Thread: January or August

I've read through the forums that those who enter the MD program in January rather than August are at an advantage in terms of having more time to study for the USMLE. I don't believe studying for the exams should require more than 8 weeks depending on what kind of student you are, but I was curious if anyone has any personal thoughts on whether January > August. I've been accept for August 2011, and will attend at that time regardless.

When do those who start in August typically take Step I? What is their typical allotted time to study for it?

its not so much step I study, but time fro CK and CS as wella s time off for interviews for residency.

generally the jan class will have 18-24 weeks of bridge time , while those in the aug class have 7-11 weeks of bridge time...

the jan class has a 5 month break between 2nd and 4rd yr, the aug class 2.5 to 3.5 months break between 2nd and 3rd yr...both adequate to study for step I

also if you start in jan you are more inline to be able to apply for transfer to a US school without having to repeat a portion to all of 3rd yr.

Step 1 advantage, Step 2 advantage, interview time advantage, ability to explore specialties that are outside the cores (advantage), more time to do research before residency application, ability to transfer advantage, all of these are enough of a reason.

Now that I'm graduating and looking back at how I could have done things differently, joining the January class instead of the August class would go high on that list.

Originally Posted by rokshana

its not so much step I study, but time fro CK and CS as wella s time off for interviews for residency.

generally the jan class will have 18-24 weeks of bridge time , while those in the aug class have 7-11 weeks of bridge time...

the jan class has a 5 month break between 2nd and 4rd yr, the aug class 2.5 to 3.5 months break between 2nd and 3rd yr...both adequate to study for step I

also if you start in jan you are more inline to be able to apply for transfer to a US school without having to repeat a portion to all of 3rd yr.

That said...
If you were to start over, would you choose to wait (apply again, or defer if possible) another 6 months and start in January as opposed to August?

Thanks for the input!

Originally Posted by Marverick

That said...
If you were to start over, would you choose to wait (apply again, or defer if possible) another 6 months and start in January as opposed to August?

Thanks for the input!

lol i was jan class,so i was would not change anything if i had to do it over.
that being said, putting off another 6 months is prolly not a goo idea either, given that you will delay graduation by a whole yr...if you find that you need more time, you can always decel and ge the extra time knowong you will graduate a yr later.

Agree with above and what rok said... There are advantages in extra study time for step exam and possible transfer, but I do not consider those minor advantages to be worth delaying 6mo. You can still have plenty of time to study for the step and even find time to apply to transfer if you so desire. I was Jan class and my overall opinion is that the Jan class tends to be slightly more laid back and have a few more older students. My impression was that the August class had more gunners, which might be a good thing as far as competitive environment, but again that was just a loose impression that might not be actually true at all. Just start as soon as possible. The sooner you can graduate and start residency, the better.