Deferring to have baby?

[smm99]

Has anyone here requested a deferral for the purpose of having a baby (or having very recently had a baby)? My husband and I are trying to figure when might be the best time to start trying, and I was toying with the idea of having our first baby BEFORE school starts, so that during the toughest years, he/she is not an infant...

[abcwxyz]

Sorry, but I think that this is unreasonable and unlikely to be granted.

 

I think it's more reasonable to have a baby and then apply.

 

Deferrals are for serious unforeseen circumstances that you encounter after you have been accepted, and not to give you the peace of mind of an acceptance while you go and do something else.

 

I'm guessing that unplanned pregnancy might be a slightly different scenario, but it would be unethical to fake such a thing.

[0nsp]

Deferrals are for serious unforeseen circumstances that you encounter after you have been accepted, and not to give you the peace of mind of an acceptance while you go and do something else.

 

 

Entirely untrue. My sister got accepted to two programs (med/master's) at the same time, and was granted a deferral so that she could go to Europe and start/finish her Master's. It is NOT given purely for unforeseen situations. However, I would talk this over with your school's admission representative/dean to clarify exactly what their position is, as each school may be different.

[drdev]

Every school would be differet, but make sure to talk to administration ect to know FOR SURE what the policy is before you jump into it.

[hastin11]

Unless you will be too old to have a baby after med school, just wait to have the baby.

[A-Stark]

I'd say wait until residency - do you want to be starting med school while you have an eight month old at home?

[0nsp]

I'd say wait until residency - do you want to be starting med school while you have an eight month old at home?

 

Easier to do med school with an 8-month old than residency.

 

You can still pass med with barely showing up. Residency, you don't have a chioce if you want to go or not.

[A-Stark]

You can take a year off for maternity leave during residency, which is much more sensible *financially* than doing it before much less during med school.

 

And barely showing up? I don't know how it is at UofA, but at Dal we have mandatory sessions on a daily basis - how would you manage during clerkship?

[abcwxyz]

Entirely untrue. My sister got accepted to two programs (med/master's) at the same time, and was granted a deferral so that she could go to Europe and start/finish her Master's. It is NOT given purely for unforeseen situations. However, I would talk this over with your school's admission representative/dean to clarify exactly what their position is, as each school may be different.

Well that's contrary to the anecdotal experience that I've heard of regarding trying to defer med school.

 

I am still pretty sure that this situation will not qualify.

[A-Stark]

Indeed - for the same reasons that "because I'm getting married" or "I want to travel for a year" are typically not considered valid.

[White-Tiger]

Who says that ALL pregnancies are planned?

Even OCP has an intrinsic failure rate...

[abcwxyz]

Who says that ALL pregnancies are planned?

Even OCP has an intrinsic failure rate...

No raincoat without being drunk = trying consciously to have a baby = planned pregnancy.

[White-Tiger]

No raincoat without being drunk = trying consciously to have a baby = planned pregnancy.

 

Right. If you are consciously trying to have a baby, its most likely a planned pregnancy. But from the Adcoms point of view, they cannot simply assume all pregnancies are PLANNED. Assume someone is in a stable relationship with someone, the woman isn't using OCP due to associated side-effects it has in her...and god forbid the condom breaks, pierces, comes off...and bang she's pregnant with an acceptance letter from a medical school.

 

All im saying is that she could play it off as an unplanned pregnancy and seek deferral if she was so inclined. However, it is my opinion that she's probably just better off being honest with the adcom and say she wants to have her baby prior to medical school and seek a deferral on those grounds, rather than lying...even though it is a possibility.

[abcwxyz]

Right. If you are consciously trying to have a baby, its most likely a planned pregnancy. But from the Adcoms point of view, they cannot simply assume all pregnancies are PLANNED. Assume someone is in a stable relationship with someone, the woman isn't using OCP due to associated side-effects it has in her...and god forbid the condom breaks, pierces, comes off...and bang she's pregnant with an acceptance letter from a medical school.

 

All im saying is that she could play it off as an unplanned pregnancy and seek deferral if she was so inclined. However, it is my opinion that she's probably just better off being honest with the adcom and say she wants to have her baby prior to medical school and seek a deferral on those grounds, rather than lying...even though it is a possibility.

 

Yeah, I just assumed someone who wants to be a doctor would be honest and ethical and stuff.

[White-Tiger]

Yeah, I just assumed someone who wants to be a doctor would be honest and ethical and stuff.

 

You'd be surprised...

[smm99]

Woah, let's get this back on track. I was basically just wanting to find out if anyone had done this before, or knew of someone who had, and what the response/feedback from adcoms was. That's all - no moral judgements or attacks on female med students!

 

Anyone ever been preggo during an interview? What was the interviewer's response?

[blinknoodle]

I don't think the interviewers are allowed to discuss pregnancy, unless you bring it up yourself - then everything is fair game.

 

You definitely bring up a good point of being pregnant during interviews.. there are implications for travel, and hopefully not any complications. No one ever plans of delivering at 30 weeks, being hospitalized for pre-eclampsia, etc. A classmate during medical school, pregnant during fourth year had to cancel some of her fourth year electives because there were complications with her pregnancy. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball.

 

Good luck.

[chemgirl]

I wouldn't really bother deferring to have a baby because at my school they don't care if you want to take a year off in between. I don't know which schools you are applying to, but I see you are from Alberta and I know a few people at U of A who had a child either between 1st and 2nd year or 2nd and third year. The main problem with this scenario is financial because you are not technically a student anymore so your loans go into repayment and the interest gets jacked up. Our school has helped at least one student that I know of by creating a year long "elective" so the interest rates on the LOC didn't increase. So, there is support from at least one school.

 

I have no idea how pregnancy during the interview would go... I imagine like anything it could be very positive or negative. People, especially women in medicine know there is no great time to have a child and I think many women in medicine wouldn't think twice about you being visibly pregnant.

 

Blinknoodle raises a really great point about the best laid plans... that's why I would choose to wait until I had started medical school. I don't even know if it would be an option to defer two years if something went wrong? If you are IN already, however, two years off in between years is not as big a deal.

 

Personally, I plan to start trying as soon as I know where I'm going for residency next year. During clerkship year I met a few residents who were very pregnant in December/January so I think it's a good time to start. If I hadn't had other personal problems to deal with I probably would have had a baby between 2nd and third year myself.

[iheartmed]

Bringing up an old thread, this lady is probably already prego. by now but I am in the same boat and my husband and I have decided to adopt later on rather than have our own children during my medical education/residency. I am a very strong advocate for adoption and specifically adoption of older children in the foster care system because of personal experiences. I think that after all of our training and caring/compassionate personality doctors would make excellent adoptive parents.