What point after starting medical school is the most feasible time to take a 6 month break? Minimizing the damage to one's career

[PaprikaLeapt]

And why?

Ex:
- 6 month break between residency and working?
- 6 month break between residency and fellowship?
- break after fellowship?
- break after working for a number of years?
- Break in between locum jobs?

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[jurassicpark]

Probably after residency and before working. Will be hard to get a six months off before starting fellowship the very next week after residency. A lot of people take time off after residency to study for their boards, travel, etc. Six months may be a little much but certainly do-able. Most jobs don't have a scheduled start date for employees. Why are you taking six months off?

 

[ACSurgeon]

If you apply for a fellowship your last year of training that typically has people applying a year prior you can have a year to do whatever you want in theory.

for example if cardiology applications are usually second year or IM fellowship you can apply for it in your third year and plan to do locums or some flexible job or international work etc etc for that year that you have to wait before fellowship starts.

otherwiseadter fellowship before your job starts might work. I’ll waRn you though this might be a bad plan. Transition to attending can be stressful and you don’t want to start while feeling rusty.

 

[AMEHigh]

All of those are fine and won’t damage a career. I took a break between 3 and 4th years of med school, no regrets and I’m now doing what I love.

 

[Tenk]

Definitely wouldn’t recommend between residency and attending or fellowship and attending. In your first year out, you grow a lot as a physician. You want to be prepared as possible when you take the helm. Taking a six month break before hand is not a good idea.

Safest bet would be after you’ve been an attending for a few years so you’re pretty solid. I took a three month break and it was fine.

 

[~Soñadora~]

I took one year off between second and third year with the pretext of doing an MPH and it's worked out great, my MPH is the main topic of conversation during residency interviews in a favorable manner. Had a great experience during my year off, don't regret it, didn't harm me in the least I don't think.

 

[Raryn]

And why?

Ex:
- 6 month break between residency and working?
- 6 month break between residency and fellowship?
- break after fellowship?
- break after working for a number of years?
- Break in between locum jobs?

You can take a year off in the middle of medical school with minimal issues as long as you can find some nominal explanation. Work a few hours a week doing research and then if you weren't productive, well... sometimes research just doesn't work out.

Taking a year off between medical school and residency is about the worst thing you could possibly do (short of a felony charge) with regards to your odds of matching.

Taking 6 months off between residency/fellowship and working is meh. No one will care - people take 1-2 months all the time for board study, moving, and decompression. Biggest issue there is a lack of money. Your employer may ask for an explanation - vacation and board study is perfectly legitimate.

Taking time off between residency and fellowship isn't usually done - it would need to be a year due to how schedules work and it won't help your fellowship odds. Depending on the fellowship it might not be deadly, but it won't help.

Taking time off between jobs? No one cares. Just need to have an explanation - "travelling" or "sabattical" is just fine.

 

[PaprikaLeapt]

All of those are fine and won’t damage a career. I took a break between 3 and 4th years of med school, no regrets and I’m now doing what I love.

What was your justification to the medical school to get this break? Is this common?

 

[BigRedBeta]

If you apply for a fellowship your last year of training that typically has people applying a year prior you can have a year to do whatever you want in theory.

for example if cardiology applications are usually second year or IM fellowship you can apply for it in your third year and plan to do locums or some flexible job or international work etc etc for that year that you have to wait before fellowship starts.

Second this. It's pretty common in peds actually, fellowship match day is December of 3rd year, so a number of people who haven't decided on a path will wait to go through the process in their year after completing residency. Most people will work as a hospitalist (typically within their residency program is how I've usually seen it) but I suppose you could take the time off. It can be a fairly low-key fall going through interviews and studying for Gen Peds boards (the exam is generally mid October). Not stress free, but low-key for sure.

The biggest concern is money and also how your student loans are being managed, but if you save well or have a spouse, would be doable. Locums would be flexible enough as well - do some late summer vacation coverage to build up the bank account and then take the rest of the time off until you're ready to do more work.