was only going to try that if after postponing graduation to do research didn't work. Hope that helps.