Scheduling advice?

[lesterfreamon]

Any help on when interviews normally are, when to schedule aways and home derm rotations, when to schedule medicine subI, etc.

I'm thinking of the following as a rough schedule

July - home derm
August - away derm
September - medicine subI
October - away derm
November - 2 week rotation, 2 week Step 2
December - off for inverviews
January - off for interviews
After this, do all other required fourth year courses (medicine electives, surgery, etc.)

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[DermViser]

I think you're leaving out a lot of info: i.e. board score, class rank, whether you're AOA, tier of medical school, research, etc. Why is that important? Bc this affects the number of electives your need to do.

Since we don't have that information, I would say 3 months of clinical general dermatology electives is excessive. Also, are you just taking vacation for all of December and January?

 

[HeyyDoc]

If you're going to want a LOR from that second derm away I would strongly suggest doing it in August since apps are due Sept 15

 

[asmallchild]

Any help on when interviews normally are, when to schedule aways and home derm rotations, when to schedule medicine subI, etc.

I'm thinking of the following as a rough schedule

July - home derm
August - away derm
September - medicine subI
October - away derm
November - 2 week rotation, 2 week Step 2
December - off for inverviews
January - off for interviews
After this, do all other required fourth year courses (medicine electives, surgery, etc.)

That looks pretty good. I saved my medicine subI for after interviews (although probably not recommended in terms of enjoying your 4th year after the stress of interview season) so if your school allows that, that's a possibility if you're looking to squeeze more dermatology rotations in.

 

[lesterfreamon]

I think you're leaving out a lot of info: i.e. board score, class rank, whether you're AOA, tier of medical school, research, etc. Why is that important? Bc this affects the number of electives your need to do.

Since we don't have that information, I would say 3 months of clinical general dermatology electives is excessive. Also, are you just taking vacation for all of December and January?

Thanks for your your response! On paper I think I am well qualified, outside of research. 260+, junior AOA, honors on most clinical rotations so far (except ob/gyn). research is decent but working on some stuff to make it better.

and we can take 10 weeks off during 4th year for step 2 and interviews. i only scheduled those weeks off in december and january because i thought i would need to be for interviews. is this not necessary?

 

[lesterfreamon]

That looks pretty good. I saved my medicine subI for after interviews (although probably not recommended in terms of enjoying your 4th year after the stress of interview season) so if your school allows that, that's a possibility if you're looking to squeeze more dermatology rotations in.

Its only early so I can get a letter out of it. I already asked one of my medicine attendings from my 3rd year clerkship but she is not well known or anything like that. does that matter?

 

[asmallchild]

Its only early so I can get a letter out of it. I already asked one of my medicine attendings from my 3rd year clerkship but she is not well known or anything like that. does that matter?

Unless specifically requested, all your letters should be from dermatologists. They will carry the most weight

 

[MilkIsGood]

Unless specifically requested, all your letters should be from dermatologists. They will carry the most weight

how many derm letters do people typically get?

 

[asmallchild]

how many derm letters do people typically get?

Not sure if things have changed but when I was applying, typically 3. And if you have a home department, make sure one of those letters come from the chair/PD of your home department

 

[Drdrdr1115]

Its only early so I can get a letter out of it. I already asked one of my medicine attendings from my 3rd year clerkship but she is not well known or anything like that. does that matter?

You can send diff letters to diff programs. So I sent to my derm programs 4 derm attending letters. But for my prelim programs, I included one from my 3rd year medicine attending. That was fine for me--but, if you're gonna try for some cushier prelim programs, it would look better to have a sub-I letter.

Also, if you can arrange it, you should take all of Dec and Jan off. You (hopefully) will be busy with interviews and being on vacation just makes it less stressful than trying to balance it while in a rotation.

 

[lesterfreamon]

Not sure if things have changed but when I was applying, typically 3. And if you have a home department, make sure one of those letters come from the chair/PD of your home department

Is this because the chair/PD is probably more well known in the derm community or because their position of chair/PD means their letter will hold more weight?

We don't spend much time with the chair/PD at my home institution but do spend a lot of time with a senior attending who was the previous chair here, so I imagine he is probably well known. Would this be fine?

 

[asmallchild]

Is this because the chair/PD is probably more well known in the derm community or because their position of chair/PD means their letter will hold more weight?

We don't spend much time with the chair/PD at my home institution but do spend a lot of time with a senior attending who was the previous chair here, so I imagine he is probably well known. Would this be fine?

Does your chair/PD write any letters? I've heard cases where the chair/PD don't really interact with rotators but will pool data from residents/attendings to generate a letter. When I was interviewing, I was told not having a letter from your chair/PD is usually a glaring beacon. Of course, if your chair/PD usually doesn't write letters then that's fine. The senior attending who was a previous chair should probably suffice in that case

 

[lesterfreamon]

You can send diff letters to diff programs. So I sent to my derm programs 4 derm attending letters. But for my prelim programs, I included one from my 3rd year medicine attending. That was fine for me--but, if you're gonna try for some cushier prelim programs, it would look better to have a sub-I letter.

Also, if you can arrange it, you should take all of Dec and Jan off. You (hopefully) will be busy with interviews and being on vacation just makes it less stressful than trying to balance it while in a rotation.

What are some cushier prelim programs?

 

[Drdrdr1115]

What are some cushier prelim programs?

TY programs in general are more competitive.
And some prelim programs are supposedly more cush than others...I don't really know which ones though, I only applied to my schools prelim.