Month of Entrance?

[RaaMD]

Which month of entrance gives you the most time to study for Step 1? Thanks.

[stephew]

dont enroll in school in that way. go when your accepted, work hard, and leave it at that. some think having more time to study is better; others believe being closer to the class material is better. there is no data that one is better than another. remember youre not doing remedial medicine. just jump in there are work hard.

[tpw2k]

i agree with stephew but the thing is I keep hearing that January is not great because it leaves you with limited time to make the match that graduating year. You have to have everything in order and timed perfectly to make match. Lemme know if this is not the case.

[RaaMD]

dont enroll in school in that way. go when your accepted, work hard, and leave it at that. some think having more time to study is better; others believe being closer to the class material is better. there is no data that one is better than another. remember youre not doing remedial medicine. just jump in there are work hard.

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps, I was overthinking the situation.

[SunDevilDoc]

All things being equal (though they usually aren't), I would choose the May semester. That's exactly what I did. You have 3 months more than those on the typical American track that start in August. Plus, you don't have all of that sitting around time if you don't make the match from the January class. Is it worth waiting a year to start? Hell no. Just get accepted.

Oh yeah....and work hard.

[stephew]

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps, I was overthinking the situation.

its a common question. that's what the site is here for! good luck.

[bigguy]

Dear RaaMD
I have to ratify stephew's advice. I'm getting ready to write Step 1, and while a May class student might have 4 more months than I do (I'm a September class student), that's not necessarily an advantage. The reality is that if you've done your work all along, the most you should spend studying is 4-10 weeks. At Saba, students who take the exam earlier tend to do better (they're probably the smarter and more motivated students anyway). But it's pretty reasonable to believe that after several months of being away from school, you're going to have significant memory decay. After all, your knowledge isn't just linked to what you learned, it's also linked in your brain to the setting in which you learned it.

I'm taking 30 days to do a comprehensive self review of all subjects. Then I'm taking 4 days off and going to the beach. And then I'm spending 21 days doing 600-800 questions a day. Then I'm taking a weekend off. Then I'm spending 7 days reviewing notes and charts, and then I'm writing Step 1. If I get a 272 on Step 1 I'll republish this schedule on the forum. But chances are, I won't be getting anywhere near that.

My recommendation is that if you want to be a doc, enter the next available class. If you have a choice, the September classes tend to be filled with slightly more motivated and serious students. That can be a plus in that it'll push you harder to keep pace which may make you better prepared in the long run. It can be a minus in that your gpa might be slightly lower than it would be in another class. According to previously posted curves, I would have been a straight A student in the January or May classes, however, in my September class I'm a 3.89 gpa.

Good luck, and yeah, don't overthink it. Just do it.

Bigguy

[medschool22]

it doesn't matter. you want to take the Steps asap.

[RaaMD]

Dear RaaMD
I have to ratify stephew's advice. I'm getting ready to write Step 1, and while a May class student might have 4 more months than I do (I'm a September class student), that's not necessarily an advantage. The reality is that if you've done your work all along, the most you should spend studying is 4-10 weeks. At Saba, students who take the exam earlier tend to do better (they're probably the smarter and more motivated students anyway). But it's pretty reasonable to believe that after several months of being away from school, you're going to have significant memory decay. After all, your knowledge isn't just linked to what you learned, it's also linked in your brain to the setting in which you learned it.

I'm taking 30 days to do a comprehensive self review of all subjects. Then I'm taking 4 days off and going to the beach. And then I'm spending 21 days doing 600-800 questions a day. Then I'm taking a weekend off. Then I'm spending 7 days reviewing notes and charts, and then I'm writing Step 1. If I get a 272 on Step 1 I'll republish this schedule on the forum. But chances are, I won't be getting anywhere near that.

My recommendation is that if you want to be a doc, enter the next available class. If you have a choice, the September classes tend to be filled with slightly more motivated and serious students. That can be a plus in that it'll push you harder to keep pace which may make you better prepared in the long run. It can be a minus in that your gpa might be slightly lower than it would be in another class. According to previously posted curves, I would have been a straight A student in the January or May classes, however, in my September class I'm a 3.89 gpa.

Good luck, and yeah, don't overthink it. Just do it.

Bigguy

Thanks for the input. Good luck with your studies.