4th year is better than 3rd year. I think its awesome to see how you evolve and grow as a student into 4th year. You are so right about the game and now we know the game, we know how to play!! But let me throw my personal 4th year experience in.
As a 4th year sub-I, I was doing it all. I was doing it well. My pts were well taken care of, but there was this resident. This resident that always wanted me to know how much smarter they were than me. A resident that took your ideas and made them their own. A resident that talked about the attending when they walked out the door like dogs. A resident that would talk about the students behind their backs to other students and residents. A resident that did not want students to speak unless spoken too. A resident that knew diddly squat about medicine or anything else for that matter. We could call her demon resident or Resident B. So one day I am entering discharge orders for a pt, like I had done so many times before on this rotation. I was told by resident A to do the d/c orders this way, and so I was off. I completed my work and was asking resident B (covering for resident A), to sign my orders so the pt could get home. Resident B then tells me to go do this scutwork and that she would look over the orders. When I returned from my beloved trek into the rectum, I noticed that my orders had not been signed and where were they??? Resident B lets me know that I had done the D/C orders (to which I was told exactly how to do by resident A) so terribly wrong that she deleted them for me to write all again ( A SO CALLED LEARNING EXPERIENCE!!!) correctly. So I politely tell Resident B that I thought this was inappropriate and not teaching anything to me. Why did Resident B not sit down and explain why the orders that her friend Resident A had told me to write were so wrong and then I would have corrected them again. Why have me write all the d/c planning, note, and orders again? Resident B thought I was stepping on her leadership! Resident B did not like this so she tells attending, other residents, and students that I am "combative and assertive." Resident B with Resident A call me to meeting and tell me that I am being "demoted to regular student from Sub-I." I politely tell them I disagree but will honor their wishes (p.s. regular students work lots less than Sub-I's). I then find out Resident B contacts my school about this trying to find out had this happened before and trying to get me in trouble. The student coordinator politely tells her I am one of the best students and had gotten honors on clinical rotations and that this had never happened before (student coordinator called me and told me of this). Needless to say this really Peaved me!! I then go to Chief Resident, program director, attending and tell them that I have a residency interview at this institution but that I have decided to cancel my interview because this place "sucks". If they have residents like this, I don't want to be here. Once I said that, I understood the power of 4th year. After that, I was apologized to, taken off my service and put on another that I picked out with my full Sub-I "powers" fully reinstituted, taken to lunch, hugged by program director, and I lived happily ever after.
P.S. I later found out from other residents that Resident B had done this to other students, as well as an intern that had to repeat a month because Resident B lied on them.
So to make a long story short, As a 4th year you have power because your school and other schools need good residents. They realize you are about to be a resident and you are worth $90,000 minus residency pay to them. So you have some pull. Don't forget it and enjoy your 4th year.
And to Resident B, I hope her life is full of many rectals and she gets c diff from now until eternity.
