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Hey everyone! I thought I would write a thread about setting up your 4th year if your hopes are set on family medicine. I got a lot of great advice from the folks over here so I thought I would consolidate that information here.
Some background information about me:
I am a DO student that is from Tennessee and wanted to go back in that direction (I am in med school in Florida). I decided to go the MD route based on the availability of programs in the Southeast and other areas of interest. I did average on COMLEX I and above average on COMLEX 2 and passed the PE on the first attempt (I did it in Jan of my 3rd year to get it out of the way) My grades are good-above average with no failures to explain and I am doing an MPH concurrently.
Here are the steps I took from this time 3rd year through interview season:
1. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Figure out the geographic location you want to practice in. This is key. FM has similar training opportunities all over the country so you will likely get the same level of training anywhere. If you know you want to be in an urban setting, find an urban program. If you want rural, find a rural program. If you don't know, find one with a good mix or one in the state you want to practice in.
2. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Go to Frieda or AOA opportunities and do a BROAD search of all available programs out there. I basically looked at all the DO possibilities and most of the MD possibilities. I did this with my husband and we narrowed it down to about 20 programs.
3. A note about your partner/spouse/significant other -- I have heard OVER AND OVER AGAIN that if your spouse isn't happy in a location, you won't be happy no matter how awesome the program is. It is so important to consider them in your decision making process. It is a stressful time so make sure they feel heard. They also can give you great insight on places that you may not of thought of (that is why we are with them after all!
4. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Try to figure out your top 3-4 programs. Figure out how much elective time you have available for the July-Dec time frame of your 4th year. Find out when VSAS opens for your programs (or if they use VSAS) and plan to apply EARLY! I applied to some of mine outside of VSAS and some through VSAS. Stay on top of this because they can fill up early.
Another note: There is a lot of debate about doing audition rotations. After doing 3 of them myself and seeing my friends do them I can say that they are worth it. However you CAN OVER DO IT. I did 1 month-long one and 2 2-week ones and I was worn out. I had friends (in other specialties) do 5-6 of them and they definitely thought they over did it. You have to remember that these will be more tiring that most rotations because you are "on" all of the time. Err on the side of doing less in number but giving your best effort when there. Do a mix of academic and community based if you are unsure as well as "safety" and "reach" programs.
5. March/April of 3rd year: Get your audition rotations set up and ready to go. This will take a lot of time so be organized. Also get your letters of recommendation in hand. Some docs are quick and awesome about them and others take months. Also start working on your personal statement. I waiting too long to do mine and it was way more stressful than it had to be.
6. June/July of 3rd/4th year: Get your step 2 done. I have heard a lot of people putting them off. I think its best to have them done by July so that your scores are coming out when you are applying to residencies.
7: July of 4th year: If you are applying to DO residencies, apply to them the day they open on ERAS (or soon thereafter). Applying early never hurt anyone, apply late will.
8. September of 4th year: ERAS applications open for MD residencies -- again apply that day or very soon thereafter.
9. Sept/October of 4th year: Interview invitations start coming in (and interviews start!). Planning your interviews in a personal preference thing. I did 8 interviews. I started in October and ended in January with about 2 per month. I took a day here and there off of rotations to do them. I felt like that method worked well for me. I have friends who took their 4th year vacation time to knock a bunch of them out at once. They seemed overwhelmed by the flood of information thrown at them but it also can save money if you can drive to all of them. I don't think one way is THE way to do it.
10. I don't think there is a right number of interviews to attend. I think it is best to have a rank list with at least 5-6 programs on it and you may have to attend more interview than that to find ones that are worthy of your rank list. I ranked all the interviews I attended because I liked them all.
A note about interviews: TAKE NOTES. I took tons of notes about all of them but I was so happy I did when it came to rank list time. You will forget everything. It is a blur of a season.
11. After interviews, right thank you letters. Especially for family medicine -- I mean I got put up in some nice hotels and taken to some great dinners. It was the least I could do!
12. Jan/Feb: Second look invitations come in. Some come earlier. I only did one. I was out of money. Some places offer these to everyone and some are selective. Ask them and they will tell you which they are. I would recommend going to your 1st and 2nd choices. Take your spouses when you can.
13. Rank list time. Due end of Jan for DO programs and end of Feb for MD programs. I saw a lot of people struggle and stress over their rank list. I think its best if you can combine that "gut feeling" with the more practical aspects. Here is what I did: I went through my notes and made a list of priorities. I came up with 20 or so (your list may be a lot shorter!), I included things about the area/location. This became a checklist and I judged each program on that list. I gave each one a score based on how many of my priorities they met. I think put them in order and looked at that list to see how I felt about it. I also had my husband make a list of the cities. We were lucky and they were very close. My list basically ended up in that order with some tweaks based on that "gut feeling". I did all of this by the beginning of Feb so I could just sit with it. I found this to be most helpful. Mine didn't end up changing and I have still been happy with it. We will see how match day goes Its probably not a good idea to change at the last minute. I think the NRMP is right about this and that people can regret these decisions.
14. Relax and know you did your best. Take a vacation, have fun, try not to stress.
Ok that was a ridiculously long post but I have had some people ask for me to post it so there ya go! If you have any questions at all -- PM me and I will be happy to help.
Some background information about me:
I am a DO student that is from Tennessee and wanted to go back in that direction (I am in med school in Florida). I decided to go the MD route based on the availability of programs in the Southeast and other areas of interest. I did average on COMLEX I and above average on COMLEX 2 and passed the PE on the first attempt (I did it in Jan of my 3rd year to get it out of the way) My grades are good-above average with no failures to explain and I am doing an MPH concurrently.
Here are the steps I took from this time 3rd year through interview season:
1. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Figure out the geographic location you want to practice in. This is key. FM has similar training opportunities all over the country so you will likely get the same level of training anywhere. If you know you want to be in an urban setting, find an urban program. If you want rural, find a rural program. If you don't know, find one with a good mix or one in the state you want to practice in.
2. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Go to Frieda or AOA opportunities and do a BROAD search of all available programs out there. I basically looked at all the DO possibilities and most of the MD possibilities. I did this with my husband and we narrowed it down to about 20 programs.
3. A note about your partner/spouse/significant other -- I have heard OVER AND OVER AGAIN that if your spouse isn't happy in a location, you won't be happy no matter how awesome the program is. It is so important to consider them in your decision making process. It is a stressful time so make sure they feel heard. They also can give you great insight on places that you may not of thought of (that is why we are with them after all!
4. Jan/Feb of 3rd year: Try to figure out your top 3-4 programs. Figure out how much elective time you have available for the July-Dec time frame of your 4th year. Find out when VSAS opens for your programs (or if they use VSAS) and plan to apply EARLY! I applied to some of mine outside of VSAS and some through VSAS. Stay on top of this because they can fill up early.
Another note: There is a lot of debate about doing audition rotations. After doing 3 of them myself and seeing my friends do them I can say that they are worth it. However you CAN OVER DO IT. I did 1 month-long one and 2 2-week ones and I was worn out. I had friends (in other specialties) do 5-6 of them and they definitely thought they over did it. You have to remember that these will be more tiring that most rotations because you are "on" all of the time. Err on the side of doing less in number but giving your best effort when there. Do a mix of academic and community based if you are unsure as well as "safety" and "reach" programs.
5. March/April of 3rd year: Get your audition rotations set up and ready to go. This will take a lot of time so be organized. Also get your letters of recommendation in hand. Some docs are quick and awesome about them and others take months. Also start working on your personal statement. I waiting too long to do mine and it was way more stressful than it had to be.
6. June/July of 3rd/4th year: Get your step 2 done. I have heard a lot of people putting them off. I think its best to have them done by July so that your scores are coming out when you are applying to residencies.
7: July of 4th year: If you are applying to DO residencies, apply to them the day they open on ERAS (or soon thereafter). Applying early never hurt anyone, apply late will.
8. September of 4th year: ERAS applications open for MD residencies -- again apply that day or very soon thereafter.
9. Sept/October of 4th year: Interview invitations start coming in (and interviews start!). Planning your interviews in a personal preference thing. I did 8 interviews. I started in October and ended in January with about 2 per month. I took a day here and there off of rotations to do them. I felt like that method worked well for me. I have friends who took their 4th year vacation time to knock a bunch of them out at once. They seemed overwhelmed by the flood of information thrown at them but it also can save money if you can drive to all of them. I don't think one way is THE way to do it.
10. I don't think there is a right number of interviews to attend. I think it is best to have a rank list with at least 5-6 programs on it and you may have to attend more interview than that to find ones that are worthy of your rank list. I ranked all the interviews I attended because I liked them all.
A note about interviews: TAKE NOTES. I took tons of notes about all of them but I was so happy I did when it came to rank list time. You will forget everything. It is a blur of a season.
11. After interviews, right thank you letters. Especially for family medicine -- I mean I got put up in some nice hotels and taken to some great dinners. It was the least I could do!
12. Jan/Feb: Second look invitations come in. Some come earlier. I only did one. I was out of money. Some places offer these to everyone and some are selective. Ask them and they will tell you which they are. I would recommend going to your 1st and 2nd choices. Take your spouses when you can.
13. Rank list time. Due end of Jan for DO programs and end of Feb for MD programs. I saw a lot of people struggle and stress over their rank list. I think its best if you can combine that "gut feeling" with the more practical aspects. Here is what I did: I went through my notes and made a list of priorities. I came up with 20 or so (your list may be a lot shorter!), I included things about the area/location. This became a checklist and I judged each program on that list. I gave each one a score based on how many of my priorities they met. I think put them in order and looked at that list to see how I felt about it. I also had my husband make a list of the cities. We were lucky and they were very close. My list basically ended up in that order with some tweaks based on that "gut feeling". I did all of this by the beginning of Feb so I could just sit with it. I found this to be most helpful. Mine didn't end up changing and I have still been happy with it. We will see how match day goes
Its probably not a good idea to change at the last minute. I think the NRMP is right about this and that people can regret these decisions.14. Relax and know you did your best. Take a vacation, have fun, try not to stress.
Ok that was a ridiculously long post but I have had some people ask for me to post it so there ya go! If you have any questions at all -- PM me and I will be happy to help.
