Gap Year for Research: Is It Worth It?

Coming from a clinically intensive medical school, it was important for her to gain research experience during residency. Essential to that was finding mentors in her subspecialty. In her current position, she is pursuing opportunities to incorporate research into her clinical duties.

She emphasized, however, that every trainee’s situation is unique, and for those who take time to do research but don’t want to pursue it in their career, she understands why it might feel wiser for them to go straight through medical school or residency without taking extra time for research.

Her one piece of advice is for trainees to check out multiple residency programs and hopefully get the opportunity to meet mentors in those programs. “You have to take a look at the ones you can go to and see if they have the resources that will be a good match for you,” she said, adding that everyone has their own individual goals and motivations, and there is no right or wrong way of working toward a medical career. “When you’re on the path you are on, you make the most of what is in front of you. If you have a strong belief in what you want to do, odds are you will end up in a place that fits your goals,” she said. “You may not see it right away, but you will get there.”

Alexandra Berges, MD, a resident in the Johns Hopkins otolaryngology– head and neck surgery department in Baltimore, said she took a research gap year between her third and fourth years of medical school, given her interest in translational research, and that the timing coincided with the reduced clinical load during COVID-19. During that time, she worked in a laboratory studying inflammatory, genetic, and molecular factors involved in laryngotracheal stenosis and iatrogenic tracheal injury. She also shadowed head and neck oncologic surgeons to deepen her understanding of the field. The gap year also provided a way to delay application for an otolaryngology residency during a year when 13 people were applying for such a position in her medical school. “I felt there was a benefit of delaying a year to make myself more competitive,” she said, emphasizing that the gap year also gave her added time to develop relationships with mentors.

She said she thinks it is increasingly uncommon for students to go straight from college to medical school, or from medical school to residency, because many of the experiences (community service, clinical exposure, research) needed to be competitive are hard to fit into college.