When to take a leave of absence

[solitarius]

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Becoming a doctor is obviously a long journey. In that journey, it may be necessary to take a break for a variety of reasons.

If I wanted to take a leave of absence for a full year to travel or do research, when is the best time to take it without being disruptive? After Step 1 and before clinicals? Between third and fourth year?

 

[Textbookversion]

Becoming a doctor is obviously a long journey. In that journey, it may be necessary to take a break for a variety of reasons.

If I wanted to take a leave of absence for a full year to travel or do research, when is the best time to take it without being disruptive? After Step 1 and before clinicals? Between third and fourth year?

You think they'd let you take a leave of absence to travel? How cute. A research year is typically between third and fourth year.

 

[sindadel]

LOL. Before first year is your best bet.

 

[solitarius]

Sorry, I should have clarified that the travel would be research-related. Like a public health study.... along those lines. But let's face it, a year doing research would be less intense than the third clinical year.

 

[sindadel]

My med school had institutional support for doing a Masters or PhD during med school. Typically, people completed the preclinical work, then did the degree, then re-entered the clinical years. YMMV

 

[solitarius]

^ Is it wise to let a year pass between Step 1 material and clinical? I'm assuming you use that stuff heavily in third year, but I actually don't know jack.

 

[sindadel]

Nah. I'm Canadian, so we don't do Step 1, but MS3 is about applying and integrating your clinical acumen, not about direct regurgitation.

 

[evilbooyaa]

A lot of Step 1 information carries over very well into some of the shelf exams, including Medicine and Pediatrics (based primarily on personal experience). Obviously you have to learn to forget about 75% of the pathology and other aspects of Step 1.

I would say the optimal year to do a research year would be between years 2-3 or years 3-4.

Obviously doing something for fun before matriculating is always recommended.

 

[thepoopologist]

I would take one after third year, after you have taken Step 2. You'll have the basics down, and all the tests done. It'll be the best research year of your life.

 

[235009]

I second the advice to take as much time doing what you're interested in before entering med school. Don't drag out the med school years more than is necessary. If you take a year off during med school you'll be rusty when you get back and every year builds on the prior year so you'll be at a disadvantage.

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[yuiness]

I'm currently taking a research year between 3rd and 4th year. Here's my opinion on the matter.

Most people take research years between M2 and M3 or between M3 and M4.

The advantage of doing it M2-M3 is that you will have plenty of time afterwards for your research to be submitted and published by the time you apply for residency, which makes your application look better. M3 is so unlike anything that you've done before that most people will expect you to suck when you first arrive anyway, and most people will understand. You will be reading about your patients and studying for shelf exams anyway, so I don't think it will be a big deal to come back after a year. In addition, most people schedule the rotations that they're not very interested in first so that they have a warm-up period before having to try and impress the people in the fields that they're interested in going into.

The advantage for doing it M3-M4 is that by the end of M3, you will have a pretty solid idea of what you want to specialize in. As a result, you can choose a PI in the field you want to go into, giving you a good chance to get to know the right faculty that will help you with LORs, application advice, etc. The disadvantage is that most people do their sub-is early in the year, so you may be rusty when you have to go and start your sub-i.

 

[Stixman28]

Another reason between m3-m4 is less than ideal, in my opinion, is that as you get to end of M3, you can taste the end of med school. It's at the tip of your fingertips.

I just couldn't stop at that point personally. But it's true, you can direct your research well when you know what specialty you're going to pursue.