Advice on rotation order

[Dr. Pepper]

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Hey guys,

First off, I apologize for making another thread. I realize that this thing has been beaten to death. However, I had looked at these threads before under the assumption that I could choose my order but instead, we don't really choose the order, we simply choose where we start in the cycle.

The order is:

(OB-Fam)-Surg-Neuro/Psych-(Acute care/geriatrics)-Medicine-Peds

Basically, I know three things:

1. I am interested in Peds and IM

2. I am not interested in OB/Gyn and Surg

3. Every single person I have talked to has said that don't take your desired rotation first, so I'm not considering IM or Peds first.

In that sense, I want your advice. I'll tell you three options that I am considering and the rationale:

1. Surgery first (Surg-Neuro/Psych-Acute care/geriatrics-Med-Peds-OB/Fam). So far I think this is best. I do surgery first (certainly don't want to do and I'll be enthusiastic to start), have some good rotations (all the other rotations are interesting to me) and I take med and then peds 4th and 5th and save the dreaded OB and nicer Fam for last. My major concern is doing surgery first. I wanted your advice.


2. Acute care/geriatrics first. (acute care/geriatrics-Med-Peds-OB/Fam-Surg-Neuro/Psych). This will let me do med and peds 2nd and third and then I can prepare for the tougher rotations (ob and surg) and relax with neuro/psych. My main concern here is if I'll be ready for IM as my 2nd rotation. I wanted your advice on this.

3. OB first. (OB/Fam-Surg-Neuro/Psych-Acute care/geriatrics-Med-Peds). This is an extreme choice and I'm not sure on it. I would start off pretty hellaciously with ob, fam (which I've heard has a hard board exam) and surg. But then everything is smooth sailing. However, I'm afraid of being burnt out for IM and Peds last.

One last thing I want to mention is that our clerkship year starts earlier so I'm not concerned about getting letters of rec on time and such. I just want your advice.

Anyway, please let me know what you think is best. I appreciate your help.

 

[deleted263296]

TL;DR. All I can say is find out when you are required to schedule 4th year rotations and make sure you finish 3rd year rotations you are interested in before that time. Otherwise, the order doesn't really matter. Also, people will be easier on you during your 1st rotation so it doesn't matter if you do that one first or not I don't think.

 

[Rollo]

TL;DR. All I can say is find out when you are required to schedule 4th year rotations and make sure you finish 3rd year rotations you are interested in before that time. Otherwise, the order doesn't really matter. Also, people will be easier on you during your 1st rotation so it doesn't matter if you do that one first or not I don't think.

Agree with this. Ideally, you want your 4th year electives to fall between July - October so that you can audition at several programs before they start selecting applicants to interview.

As far as your choices are concerned, I'd go with choice number 1 where you're doing surgery first. Since you're not interested in surgery, this is good because you can focus on the management side of surgery rather than the OR/procedures on your rotation. And guess what? Good portion of surgical management directly involves internal medicine.

So you can use surgery to get your feet wet in the hospital environment, expose yourself to whatever internal medicine you can, and get a relatively tough rotation out of the way (not to mention the added bonus of you appreciating the easier rotations later).

And with medicine towards the end of 3rd year, you will be good enough to know your role as a student and things you can do to make your residents' lives easier which in turn serves you well because they will have more time to teach you and will give you a great evaluation. Not to mention, you will know what exactly you need to learn because starting out, everything is going to seem foreign to you. You will simply be overwhelmed by the shift in your surroundings you will experience going from classroom setting to clinical setting.

With medicine towards the end, you won't be like a deer caught in the headlights.

 

[Vita]

We didn't get to pick our schedule, but I was assigned surgery first and just started last week. I was not interested in surgery when starting, and I must say that I think it is an excellent way to kick off rotations. It got me out of "summer-mode" and into the routine of studying and working hard, plus it is interesting even if you don't want to go into the field.

My schedule is similar to what yours would be if you do surgery first, and I think that is the best way to go. I was nervous about starting with such a hard rotation, but I wouldn't go back and change it if I could.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Thanks guys. I'm going to make surgery first as my top choice. Hopefully I'm fortunate enough to get it.

 

[Jolie South]

Imma give you a tip: IT DOESN'T MATTER. You can make all these plans about what you want and blah blah, but in reality, your registrar will decide and they might not have the same plans as you do. Also, a lot of people change their minds. I scheduled surgery first because there was absolutely no way I was going into surgery.

Guess what? I just submitted ERAS and I applied to 40 surgical subspecialty programs.

Regardless of what happens, you'll make it work.

 

[Rollo]

...medicine towards the end of 3rd year, you will be good enough to know your role as a student and things you can do to make your residents' lives easier which in turn serves you well because they will have more time to teach you and will give you a great evaluation. Not to mention, you will know what exactly you need to learn because starting out, everything is going to seem foreign to you. You will simply be overwhelmed by the shift in your surroundings you will experience going from classroom setting to clinical setting...

medicine towards the end of 3rd year, you will be good enough to know your role as a student and things you can do to make your residents' lives easier which in turn serves you well because they will have more time to teach you and will give you a great evaluation. Not to mention, you will know what exactly you need to learn because starting out, everything is going to seem foreign to you. You will simply be overwhelmed by the shift in your surroundings you will experience going from classroom setting to clinical setting.

Little echolalia going on here, eh?