just found out i got medicine as my first rotation for third year...am i going to be stuck with all of the surgery gunners? most likely want to do iM for a career...any thoughts?
thanks for your help 🙂
thanks for your help 🙂
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am i screwed?
Started by stressedout
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Your order doesn't really matter. I know someone who wants to do IM and did it as their first elective. They loved the fact that they got right in it and actually enjoyed the fact that they got their feet wet early. Its what you make of it! 
stressedout said:
If your school lets people do rotations in any order, then you may very well end up with a bunch of gunners (surgery, medicine, anaesthesiology, whatever). I'm using gunner in this sense to mean someone who works hard, not someone who tries to look good by undercutting whoever they perceive is their competition.
But just because someone is a gunner doesn't mean they automatically are going to do a better job than you. I know tons of people who spend lots of time on the wards and look like gunners, but actually they're just really inefficient. Conversely, I know people who cut corners in order to look like a star and it usually comes back to bite them. You'll see very hard workers with a poor knowledge base, and slackers who cover it well because theirs is outstanding. All you can do is work hard, figure out what you think is best for your patient and suggest that as your plan. And every time you miss something or do something wrong (which everyone does), admit your mistake and learn from it. And study hard for the shelf.
The only person's behaviour you can control is your own. Most of the time, teams of medical students get along fine. Only occasionally is there a problem.
Doing medicine first is a big advantage when it comes to your other rotations. It's a lot easier to go from writing long mulitpage, novel quality H&Ps and progress notes and then switch to shorter notes that focus on relevant points than to start writing short notes and have to produce a novel later in the year. Plus, you'll find that having step 1 fresh in you mind will be good for pimp questions as well as the shelf.
Doing medicine first is a big advantage when it comes to your other rotations. It's a lot easier to go from writing long mulitpage, novel quality H&Ps and progress notes and then switch to shorter notes that focus on relevant points than to start writing short notes and have to produce a novel later in the year. Plus, you'll find that having step 1 fresh in you mind will be good for pimp questions as well as the shelf.
Medicine first is a HUGE advantage. It's the foundation for all the other specialties (and I say this as a future surgeon). Doing it first will put you in a position to know what's up for the rest of the year. I know you want to go into medicine so that might not offer much solace, but work hard, study hard, and remember that just because it's the first rotation doesn't mean they won't be giving out good grades - i'm sure they're distributed equally across the year and people KNOW it's your first rotation.
It's been said a million times, but I'll repeat it three more.
Rotation order doesn't matter.
Rotation order doesn't matter.
Rotation. order. doesn't. matter.
There are advantages to doing medicine first. There are advantages to doing something easier first and doing medicine later, after you've gotten your feet wet. You can't have your cake and eat it too. And after your first week on the wards, you'll realize that there's a million more important things to be worried about than what rotation you start the year with.
Rotation order doesn't matter.
Rotation order doesn't matter.
Rotation. order. doesn't. matter.
There are advantages to doing medicine first. There are advantages to doing something easier first and doing medicine later, after you've gotten your feet wet. You can't have your cake and eat it too. And after your first week on the wards, you'll realize that there's a million more important things to be worried about than what rotation you start the year with.
Entei said:
In the long run, I agree with you. 2 years from now it will not matter. But in the short run, I would argue that doing rotations in the order you feel ready for them is always going to lead to better performance on your part.
I seriously don't think you will be at a disadvantage for doing medicine first, especially if you want to do medicine. You'd be more at a disadvantage if you did medicine last - especially if you end up not liking it and already have your entire 4th year set up to do a medicine residency.
I hovered between OB/Gyn and medicine, initially assuming I wasn't a surgical type and would chose medicine by default. It turned out I was the exact opposite and loved surgery and was not too excited during my medicine rotation (this is just me - some people really like medicine). There were tons of people in my class who thought they wanted one thing at the beginning of 3rd year who ended up falling in love with something completely different.
I think doing medicine first is a good thing. Step 1 material will be fresh in your head which will help you with questioning on the wards. Expections will not be as high for you as a brand new third-year. The surgery shelf, if you take that later in the year, seems to have a lot of medicine material as a base. It seemed easier to study for having already completed medicine. Finally, you will have a stronger idea if medicine is what you want to pursue.
I know everyone says this, but it will all work out in the end. I used want to roll my eyes when I heard this 2 years ago, but it really is true. Good luck!
I hovered between OB/Gyn and medicine, initially assuming I wasn't a surgical type and would chose medicine by default. It turned out I was the exact opposite and loved surgery and was not too excited during my medicine rotation (this is just me - some people really like medicine). There were tons of people in my class who thought they wanted one thing at the beginning of 3rd year who ended up falling in love with something completely different.
I think doing medicine first is a good thing. Step 1 material will be fresh in your head which will help you with questioning on the wards. Expections will not be as high for you as a brand new third-year. The surgery shelf, if you take that later in the year, seems to have a lot of medicine material as a base. It seemed easier to study for having already completed medicine. Finally, you will have a stronger idea if medicine is what you want to pursue.
I know everyone says this, but it will all work out in the end. I used want to roll my eyes when I heard this 2 years ago, but it really is true. Good luck!
Samoa said:
Yeah, but not all of us have the luxury of choosing rotation order. The OP didn't, and now he's worried about something he had no control over. So, to answer his question: No. You're not screwed. Rotation order doesn't matter.
Entei said:
If your school uses shelf exams and does not use the "corrected" percentile rank charts, I think rotation order does matter. You will, for example, score higher on the more comprehensive shelf exams like medicine, surgery, and family practice if you take them at the end of your third year. This isn't conjecture on my part either. The NBME has done studies on this. An 85 raw on the IM shelf at the beginning of 3rd year is not equivalent to an 85 raw at the end of the year. The NBME releases different percentile ranks for the same raw score based on when you took the exam. Not all schools use these corrected percentile ranks, however. If they don't, then I think certain rotation orders are better than others.
Entei said:
If he didn't have control over it, then neither did anyone else, and so there's no reason he'd have any more gunners in this rotation than he would on any other.
Either way, he's not screwed. But I believe the order does affect your performance. And my performance matters to me. So to me, rotation order matters.
Entei said:
I made the mistake of listening to those that said this when I got my schedule. I want to do surgery, I got stuck with surgery last, people said, "oh it doesnt matter" like a ***** I listened to them and didn't jump through the hoops to change my schedule. Now I am trying to schedule my fourth year w/ AIs and such and am getting..."you need to complete your surgery clerkship before we can consider your application". So order matters. If you want to do FP order doesnt matter.
I wanted to do surgery and got surgery first. While it's a little more intimidating that way, you'll have a huge advantage in terms of enthusiasm. At least, the way it worked out with the other people on the rotation (many of whom were doing surgery first because they had no interest in it), was they got miserable, fast. They were able to cover it for a few weeks and seem somewhat enthusiastic about that 2 a.m. rectal exam, but by week 5 it all wore kinda thin. Not only was it affecting this particular rotation, it was making them think all of third year was going to be like that. Meanwhile, I was having a blast; third year was *great* as far as I was concerned. I was learning so darn much, from people I liked being around (I guess the future surgeons like being around surgeons). And I learned a lot more because people appreciated the enthusiasm.
So, while I know it's intimidating, just hang in there for the first couple of weeks (your head will spin), let people know you want to do medicine and that you're really excited to be there. [Don't complain that you didn't want to do it first].
Best of luck. You're going to have a blast.
Anka
So, while I know it's intimidating, just hang in there for the first couple of weeks (your head will spin), let people know you want to do medicine and that you're really excited to be there. [Don't complain that you didn't want to do it first].
Best of luck. You're going to have a blast.
Anka
just wanted to say thank you to everyone who responded to my post. i appreciate your advice and words of wisdom/encouragement.
thanks so much
thanks so much
I think it's an advantage to do medicine first, especially since you just finished your step 1. The boards will be a good review for you, and honestly, I think that's all you need to do well in the rotation. This will definitely help you with future rotations and shelfs, as most people will tell you that the surgery shelf is really just medicine questions.
