Reapplying to Residency - Gap Year Reasons

[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.

-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.

Any valuable suggestions would be helpful!

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[ColdTurkiye]

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.

-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.

Any valuable suggestions would be helpful!

Maybe allude to an issue during prelim year in your personal statement and expand on it in the interview if asked.

I also think that if you were going for dermatology initially you're probably a strong candidate for IM since it is nowhere near as competitive. I'm sure some programs will shut their doors to you (because lets face medicine in the United States is snob city) but there are definitely a lot of great programs out there who are likely to give you a chance. Apply broadly, have a little faith in yourself, and you'll do great.

Also, traveling and volunteering around the world is super cool so maybe write about those experiences in your personal statement as well. Working with diverse, culturally unique peoples, is a great experience that is likely to serve you well in a big city, if you fancy a big city for residency. I have classmates that have only left the tristate area for medial school interviews. No joke. There are some seriously lame applicants out there.

 

[michaelrack]

Do you really think you will get better answers here than in the General Residency forum, where you have already posted?

 

[gutonc]

Cross-posted. Closing.