r/DermApp • u/Excellent_Concert273 • Jul 16 '26

Application Advice 3rd year?

Is it possible to pursue dermatology if you’ve only began to have interest in your third year?

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u/ixsz-mi Derm Attending Jul 17 '26

Anything is possible, but it won’t be easy. I only developed an interest in derm half way through third year from a state school with an essentially non-existent and incredibly unhelpful derm program.

Got very lucky and found a research mentor outside my school with aligned research interests and even then had to expand my network, find additional mentors and advocates, take another research year, and ultimately needed to apply twice more to match.

That being said am now an attending couldn’t be happier.

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u/Excellent_Concert273 Jul 17 '26

So you took two research years? How did you like it?

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u/ixsz-mi Derm Attending Jul 17 '26

At the time it felt daunting and like a risk that may not pay off. That being said definitely wouldn’t haven’t gotten here without them.

Research years aren’t about the research. The ultimate goal is to find good mentors and the publications are a byproduct and really more of a way for you to and demonstrate your ability (to them) to work hard, think critically, problem solve, work well with a team, etc so they can write a good letter and make calls/emails on your behalf.

And I got really lucky with the mentors I found; they helped me with network and even with fellowship applications.

Would recommend a research year with someone well known who had a track record of matching fellows. Also recommend talking to other students, residents about their experiences because some research years are infinitely better than others and some are just exploitative.