4th Year and Grades

[EternalMD]

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As I complete 2 weeks of an elective in 4th year, I have heard rumors that "everyone honors 4th year". I wonder how true this is because on my first day of the elective, I was told what was expected of me to do to pass, to high pass, and to honor. It seemed reasonable enough but just wondered if its true

 

[Law2Doc]

As I complete 2 weeks of an elective in 4th year, I have heard rumors that "everyone honors 4th year". I wonder how true this is because on my first day of the elective, I was told what was expected of me to do to pass, to high pass, and to honor. It seemed reasonable enough but just wondered if its true

The grades are largely meaningless, so I have no doubt some schools give folks great scores in all of them. You are going to be taking electives in things you are interested in, and the goal is to get folks to like you and write you strong letters. You may be taking electives at other schools as well. You are going to be taking huge numbers of days off to go interview. Your real job in 4th year is to line up a residency. Whether you honor electives or not is not the point, if you impress someone enough to recommend you or make a phone call on your behalf, or want you in their program. So get away from your misplaced focus on grades -- you are really far beyond the importance of those in 4th year. Your Steps and clerkship evals, along with a strong letter in whatever field you are going into are what you are going to need in terms of academics. Getting a few honors late in your med school career is going to have no impact.

And besides, after a certain point in that year, residencies won't even get your grades anyhow.

 

[EternalMD]

Getting a few honors late in your med school career is going to have no impact.

That's what my understanding was. But just wanted to clarify the myth of grade inflation during 4th year. Thanks for your prompt reply

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Most of the stuff I did 4th year was much more subjectively graded than my M3 clerkships. I got tons of honors despite not reading 1/2 as much as I did third year.

 

[Vader]

What the others have said is largely true. However, I would point out that residency programs do look at your evaluations on sub-internships because they would like to see how you perform when faced with increasing responsibility for patient care. This is especially true if you did not honor your 3rd year clerkships--honoring the 4th year sub-i's gives the impression that you are on an upward trajectory.

 

[NPR]

What the others have said is largely true. However, I would point out that residency programs do look at your evaluations on sub-internships because they would like to see how you perform when faced with increasing responsibility for patient care. This is especially true if you did not honor your 3rd year clerkships--honoring the 4th year sub-i's gives the impression that you are on an upward trajectory.

Err...I didn't honor my 3rd year clerkships and start the year with 3 consecutive electives. Not good?

 

[Blade28]

Err...I didn't honor my 3rd year clerkships and start the year with 3 consecutive electives. Not good?

Are you doing any away rotations or sub-Is? 😕

If so, make sure you do them early enough so that they "count" come interview time! Plus you want to get your letters of recommendation in time for ERAS.

 

[NPR]

Are you doing any away rotations or sub-Is? 😕

If so, make sure you do them early enough so that they "count" come interview time! Plus you want to get your letters of recommendation in time for ERAS.

I'm interested in derm with a backup of path so I start out with a home derm elective, then an away derm elective, then an away path elective. My Medicine Sub-I won't actually be completed until well into March. Mistake?

I have LORs from my Medicine attendings from 3rd year (why they would offer to write me letters and not honor me is a question I've opted not to ask)

 

[Blade28]

I'm interested in derm with a backup of path so I start out with a home derm elective, then an away derm elective, then an away path elective. My Medicine Sub-I won't actually be completed until well into March. Mistake?

Ah, so you do have away rotations early. That's fine then.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I'm interested in derm with a backup of path so I start out with a home derm elective, then an away derm elective, then an away path elective. My Medicine Sub-I won't actually be completed until well into March. Mistake?

I have LORs from my Medicine attendings from 3rd year (why they would offer to write me letters and not honor me is a question I've opted not to ask)

I'm applying to radiology and am not doing any Sub-Is until January. So if you've made a mistake, we both have. 😉 At my school we're allowed to do 6 weeks of research and have it count as elective time, so I'm doing that over the summer, followed by 2 rads electives.