4th year question

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

So I am newly minted 4th year student who will be pursuing a pathology residency come this year's match, but my question is directed toward those who can remember their 4th year travails as future pathologists in a clinically oriented year.

My school requires a clinical sub-internship from each student no matter the planned specialty. Does one specialty or another confer any benefit to a future pathologist or are all of them pretty much the same? Are path programs looking for a student to have done a particular sub-i much the way that radiology programs demand that their students have completed a medicine sub-i? I am currently signed up for a psych sub-i simply because I really liked psych and thought it would be an interesting month; however, I have recently been thinking that it might benefit me a little more to get clinical exposure in a field that directly relies on pathology such as medicine or surgery (please don't suggest Gyn because I'd rather have dengue fever for a month than do an Ob/Gyn sub-i).

Thanks for any input and I'll see y'all on the trail in a few months.

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[yaah]

Do whatever you are interested in, I guess get some variety, but don't worry about filling imaginary quotas. Most of your fourth year won't even be on your transcript when you interview. I guess it's conceivable that someone could ask you why you did a psych sub-I, but I doubt it would be really relevant.

 

[star23]

Having just finished my 4th year and about to start residency, my advice would be to have fun. See your family, take some trips. And pick easy electives. Most of 4th year won't apply to the rest of your life so just enjoy yourself. The only elective I did that was beneficial (I think) for the upcoming year was a clinical Heme-Onc month. Other than that, don't work too hard and have fun.

 

[Path Mama]

I agree with star23. For me, I only had three required rotations (1 month each of medicine, surgery, primary care) with the rest of the year being electives. I ended up picking oncology-related months for my required rotations (like heme-onc, surg-onc), then had a couple of surg path months as well as a month of derm for my electives. It's a good year. Enjoy it while it lasts!

 

[pathdawg]

The best thing you can do during your 4th year to shore-up your path applications is have fun and stay out of prison, since a felony conviction is about the only thing that would stick out to a pathology PD at this point.

 

[anencephalic]

I'm in the same boat as the OP.

Since I'm potentially interested in neuropath somewhere down the line, I've scheduled rotations in Neurology and neurosurgery. The remainder of my electives have included areas I'll never see again as a pathologist, namely ICU and ER. An oncology rotation would also seem to be a great idea if only to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the clinical management many of the diseases we'll ultimately see under the microscope.