I'm a 3rd year student contemplating whether I should take a research year or not. I have a great position lined up at an MGH lab if I were to take a year, however I don't have any funding so the total cost of living expenses etc would be on me. Below are some relevant stats, my goal is to match somewhere around top 20 ortho residency. Your thoughts would be very much appreciated
Med school: Top 20
Step I: 254
Clinical Grades: All Honors so far in Medicine, Surgery, Family Med...still have to finish psych, OBGYN, peds
Research: 1 first author manuscript, 1 first author case report, 1 co-author basic science paper, 3 poster presentations, and potentially another first author manuscript before graduation
Extracurriculars: President of a surgical interest group, a lot of tutoring/teaching, Anatomy TA, other minor involvements
