Timing of home rotation

[redblue]

I'm currently an MS2 starting to get ready to decide my third year rotation schedule. I know the general timing of rotations doesn't make a big difference in terms of grades, but I was wondering about perspective in terms of timing of a home derm rotation. I've heard that derm elective should be done late in M3 year order to improve your presentation skills as much as possible, but that would be May/June for my school, so right before leaving for aways and applying for residencies. Would it be a bad idea to do my home derm rotation in December?

I guess pros of doing an earlier home rotation would be:

• assurance for myself that I want to pursue derm
• being fresher for away rotations instead of having 3 months back-to-back of auditioning for derm
• more time to publish something substantial with a faculty member

Cons:

• derm knowledge isn't as fresh for away electives
• presentation skills may not be as great as other M3s rotating in derm later

Thanks for any help and advice!

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[asmallchild]

I'm currently an MS2 starting to get ready to decide my third year rotation schedule. I know the general timing of rotations doesn't make a big difference in terms of grades, but I was wondering about perspective in terms of timing of a home derm rotation. I've heard that derm elective should be done late in M3 year order to improve your presentation skills as much as possible, but that would be May/June for my school, so right before leaving for aways and applying for residencies. Would it be a bad idea to do my home derm rotation in December?

I guess pros of doing an earlier home rotation would be:

• assurance for myself that I want to pursue derm
• being fresher for away rotations instead of having 3 months back-to-back of auditioning for derm
• more time to publish something substantial with a faculty member

Cons:

• derm knowledge isn't as fresh for away electives
• presentation skills may not be as great as other M3s rotating in derm later

Thanks for any help and advice!

Do students in your school typically do a derm elective as MS3s? I usually recommend your derm home rotation be done as an MS4 (as early as possible in MS4)

 

[redblue]

Yea, 2 of the M4s going into derm this year did it during their third year =\

 

[asmallchild]

Yea, 2 of the M4s going into derm this year did it during their third year =\

Assuming you only have 1 rotation at home, I recommend doing it as early as possible as a 4th year.

If you have to do 2 rotations (as ordered by your curriculum), I would do the MS3 rotation as early as possible and then repeat the MS4 rotation as early as possible.

If you do not have to do 2 rotations, I highly encourage you to limit it to just one as an MS4

 

[redblue]

Great, thank you for your help!

 

[mdjo]

The good things about doing it early are, like you said, making sure that you really want to do derm, and getting to know faculty early if you haven't gotten involved with derm research/case reports yet. One possibly negative thing to think about is that if you do it that early, it will be a full year between your rotation and your interview with the program. The faculty who interview you won't really remember you, and that's most of your home-field advantage lost. Not to mention that it'll be 6 months between working with the faculty and asking some of them for a LOR.

 

[asmallchild]

I'm an M4, currently applying, who did my home derm rotation in the winter of M3 (maybe even from your school??). The good things about doing it early are, like you said, making sure that you really want to do derm, and getting to know faculty early if you haven't gotten involved with derm research/case reports yet. One possibly negative thing to think about is that if you do it that early, it will be a full year between your rotation and your interview with the program. The faculty who interview you won't really remember you, and that's most of your home-field advantage lost. Not to mention that it'll be 6 months between working with the faculty and asking some of them for a LOR.

The other thing is that if you want to shine, you really should have completed both your Medicine and Surgery clerkships prior to your derm rotation. I personally had finished my medicine clerkship only, so I did fine as far as medical knowledge, knowing how to present, knowing a little bit how to talk to patients, etc, but I was pretty dang useless in surgeries. Like, residents were willing to let me assist them and even throw in some stitches and stuff, but I didn't even know how to hold a needle driver. Made me look (and feel) like a chump.

Overall, I think the ideal time to do it is in the spring of M3, after you've done Medicine and Surgery. That way you still have time to consider other specialties if derm isn't a good fit, but it's late enough that you'll perform well and be able to ask for a good LOR.

I agree the later you can do the rotation, the better. It really does help to have both surgery and medicine under your belt before doing the rotation. The caveat here is if you have to do a home rotation as an MS4. Doing two rotations so close to each other will give your home program a great view of your strengths but also, unfortunately, your flaws. If you have to do a rotation as an MS3 and an MS4, I would try to get the MS3 rotation out of the way as soon as possible.

 

[mdjo]

I agree the later you can do the rotation, the better. It really does help to have both surgery and medicine under your belt before doing the rotation. The caveat here is if you have to do a home rotation as an MS4. Doing two rotations so close to each other will give your home program a great view of your strengths but also, unfortunately, your flaws. If you have to do a rotation as an MS3 and an MS4, I would try to get the MS3 rotation out of the way as soon as possible.

Oh, right, my advice applies if you can do one and only one home derm rotation. Is it common for schools to require 2 home program rotations?

 

[asmallchild]

Oh, right, my advice applies if you can do one and only one home derm rotation (that's how it is at my school; if you want more than that, you can do a private practice derm rotation before your home program rotation and/or do aways). Is it common for schools to require 2 home program rotations?

I don't think it's common but at least at my former program, students had a chance to take an elective in dermatology as an MS3 before their actual home rotation as an MS4

In some cases, it's good to get as much exposure as possible. In most cases, familiarity works against you

 

[Transformers]

I don't think it's common but at least at my former program, students had a chance to take an elective in dermatology as an MS3 before their actual home rotation as an MS4

In some cases, it's good to get as much exposure as possible. In most cases, familiarity works against you

Just curious about that last line...Would it be a bad idea if I requested to shadow some derm faculty in the clinic say about 5-6 times this month and next month. I anticipate doing the actual home derm rotation in June or July. I was just advised to get this head start of some "spring derm shadowing" because at least then perhaps more exposure at your home gives you the nod of hey this kid works hard/is very interested (aka someone the home program can trust long-term)...but additionally its nice to get some "non-graded/evaluable" performance and learn about some derm without being pressured.

 

[username456789]

Just curious about that last line...Would it be a bad idea if I requested to shadow some derm faculty in the clinic say about 5-6 times this month and next month. I anticipate doing the actual home derm rotation in June or July. I was just advised to get this head start of some "spring derm shadowing" because at least then perhaps more exposure at your home gives you the nod of hey this kid works hard/is very interested (aka someone the home program can trust long-term)...but additionally its nice to get some "non-graded/evaluable" performance and learn about some derm without being pressured.

This is exactly what I did. It was right about this time my third year that I decided I wanted to do dermatology, and I emailed the program chair to sit down and discuss it. I had an outpatient neurology rotation going on in April, and I had a couple afternoons where I could sneak off to shadow in the Derm Clinic. I did my real Derm rotation in July.