Hi, I'm an M3 at a top-25 medical school and I'm debating whether to do a year out for research.
I've been pretty strongly set on ortho as a career, but I'm hesitant to tack on another year for research and extend an already long road. I worked as an engineer for a couple years prior to school and going down the ortho path, I'll have 7-8 of training ahead of me --> which puts me somewhere between 35-37 when I'm all said and done.
I've gotten some research done, but my Step I score was not great and it's looking like I'll be getting a high pass on my cores (IM, Surg, Peds, Ob/Gyn).
I'm sure that taking a year out could only help me, but my question is how helpful would it be or do I stand a chance without it? I'd appreciate if anybody has some advice to share!
Stats
- Step I: 233 (I don't know what went wrong)
- 3 manuscripts (no first authors... yet)
- 6-7 poster presentations (mostly first authors)