Clerkship Locations in Residency Selection

[(nicedream)]

Other than the advantage (or disadvantage if you make a negative impression) of doing rotations at a program you may rank and getting letters of recommendation from well-known attendings/directors, do residency programs care where you do your rotations?

Example: If one is not at all interested in ObGyn, and is able to do his/her ObGyn rotation with a private practitioner that would result in a cake experience compared to the usual grueling ObGyn clerkship (not to mention an easy A), would this be an attractive option or would it be looked down upon by residency programs (not ObGyn programs)?

I realize this would not be a good option for things like Medicine and Surgery that are looked upon as the most important clerkships, but as far as psych/peds/obgyn/fp etc.

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[EctopicFetus]

Other than the advantage (or disadvantage if you make a negative impression) of doing rotations at a program you may rank and getting letters of recommendation from well-known attendings/directors, do residency programs care where you do your rotations?

Example: If one is not at all interested in ObGyn, and is able to do his/her ObGyn rotation with a private practitioner that would result in a cake experience compared to the usual grueling ObGyn clerkship (not to mention an easy A), would this be an attractive option or would it be looked down upon by residency programs (not ObGyn programs)?

I realize this would not be a good option for things like Medicine and Surgery that are looked upon as the most important clerkships, but as far as psych/peds/obgyn/fp etc.

99% of the time they have no idea where you did your rotations. IMO if you dont want to go into a field then get some exposure and dont worry about it. They will see and care about your grades regardless of what field you choose.

 

[turtle md]

Exactly! Do as many cush rotations in specialties in which you have no interest. Why suffer?

 

[Methyldopa]

Exactly! Do as many cush rotations in specialties in which you have no interest. Why suffer?

A lot of people in my med school felt they needed to do the most grueling rotations in specialties they're not going into. They told me, 'hey, I'll never get to do surgery ever in my life, so why not get the most exposure to it.' They certainly did get a ton of exposure but worked crappy hours (like 4am till 10pm!!), and did poorly on their shelf exams.

Instead, I did an easy rotation for surgery (and other specialties) got enough exposure to reinforce that I hate surgery.

Programs will never know where you did your rotations as this is not information that is on your transcript or dean's letter!

 

[lowbudget]

My opinion is that in your 3rd year, you should find a rotation where you get plenty of patient exposure (that is non-shadowing) with good study hours because the win-win situation is seeing enough patients to have a clinical intuition and being able to do well on the shelf. My opinion in 4th year is that you need to pick rotations that are either 1) sub-I's where you work the capacity of the intern for the purpose of an LOR, 2) pick a rotation where you know you will encounter again during your internship, even though if it's only 1-2 weeks, 3) pick a rotation where you will never EVER see again in your life but has good hours, or 4) pick a screw-off rotation where you intend to learn absolutely nothing. Any rotations that fall outside of these criteria would be a dumb idea. The exception is the international rotation that may involve work outside your intended specialty, go ahead and do it.

I would suggest doing 1 and 2 during the first half of 4th year and 3 and 4 during 2nd half of 4th year.

As far as the nicedream's question, I think it depends on what year you are in. If you're a 3rd year AND you don't give a crap about OB AND if you're required to take OB ANd will never see OB again, then pick an easy OB rotation, do well on the shelf so that OB doesn't screw you over.

If you're a 3rd year AND you intend on doing OB, be sure that you pick a OB rotation that gives you adequate patient exposure to do well on the shelf and make sure you work hard, but DO NOT work ridiculous hours or do a bunch of crap that will take time away from your shelf. Remember, if you're interested in OB, you can ALWAYS do a 4th year elective to get your VOLUME in.

If you're a 4th year AND you're not interested in OB (and will not be doing FP), I would do the private prax rotation ONLY if you know it will be a blow off rotation; otherwise, pick something else you're interested in.

In general, people don't care what rotations you take because they don't know how rigorous that rotation is compared to your alternatives. Additionally, your interviewers/evaluators don't know what your interests are, so they're not going to contradict you. I think the exception is if the interviewer is from your school and knows your curriculum back and forth and if you somehow show that you consistently you dodge hard core responsibility, that may indirectly be a factor in the decision making.

 

[(nicedream)]

GREAT responses everyone, thank you!!