Gap Year- Reapply for Residency

[whatsupdoc408]

I took 2 years off after not finishing preliminary internship year. I was sexually harassed by an attending during my preliminary year and had to take care of a very ill family member. I was also depressed since I didn't match into dermatology, so I ended up giving it all up before I finished my prelim year.

That was in the spring/summer of 2015 and now after taking care of the ill family member, taking some time to travel and volunteer around the world, I had a complete mental reset and have decided that I need to go back into pursuing my medical career and reapply into an Internal Medicine program for July 2018. My step 1 score was 247 and step 2 CK score was 263.

-What would be a good reason for my gap year? I don't want to tell admissions or in my personal statement that I was sexually harassed and just couldn't hack it mentally. It might make me look weak.
-Would doing some research be beneficial? I contacted different programs, and some said it won't hurt, and some said don't bother if I am not interested in research.

Yes I understand, I should have sucked it up, tried to finish instead of copping out, but I didn't, so I just need helpful advice to move forward, please!

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[Raryn]

I took 2 years off after not finishing preliminary internship year. I was sexually harassed by an attending during my preliminary year and had to take care of a very ill family member. I was also depressed since I didn't match into dermatology, so I ended up giving it all up before I finished my prelim year.

That was in the spring/summer of 2015 and now after taking care of the ill family member, taking some time to travel and volunteer around the world, I had a complete mental reset and have decided that I need to go back into pursuing my medical career and reapply into an Internal Medicine program for July 2018. My step 1 score was 247 and step 2 CK score was 263.

-What would be a good reason for my gap year? I don't want to tell admissions or in my personal statement that I was sexually harassed and just couldn't hack it mentally. It might make me look weak.

If you had finished the year, I'd say you just tell them exactly what you said above. "I had to take care of a very ill family member".

That said, the bigger problem is going to be exactly what your prior PD is going to say about why you didn't finish your prelim year. Any application you submit, especially for IM, it will be absolutely necessary to have a letter from the current program director of your old program. If they put any details of concerns regarding your competency or something along those lines, you're in big trouble. Whatever they put, you really don't want your claimed reasons to be completely inconsistent with theirs. This is probably your biggest issue (and the 4 years from graduation is your second biggest).

-Would doing some research be beneficial? I contacted different programs, and some said it won't hurt, and some said don't bother if I am not interested in research.

Yes I understand, I should have sucked it up, tried to finish instead of copping out, but I didn't, so I just need helpful advice to move forward, please!

Research at this point won't really help. You have four months before the match process opens, not time to do anything super meaningful.

 

[fhockey13]

Being sexually harassed by your attending and having a very ill family member are both huge things to deal with so I don't think you "copped out". And honestly, leaving that program might have been a blessing in disguise since you no longer have to deal with an uncomfortable work environment. Did you report the harassment to GME or your PD?