Elective Scheduling

[TheBoneDoctah]

I am a 3rd year D.O. student and have a question regarding my last rotation of third year. I am pursing orthopedic surgery and my schedule for third year ends like this:

ortho, ortho, elective (haven't picked which specialty will be my last rotation yet)

The last elective rotation ends 5/29 and 4th year (auditions in ortho) start 6/29ish, meaning I would have approximately a month to study for Level 2/Step 2/COMLEX PE once the elective ended.

I have two questions:

Should that last elective slot be ortho again (giving me 3 ortho rotations in a row) or something else easier (and not interested in) to give me more time to focus on boards during that last rotation? If my elective is radiology, for example, I would have more time during the last rotation to study for boards, however I am not sure if I should take another ortho rotation or not.

Any suggestions?

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Anyone

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Are these ortho rotations home or away? What's the latest you can add/drop an elective (e.g. can you tentatively schedule something, take a practice step 2 test to see where you're at/how much study time you actually need closer to the date, then make changes as needed based on those results)?

Umm...I believe that they would be "home" rotations. Since I am at a DO school, we don't have our own "home" hospital. We do our rotations at different hospitals around the area. I don't think that would be an option because my clinical coordinator would have to set all this up months prior...

 

[swollcat]

I would have that last elective be something non-ortho and easy so you can give yourself some time to "breathe" (study for Step or do whatever it is that you need to do at that time). You already have ortho + ortho and I do not see the benefit of having an additional ortho rotation on top of that stack, whereas there is some benefit to the contrary...

 

[ortnakas]

Unless that third ortho is an audition, an easy rotation with some study time built in is a better use of the block.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Anyone think radiology would be a solid choice?

Not sure how “easy” of a rotation it would be. Does anyone have any insight into if that’s the case? I feel it would at least be a beneficial rotation as learning how to read films can’t hurt for ortho.

 

[Crayola227]

Anyone think radiology would be a solid choice?

Not sure how “easy” of a rotation it would be. Does anyone have any insight into if that’s the case? I feel it would at least be a beneficial rotation as learning how to read films can’t hurt for ortho.

I think this is good thinking

 

[solitarius]

I think this is good thinking

Whose feelings did you hurt to get on probation?

 

[DokterMom]

Not to rain on your parade, but if you're a DO gunning for Ortho, you might want to also consider your Plan B option. I don't know how high your STEP 1 was, but there are lots of ortho programs that don't interview DOs at all, so you might want to investigate a slightly less competitive specialty as well so "all of your eggs aren't in one basket" so to speak...

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Not to rain on your parade, but if you're a DO gunning for Ortho, you might want to also consider your Plan B option. I don't know how high your STEP 1 was, but there are lots of ortho programs that don't interview DOs at all, so you might want to investigate a slightly less competitive specialty as well so "all of your eggs aren't in one basket" so to speak...

I am mostly going to be applying to places that were formally AOA programs.