4th year easy?

[treadmillrunner]

I have heard over the years from countless individuals that 4th year is easy. So far, I have not found this to be at all true. The hours are the same. Nothing has changed. Is this just a perpetuated myth or does my school just require too many cores in the 4th year (8 weeks of urban family med, 4 weeks rural family med, 4 weeks IM sub-I, 4 weeks ED, 4 weeks of amb surg). Just annoyed.....because I thought this year might be a little more chill before residency begins.

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[Droopy Snoopy]

I have heard over the years from countless individuals that 4th year is easy. So far, I have not found this to be at all true. The hours are the same. Nothing has changed. Is this just a perpetuated myth or does my school just require too many cores in the 4th year (8 weeks of urban family med, 4 weeks rural family med, 4 weeks IM sub-I, 4 weeks ED, 4 weeks of amb surg). Just annoyed.....because I thought this year might be a little more chill before residency begins.

Medical school was over for me by December. I started the year with anatomy review/StepII prep followed by three sub-I rotations. After that I was either off completely or doing something so cush that I might as well have been. Did a month with the ethics committee for example; we met once a week for 2 hours, and I was otherwise required to do about 5 hours a week of research on my part. Got a publication and a trip to Vegas out of it, too. It's not a myth.

 

[bioteach]

Our only requirements for 4th year are that we have to do a 4 week "basic science" elective and a 4 week sub-I of some sort. Other than that...anything clinical is fair game with a minimum number of weeks at our own network of hospitals, the rest can be anywhere else. All of our "core" clerkships are completed in 3rd year.

 

[Perrotfish]

Most students at my school use 4th year for all 7 months of their electives and also for their two months of vacation. I know quite a few medical students who are basically on vacation for the last 9 months of medical school. If your school sticks you with a lot of core classes, though, your 4th year will be a lot less relaxing.

Even for those students who are stuck in cores, though... honestly you can probably do a whole lot less than you're doing. Remember your grades can't hurt you once you're done applying for the match.

 

[Jolie South]

The only things I'll be required to do 4th year are a sub-I of my choosing, psych rotation, and a month long lab elective. For the other 6-7 months, I'm essentially on vacation.

 

[treadmillrunner]

man. i am jealous.

 

[mglavin]

i'm a 4th year and i haven't written a SOAP note or gone on any sort of rounds since the end of august

 

[Punkn]

We have 3 required rotations 4th year (4 weeks Radiology, 4 weeks Emergency Med, 4 weeks IM Sub-I) and the rest are electives. I am totally done with hospital based patient care on Monday. Coming up are 2 months vacation/interviews, 2 months TA for basic sciences and 1 month seminar. Can't wait! 😀

 

[BigRedBeta]

OP: wow, your school sucks.

I was talking with some attendings the other week about everyone deserved a 4th year of med school - even people who never went to medical school. Sounds like you deserve a second 4th year.

 

[treadmillrunner]

please don't tell me anymore.....i am getting depressed. LOL

 

[rachmoninov3]

please don't tell me anymore.....i am getting depressed. LOL

hey looking at your original post, you have 6 four week required blocks 4th year...we've got 4 required and 4 elective four week blocks...up hill in the snow both ways...
Of course I've taken a month off at the beginning of 4th year, and I'm finishing up a nice long vacation of 4 weeks of research and 4 weeks off for interviews...ICU next...😱 I'm going to have to remember how to be a doctor!

 

[45408]

I posted this in another thread:

Everyone says 4th year is easy because they're comparing it to M3 and intern year of residency. By comparison, yes, it's easy. It was still about as busy as a full-time job though, sometimes much more so. I only had a few "cake" rotations as an M4 (two).

The complete lack of exams was also quite a relief.


It's also how you structure it. I took two inpatient medicine months as an M3 so the outpatient month would be as an M4, and I took an elective instead of vacation for a month as an M3. I also put both sub-Is within the first three months.

 

[silas2642]

I haven't been doing anything for months. It's fantastic.

 

[HarryGary]

I haven't been doing anything for months. It's fantastic.

Yep. It's fantastic until you realize your paying 40 grand.

Fourth year is a scam for med schools to charge an extra year of tuition. Med school could be done in 3 years.

 

[Perrotfish]

I posted this in another thread:

Everyone says 4th year is easy because they're comparing it to M3 and intern year of residency. By comparison, yes, it's easy. It was still about as busy as a full-time job though, sometimes much more so. I only had a few "cake" rotations as an M4 (two).

The complete lack of exams was also quite a relief.


It's also how you structure it. I took two inpatient medicine months as an M3 so the outpatient month would be as an M4, and I took an elective instead of vacation for a month as an M3. I also put both sub-Is within the first three months.

4th year is, at least at my school, an elective year. My school has no standards for what qualifies as an elective, so it can be as hard or easy as you want it to be. If you're determined to squeeze every drop of work out of med school that you can, either because you're the king of gunners or because you realize that you're a really marginal graduate, you can spend the whole time taking Q2 call with the ICU and Trauma Surgery. On the other hand my school offers many 'electives' that are just vacation: a 1 hour/day 5 day/week radiology elective, a one month medicine rotation consisting of one lecture/week, a research month with no required product, a 'business in medicine' course that is 100% self study with no exam or final product, away courses that involve no medical coursework, just travel and a few language classes, and of course the endless BS medical elctives that aren't actually school sponsored. If you're both sure of yourself and very lazy this can really be 9 months of vacation.

Most people, of course, do something in between. I'm planning on doing 5 months of real work, but coming back in January to light electives that involve a lot of travel. I don't think I could turn more than one elective month into a complete vaction, though. I'd feel guilty (I'm not quite marginal, but I would be with a lot of down time).

 

[Deferoxamine]

Afraid you'll forget EVERYTHING before your intern year? Do what I did - a "second-wind" 4th year schedule. After September, I've basically been on vacation and interviews - I mean there's stuff scheduled and all, but minimal. After interview season, I'll have about 2-3 months of rotations with longer hours... enough to kick me in the butt a little and forcing me to learn and remember important things again, but by then, who cares. Show up each day with caffeine and a pulse, stay awake, get the big fat P on my transcript, and move on with life. Then my final +/- month before graduation is easy Mickey Mouse electives again.

 

[IHeartNerds]

Last saw a patient in October. Won't see any more until graduation ... radiology in March hardly counts.

That being said, doing away rotations in competitive surgical specialties (neurosurg, ortho) makes 4th year a lot harder. I did ~100-120hrs per week for a few months.

To the OP ... your school requires TWELVE WEEKS of outpatient medicine? words cannot describe the pain.

 

[45408]

To the OP ... your school requires TWELVE WEEKS of outpatient medicine? words cannot describe the pain.

That is awfully gratuitous. Not only is it fairly painful, it's very low yield.

 

[McGillGrad]

That is awfully gratuitous. Not only is it fairly painful, it's very low yield.

I am assuming that the school is geared towards rural primary care medicine and hopes to place most students there.

 

[Bacchus]

W/o looking at the OP's post Hx to see if he mentioned where he goes, all of those rotations are my fourth year too. I'd bet the OP is at a DO school, possibly mine.

*And now looking at it, it seems very likely.

 

[IHeartNerds]

I am assuming that the school is geared towards rural primary care medicine and hopes to place most students there.

If they wanted to put people into primary care, the less exposure students got, the more successful they'd be.

 

[McGillGrad]

If they wanted to put people into primary care, the less exposure students got, the more successful they'd be.

 

[Jolie South]

If they wanted to put people into primary care, the less exposure students got, the more successful they'd be.

👍

 

[2012mdc]

I am assuming that the school is geared towards rural primary care medicine and hopes to place most students there.

My school is geared towards primary care as well but the only thing required we have 4th year is ambulatory medicine which is 4 weeks. We have 9 4 week blocks with a max of 2 months vacation. So you can do 6 electives and a max of 5 away ones. MS4's are essentially ghost at my school.

Forcing students to do multiple required rotations during 4th year is just detrimental - let people study for Step 2, work on their apps, go away for interviews, and do the necessary away rotations.

I guess if a school basically takes up your entire 4th year you could be forced into primary care b/c you couldn't do any aways 👎

 

[Bacchus]

My school has all those things, as I said above, but it also has six 4-week blocks of electives and a vacation block you can use for an elective if you choose 4th year. We also have a 4-week period between 3rd/4th year which I assume is to study for Step II.

 

[treadmillrunner]

I do go to a DO school. I think family medicine/primary care is especially shoved down our throats. But, I am atleast finished with those rotations forever and ever.