Gap years from a Caribbean Med School. I am a non US-IMG

[moreta1623]

I have a question: If i graduate med school in april 2023 and apply for residency interviews on september 2023, will that count as 1 year gap? Will residency programs look this as a red flag? In my ERAS aplication will i have to state that it is a 1 post graduation year or do i simply state it as nothing?

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[Gambino.]

If you graduate in April 2023 you would be eligible for residency in 2023 as most residencies would require you to finish school by May/June of 2023. So yes, it would be a gap year since you were eligible for the match in 2023. The cutoff for most programs is 5 years post YOG so it shouldn't really affect your outcome much as long as you can explain why you took a gap year (studying for Step, blah blah blah, etc). Alternatively, you can ask your school to delay graduation and work on some research if you don't want to apply for 2023.

 

[moreta1623]

As far as i know, the lesser the years after graduation the better. Do you think its gonna make a huge difference if apply without graduating than having that sort of gap year? I really wanna take advantage of everything i can, so if applying before graduation has some sort of advantage into taking me into consideration i will do it, nonetheless, it will be a more tight schedule for me, since i would be taking the tests with lesser time than expected between them.

 

[Gambino.]

it will be a more tight schedule for me, since i would be taking the tests with lesser time than expected between them.

Having a better step score would be more advantageous than not taking a gap year and having worse scores. The problem you'll run into though is that starting in 2022, Step 1 will become P/F. You still need to do well on Step 2 but the big equalizer for international grads will be gone. I'd speak to a school counselor regarding next steps. YOG <5 shouldn't filter you out of most programs.

 

[moreta1623]

i am planning on taking step 1 on august of 2021, step 2 ck in april 2022 and step2 cs somewhere between june or july, maybe august of 2022. I wanna take s2cs as soon as possible too, since ive heard you can wait between 4 to 13 weeks to get the scores back. It would be a shame to take the exam in june or july and recieve my score on october or even late september. People ususally make submissions on early september so i would be on disadvantage so that is mainly the reason id take it between june or july. I wanna do good on it, but idk i feel like my plan is kinda packed up, not giving too much room in general. What do you think?

 

[Gambino.]

i am planning on taking step 1 on august of 2021, step 2 ck in april 2022 and step2 cs somewhere between june or july, maybe august of 2022. I wanna take s2cs as soon as possible too, since ive heard you can wait between 4 to 13 weeks to get the scores back. It would be a shame to take the exam in june or july and recieve my score on october or even late september. People ususally make submissions on early september so i would be on disadvantage so that is mainly the reason id take it between june or july. I wanna do good on it, but idk i feel like my plan is kinda packed up, not giving too much room in general. What do you think?

I mean it sounds like if you take them at those intervals you should be able to apply for 2023. Regardless applying 2024 instead won't make much of a difference but I'm sure a PD would know more than I.

 

[moreta1623]

Thank you very much for your observations! Btw, what's a PD? I am kinda new here

 

[Gambino.]

Thank you very much for your observations! Btw, what's a PD? I am kinda new here

The person in charge of the residency essentially. Program director.

 

[moreta1623]

Thanks!