I know most don't know the history of what is happening with CRIP (centralized residency interview process) or CASPR (centralized application for students for residency programs) CRIP = interviews and Caspr = applications. Check out Casprcrip.org.
Anyways, the profession keeps changing this schedule for a few reasons. Just a few years ago, you didn't need to pass part 1 or part 2 boards to get a residency. Well residencies got fed up with that and started only taking students that passed their boards. However, people would match into a residency, and then fail the boards, and then the director would kick them out and have to scramble to find a new candidate, often someone in the scramble. That is irritating as well. So as of this year, we are withdrawn from the match if we do not pass the boards. That is a lot of stress though, so as of this year students are given two chances at the boards before match, which is great for the students. Boards part 2 used to occur in Feb/March of senior year, but to get in 2 testing sessions before the match, a January part was added. Now boards part 2 is January and February, so we have scores before match in March, and anyone failing can be pulled out of the match. This will stop program directors from having to drop candidates and find new ones, and also gives students three opportunities to pass boards each year, because if they pass the third time, they can still scramble late. Make sense?
So whereas we used to do rotations up into January and February, everything is now happening sooner, so January has become a wasted month, and February is after match. Schools are now stopping externships before January, and instead doing core rotations after January. I say schools loosely, because I know this applied to NY and Temple at least.
NY used to have 4 externships for everyone, and an optional fifth if you were a good student (had a B in surgery class), but mostly everyone did 5 if they wanted to. This year, they are removing a one month rotation called "CHR", or comprehensive podiatric hospital rotation, it was not a meaningful month in the eyes of the students. So now students can do 5 externships. If you are so worried that you need to do more than 5, students have figured out how to get at least 6 (do your core rotations at hospitals with residencies), but these are more restricted than say DMU who can do a 3 month core at some places. We don't do 3 month cores, where you spend 3 months at a single hospital. We do individual rotations, so your Internal med, emergency med, general surgery are done at three different hospitals depending on where you are assigned. So now most of us are doing our core rotations in February, March, April, May. Many of us have a month off as well mixed in there.
For anatomy, some people show up to the extra lab hours, not surprisingly those are the students that do much better. In anatomy lab, if you study beforehand and have a good group, we were often finished in 3 hours and spent the last hour reviewing everything we did until we mastered it. Then you can show up to open lab hours and help your fellow students, or teach them, so they get up to speed. You know if you can teach others, that you have mastered that day's material, and teaching them ensures you know everything. It is true that our anatomy course is intense, and extremely thorough, and on par or ahead of some MD programs, but as long as you know everything in the textbook, you will do fine in the course, there are no crazy questions that weren't covered in the book.
I don't know anything about that Dermatopathology honors rotation. I think it went away for my year, and is now back? I don't know.
