USMLE Step 1 and planning a wedding

[jmsgirl25]

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I was wondering if anyone has successfully planned a wedding and studied for Step 1 the summer after second year. Or if anyone has any helpful advice. Thanks

 

[erinmed2k4]

I took Step 1 on June 24th after my 2nd year (a couple of years ago) and got married on July 13th. Both events worked out wonderfully in the end. In planning my 3rd year schedule I chose to have my first rotation be one that started 2 weeks later than normal (started July 21st). So I was fortunate because I had enough time to study for step 1 (about 5 weeks) and then had about 2-3 weeks after step 1 to do final prep for the wedding. We even had time for a 1 week long honeymoon (started rotations the day after we got back). There was not a lot of planning that needed to be done during my 5 weeks of protected study time, and people knew not to "bother" me during this time.

I was nervous about planning to get married right around step 1 since everyone tells you how important it is to be totally focused on studying. However, when you use that rationale there are very few times during medical school that are perfect for getting married/having a baby/having a life. You just have to work with your schedule and be open and flexible with planning.
🙂

 

[jmsgirl25]

Thank you for your response. Sounds like everything worked out perfectly for you. I agree that as a medical student, there isn't going to be a good time. How flexible are start dates for a rotation? Are they accomadating if they know you're getting married? also, what happens if for any reason, you don't pass step 1?

 

[erinmed2k4]

In terms of rotation schedules and accomodating your wedding, the best person to talk to is your advisory dean (i emailed mine as soon as i had an idea of when i wanted my wedding to happen). they can best outline your options for you. we ranked our rotation order preferences and after that it was sort of luck of the draw....i think that if something had happened and i had not received the rotation i needed first someone would have been willing to switch with me if they knew about the wedding issues.

failing step 1 is basically the same wedding or no wedding. It generally takes 4-6 weeks to get the scores back and I *think* there might be an xx number of days waiting period before you can take it again so it probably won't change your wedding plans (failing step 1 is pretty uncommon as most pass on the first try so as long as you have given yourself enough study time ...things should work out.)