Year off between M1 and M2

[yofuturedoc]

Looking for help/advice on an important life decision... Currently in my M1 year and might possibly get married sometime within the next few months... I know a lot of people manage this, but I cannot due to long-distance relationship. Would it be a horrible idea to take a gap year between my M1 and M2 year? I plan on doing research, reviewing M1 stuff and staying productive all around... Thank you

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[BunnyMan17]

It would be better than M2 and M3 I suppose but that knowledge atrophy is real. I got married around the end of MS3 and we've been together about 40% (other 60% on opposite sides of the country) thanks to preset rotation schedules. It's difficult but you find ways to make it work. Skype and such are awesome, schedule weekends together when possible, etc.
But to clarify, OP, are you wanting to take a gap year to spend time with your then new spouse? Or is this an arranged marriage? (only asked cause one of my college buds was in a similar situation given an arranged marriage).

 

[yofuturedoc]

Not an arranged marriage. Just want to spend time with spouse... But basically just wanted to know if it is unheard of or possible to take year off between M1 and M2.
I am also quite worried about the knowledge atrophy... I'm hoping its nothing some Anki a day and Qbanks won't solve?

 

[BunnyMan17]

Gotcha gotcha. Makes sense, I personally have not heard of anyone doing that. I doubt doing daily anki or qbanks would hold the line as compared to progressing your medical education. If I had taken a year off at that point I feel like I would not have had enough educational intertia to keep most of it from slipping away. If you have a student advisor they might be able to give you some advice in the setting of your specific school policies.

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

Looking for help/advice on an important life decision... Currently in my M1 year and might possibly get married sometime within the next few months... I know a lot of people manage this, but I cannot due to long-distance relationship. Would it be a horrible idea to take a gap year between my M1 and M2 year? I plan on doing research, reviewing M1 stuff and staying productive all around... Thank you

Highly recommend against it. The worst time to take a year off would be between 1 and 2 and it would look really bad. Most commonly years off would be after year 2 or year 3, and you should have something productive to do during that year. Taking a year off to get married after MS1 would be a pink flag at best and something you'd have to explain come application time. I would not recommend going down this route.

 

[odyssey2]

I don't think getting married in and of itself is enough of an excuse to take a full year off and may raise some eyebrows come application time. There's also a good amount of Step 1 knowledge covered during M1 which you won't want to atrophy over time. I've heard adcoms don't love it when you take a long time off prior to Step 1 since it looks as though you're trying to get away with extra study time, but now that it's P/F that may no longer be the case.

 

[ciestar]

I think you’d have a hard time convincing your school to take a year off just because you want to spend time with your spouse. You actually do have to explain gaps in education on your ERAs. I am married and I totally get it, but, this would only hurt your residency prospects. Research years and masters programs after M3 are much more common