Advice on 4th year scheduling for IM.

[Jezzielin]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone, well it is about that time to planning the rest of my 4th year. I have chosen IM as my field and beginning in September I will be 6.5 shy of completing my degree!

In light of this, I need your help. I am trying to figure out how to plan out the best way to do my electives. In short, I am not planning on taking time off for CK, as I will be studying through my rotations and completing it in August. I am unsure as to how long I will be needing for interviews. I am not applying to places far, far away so the less time I can take off for me would be better and I was thinking of doing this in November/December. I do, however, want to consider getting my Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years off service. I have though of taking one week off for each holiday as I will have plenty of time to finish but was wondering what others have done.

Below are my list of electives I will be looking at but I was curious of three things:

Anesthesia - 2 weeks (required surgical elective)
Cardiology - 4 Weeks
Gastroenterology - 4 Weeks
Pulmonary - 4 Weeks
Nephrology - 4 Weeks
Infectious Disease - 4 Weeks
Hematology/Oncology - 2-4 weeks
ICU - 2-4 Weeks
---possibly:----
Infectious Disease - 4 Weeks
Nephrology - 4 Weeks

1.) Are there any electives that have decent enough hours to give you holidays off? Granted, it depends on the hospital but I am just asking in your own personal experience.

2.) When scheduling interviews, are you given a window of time to choose from? If I wanted to take a week or two off in November - I wouldn't want a surprise that they had scheduled me for a specific day that I cannot make.

3.) Any order that you think would be a good way to go?


Thank you!

 

[realideamen]

Hi everyone, well it is about that time to planning the rest of my 4th year. I have chosen IM as my field and beginning in September I will be 6.5 shy of completing my degree!

In light of this, I need your help. I am trying to figure out how to plan out the best way to do my electives. In short, I am not planning on taking time off for CK, as I will be studying through my rotations and completing it in August. I am unsure as to how long I will be needing for interviews. I am not applying to places far, far away so the less time I can take off for me would be better and I was thinking of doing this in November/December. I do, however, want to consider getting my Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years off service. I have though of taking one week off for each holiday as I will have plenty of time to finish but was wondering what others have done.

Below are my list of electives I will be looking at but I was curious of three things:

Anesthesia - 2 weeks (required surgical elective)
Cardiology - 4 Weeks
Gastroenterology - 4 Weeks
Pulmonary - 4 Weeks
Nephrology - 4 Weeks
Infectious Disease - 4 Weeks
Hematology/Oncology - 2-4 weeks
ICU - 2-4 Weeks
---possibly:----
Infectious Disease - 4 Weeks
Nephrology - 4 Weeks

1.) Are there any electives that have decent enough hours to give you holidays off? Granted, it depends on the hospital but I am just asking in your own personal experience.

2.) When scheduling interviews, are you given a window of time to choose from? If I wanted to take a week or two off in November - I wouldn't want a surprise that they had scheduled me for a specific day that I cannot make.

3.) Any order that you think would be a good way to go?


Thank you!

I would highly recommend doing an ICU rotation. Cards would also be a good rotation, both will be "high yield" for residency I feel (we'll see in a month or two if I'm right.) Our school gave us 3 days off for thanksgiving and 2 weeks for Christmas, not sure how others work but assumed they were the same. If you can, try to get on a consult month. They are usually lighter hours and weekends off. If you're planning on studying for boards on rotations that would be the smartest choice.