year off AFTER med school but BEFORE residency

[ultane123]

does it harm your chances of landing competitive residency if you take a year off AFTER med school but BEFORE residency to do something academic related (research)?

[i ask because of a complicated situtation of timing marriage, family issues, etc]

u.

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[mackie]

Are you already a good candidate for a great residency program? Do you already have good letters of recommendation? If so, and you have a good reason for taking the year off, I don't think it will hurt your chances very much. If you plan on applying to a super competitive specialty like Derm or ENT, I would recommend you have some research or something academic lined up during your year off early on to talk about during interviews. (After interview season is over, you can do as you please.)

I took a year off and got into a top Internal Med program with no problem. Interestingly, no one ever asked during interview season what I was doing during my year off. I did explain why I took the year off in my Personal Statement, but I still expected someone to ask, "So, what are you doing now?" But, it never came up.

Most places/people are understanding of family issues.

 

[skoller]

I matched at my first choice at a top pathology program after taking a year off to have a baby (and do a bit of research). Granted, pathology's not the most competitive field, but it has become more difficult to match into over the past couple of years. I had a similar experience to Mackie's, in that I was really surprised at how few times my year off seemed to come up during interviews. I would have agonized much less over the decision to sit out a year had I known how little it mattered!