AMA 3rd year medical student

[gasknight]

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AMA.

Pre-med allo was super helpful for me when I was applying. Thought I'd pay it forward. Hope I can help.

 

[sunnysnow7]

How often do you have to engage in public speaking (aside from presenting a patient to your team)?

Thanks!

 

[Glandzburg]

What are some ways you've cut costs and managed your budget as a "poor medical student"?

 

[Make Or Break]

Is there really a lot of down time?

 

[Havoc390]

Do you have time to hang out with your friends every week?

 

[hmockingbird]

Oooh, can I join too? I'm a third year and have nothing to do tonight haha...

 

[smarts1]

What has your schedule been like as a third year (from rotation to rotation)? I've talked to some of my upperclassmen about this, but does third year really help in helping you choose a field?

Also, how do you have time t(and the energy) o study for the shelf after coming back from some of the more grueling rotations like medicine and surgery?

 

[hmockingbird]

OK, considering papist hasn't been back, I hope it's OK if I answer some... don't mean to take over, and I'm sure you will have a different perspective!

What has your schedule been like as a third year (from rotation to rotation)? I've talked to some of my upperclassmen about this, but does third year really help in helping you choose a field?

Also, how do you have time t(and the energy) o study for the shelf after coming back from some of the more grueling rotations like medicine and surgery?

1. I started with OB and surgery, it has all been downhill from there... haha. Generally, if you are on an inpatient service it will be longer hours and require call and/or weekends. Different schools structure their rotations differently, to where all of peds might be outpatient, a mix, or all inpatient, etc.
2. I already knew what I wanted to do so I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer, but for me it was more doing the other rotations that I didn't plan on going into that made me realize why they didn't fit me (even if I did discover many things I liked about them). Especially after having rotated in what I wanted to do. It's not like I had a big aha moment there but I felt like I fit in with the residents/attendings, I didn't hate staying late, I enjoyed working with my patients, and now I miss it being on another rotation.
3. UWorld question bank and PDF books on your phone/iPad for downtime. Weekends. Keeping up just with the class quiz/didactic topics so eventually you do hit everything. You do learn a lot of it on the floor too, especially on inpatient services. And, a lot of this material is not new - you learned much of it first and second year, just gotta pull it out of your brain at the right time haha.

 

[tantacles]

I'm joining in because I have nothing to do tonight either.

How often do you have to engage in public speaking (aside from presenting a patient to your team)?

Thanks!

About once every two weeks. Powerpoint presentations are pretty common.

What are some ways you've cut costs and managed your budget as a "poor medical student"?

Found a cheap apartment and lived with roommates, ate out less and cooked more, taking public transit whenever possible to avoid parking fees, avoiding birthday dinners at all restaurants, invite friends over instead of going out.

Is there really a lot of down time?

Depends on the rotation, the day, and the residents working with you. Some will fully engage you all day, some will send you home early, and some expect you to wait around for new cases even when there's nothing to do. The best are the ones who teach whenever you and they have free time.

Do you have time to hang out with your friends every week?

Yes.

What has your schedule been like as a third year (from rotation to rotation)?

Surgery: 5am-6pm 6 days per week +/- 2 hours. A couple days of night call.
Medicine: 6am-6pm 6 days per week with one weekend off.
Emergency: 8 hour shifts 4x/week
Neuro: 4 hours per day of outpatient clinic 5x/week
Psych: 8-3 +/-2 hours 5 days per week
OB: 6am-6pm 5 days per week with one week of night float.

I've talked to some of my upperclassmen about this, but does third year really help in helping you choose a field?

In my case, yes, but not for everyone. Some people still don't know what they want to do in the final months of third year and have to scramble to figure it out.

Also, how do you have time t(and the energy) o study for the shelf after coming back from some of the more grueling rotations like medicine and surgery?

Carry around a small book with you during the rotation, and read during downtime. Also, do 10 questions at a time so that you're actively learning but don't get burnt out.

Another strategy is to take the train to work and do questions while commuting.

 

[hmockingbird]

How often do you have to engage in public speaking (aside from presenting a patient to your team)?

Thanks!

Maybe a few times a rotation. There might be a formal assignment for the clerkship that consists of presenting a case or a mini-lecture about a topic, which could be in front of the class or just to an attending. Some attendings will also assign 5 minute presentations or "research topics".

What are some ways you've cut costs and managed your budget as a "poor medical student"?

Living in a cheaper apartment instead of the fancy/trendy ones. Don't shop online as much anymore, funny but true. (I wish we had public transportation!)

Is there really a lot of down time?

Third year: no except for on rotations like psych or sometimes outpatient weeks
First and second year: yes, unless your school has daily required attendance you can just make your own schedule. Study as much as you need to, go to the required classes, and do whatever else you want.

Do you have time to hang out with your friends every week?

Third year: no, I see friends who aren't on my rotation once or twice a month, we usually text though
First and second year: yes

 

[deleted407021]

Hey y'all!

Have you had any opportunities to travel outside of school activities? If you've travelled for school related activities, how is that generally arranged?

What kind of extracurricular activities do med students tend to do? Do you still volunteer?

Thanks!

 

[gasknight]

How often do you have to engage in public speaking (aside from presenting a patient to your team)?

Thanks!

Pretty regularly. But you already mentioned the biggest one: presenting a patient to your team. You'll also be asked on clerkships to give small, informal presentations on diseases, new drugs, treatment approaches, etc. I had a couple, more formal presentations to give in the first to years of medical school, but nothing too crazy.

So the first two years, hardly any public speaking.
Third year - daily patient presentations.

 

[gasknight]

What are some ways you've cut costs and managed your budget as a "poor medical student"?

Purchasing minimal books in the first two years of med school, and when you need a book, buy it used. Don't buy anything from your university book store.

I also use Mint.com for personal finance which helps me keep a handle on things.

Also, my wife works, so we try and pay some of the interest on our loans as I go.

 

[gasknight]

Is there really a lot of down time?

Do you have time to hang out with your friends every week?

Yes and yes. The first two years are 100% about personal time management. You can have all weekends and evenings off if you like, aside from test week. This assumes you work hard from 7-5 M-F and don't mess around on facebook. I didn't go to class, and this was an absolute lifesaver. I did better in class and I had more personal time - best of both worlds.

Third year has been frustrating just because you lose control of your own schedule and much of your time in the hospital is spent sitting around. But still, aside from shelf exams and busy call services, I usually have time on most weekends to hang with friends and family. Don't get me wrong, it's busy... but manageable.

 

[gasknight]

What has your schedule been like as a third year (from rotation to rotation)? I've talked to some of my upperclassmen about this, but does third year really help in helping you choose a field?

Also, how do you have time t(and the energy) o study for the shelf after coming back from some of the more grueling rotations like medicine and surgery?

This is a great question.

Third year schedule has been all over the place. It's definitely rotation dependent, with the easier rotations being psych and family medicine and the more difficult, time intensive ones being OBGYN and Surgery. I'll describe these as an example of the extremes, so just understand the other rotations probably fall in the middle somewhere (at least for me).

Psych: M-F, occasional Saturday; get there at 7 or 8, leave by 12 or 1pm. Relatively straightforward shelf exam, plenty of time for studying, research, chillin'.
Family Medicine: M-F, occasional Saturday; get there at 7 leave by 3 or 4pm. Tough shelf I thought, but again, plenty of time for whatever you want.

OBGYN: this rotation was a daze. prerounds at 430am, stay til signout around 6pm. busy days too, always running around. the student call schedule was plenty reasonable for our school.
Surgery: lol. 430am - whenever (nearly always after 5pm, sometimes as late as 10pm). we took q2 home call. very tough schedule, but we scrubbed a ton of cases.

Shelf studying for most rotations is manageable. You'll muster up the strength to do some reading in the evenings about your patients or tackle some shelf review books. For surgery, medicine, OBGYN, and the other more time intensive rotations, you just have to make the most of your down time, especially in the hospital. I try to read when we are waiting for rounds to start, downtime in clinic, breaks between cases. Even for the tough rotations, you'll have days off. You'll be able to tackle a lot of shelf related reading with a free day. And if you are somewhat engaged in your service and you pay attention during rounds, you'll make it a little easier for yourself when it comes time to shelfstudy.

As far as choosing a field, that's been tough for me. I really haven't liked too much. But third year will give you great exposure to most fields. You'll get to see first-hand the typical days of your residents and attendings. I'm pretty set on anesthesiology. You'll figure out your clinical interests at some point. For me, I realized I loved the airway.

Hope this helps.

 

[smarts1]

Thanks for all of the responses to my question! I have a second question. I'm also at a school with a condensed pre-clinical curriculum, and we are given two options to take Step I. One option is to take it right after we finish our pre-clinical year and second option is to take it after the clinical year. (They normally only let people take it after the clinical year, but some students said that they wanted the option of taking it after 1.5 years). I have heard very mixed suggestions from the upperclassmen who say that clinical year doesn't help at all and will probably make me do worse, but a few others have said that some rotations like peds and IM will help with the boards.

What would be your take on this now that you're in your clinical year?

 

[dr.0ne]

Are we gonna make it brahh?

 

[karayaa]

Tips for honoring rotations?
Pros/cons of different rotation sites (medical center, community hospital, VA, county, etc)?

 

[gasknight]

Thanks for all of the responses to my question! I have a second question. I'm also at a school with a condensed pre-clinical curriculum, and we are given two options to take Step I. One option is to take it right after we finish our pre-clinical year and second option is to take it after the clinical year. (They normally only let people take it after the clinical year, but some students said that they wanted the option of taking it after 1.5 years). I have heard very mixed suggestions from the upperclassmen who say that clinical year doesn't help at all and will probably make me do worse, but a few others have said that some rotations like peds and IM will help with the boards.

What would be your take on this now that you're in your clinical year?

I absolutely can't imagine sitting for Step 1 after my clinical year. I would do so much worse. Take it at the end of pre-clinical year. You are too busy in your clinicals to worry about the Krebs cycle and other Step 1 minutiae.

 

[Make Or Break]

How serious are shelf exams? I would assume you should do well on the shelf in the field you want to get into but are they similar with step 1 seriousness?

 

[iforget2]

For those of y'all who didn't go to class, would you say it was harder to make friends?

 

[MMADoc]

For those of y'all who didn't go to class, would you say it was harder to make friends?

There is always some degree of mandatory class attendance that helps you to interact with your class. Additionally, most people go to classes the first couple of months where you form the friendships that you can maintain out of the COM. I personally went to 3 non-mandatory classes all of 2nd year and I actually had a much better year both academically and socially.

 

[MMADoc]

How serious are shelf exams? I would assume you should do well on the shelf in the field you want to get into but are they similar with step 1 seriousness?

Most shelf exams are like mini step 2s for your rotation. More focus on 1) Diagnosis and appropriate tests, 2) Best initial step, 3) Next best step and 4) treatment. Much less focus on pathophys though there is still some. I would say the shelves usually have about 80% gimme qs and the rest are more obscure qs that you get if you happened to study it or just remember from step 1. Overall, shelves are easy to pass but difficult to honors in and are almost always the distinguishing factor between honoring and not honoring in a rotation (individual med school mileage may vary).

 

[Psai]

Most shelf exams are like mini step 2s for your rotation. More focus on 1) Diagnosis and appropriate tests, 2) Best initial step, 3) Next best step and 4) treatment. Much less focus on pathophys though there is still some. I would say the shelves usually have about 80% gimme qs and the rest are more obscure qs that you get if you happened to study it or just remember from step 1. Overall, shelves are easy to pass but difficult to honors in and are almost always the distinguishing factor between honoring and not honoring in a rotation (individual med school mileage may vary).

So ****ing true
I hate how important shelves are, it takes away from learning about patients and tests on either obvious things or incredibly stupid things that you just have to guess between two answers on

 

[Make Or Break]

How many questions are usually on the shelf? Are they also 8 hour exams?

 

[mvenus929]

How many questions are usually on the shelf? Are they also 8 hour exams?

They are, IIRC, 100 questions and last 2.5 hours (if you finish with more than 10 minutes to spare, you can leave early; if you finish within the last 10 minutes, you have to wait until everyone turns it in). You take one at the end of each of your major rotations.

Step 2CK is a 9 hour exam.

 

[Psai]

They are, IIRC, 100 questions and last 2.5 hours (if you finish with more than 10 minutes to spare, you can leave early; if you finish within the last 10 minutes, you have to wait until everyone turns it in). You take one at the end of each of your major rotations.

Step 2CK is a 9 hour exam.

I never had to wait for other people to finish