First rotation is an elective, what should I do?

[jfellings]

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I start my 3rd year with a selective rotation (must be internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, or psychiatry). I am currently interested in surgery or neurology. Any thoughts on what to start with?

 

[bleeker10]

You go to LECOM right? If so, you already will do 12 weeks of IM and 8 of surgery. Based on the schedule, your surgeries are the last two rotations of 3rd year right? If you think you want to do surgery, it may not be a bad idea to do it as your first rotation. This way you can set up away rotations for 4th year before you do your surgery clerkships at the end of 3rd year. You want to start setting up those rotations in the second half of 3rd year so it would be good to know what you want to do by then. They fill up fast so you don't want to wait til after your surgery clerkships to decide what you want to go into.

If you don't go to LECOM, then disregard most of this advice

 

[Rollo]

Do surgery. If you hate it, then you can spend the rest of year looking for something else like neurology. If you love it, then spend the rest of year looking for something else like neurology.

I know, I know, I just repeated myself. But I'm not crazy. Fact is if you find something during the year that you like, then pursue that field and not surgery. If, at the end of the year, you didn't like anything else then go all in for surgery.

 

[Bacchus]

Remember, as your first rotation you want to pick up the basics. Its more of an exposure to clinical medicine than anything else. It may pique your interest but don't give up on whatever field you do for your elective until you have that core rotation. You don't want to go into the core with a tainted view when its a field you're possibly interested in.

Also, it may tend to be difficult to find an away elective with an institution that is not buddies with your home institution. I have my elective for 3rd year after ALL cores and I am doing it with an institution I'm interested in, but it is buddy-buddy with my school. I have friends that e-mailed clerkships at different schools with a copy of our schedule and they were still denied because they weren't fourth years.

 

[DrBowtie]

Definitely surgery. Much tougher to match into than Neuro so you should find out early on if its still something you are interested in.

 

[Top Gun]

I actually think the OP should do surgery in the middle of the year. In the beginning, he/she is not going to know the system, and is going to be busy getting oriented. Its a good idea to do this in a rotation that he/she is not planning on going into. And he/she should try to avoid surgery at the end because, even though by then, he/she will probably know a lot more about how the hospital works, he/she will also probably be pretty tired at that point. Best to do a rotation in a field you're planning on entering in the middle of the year when you have some experience, and are not as exhausted. That way, you can perform at your peak.

 

[Rollo]

I actually think the OP should do surgery in the middle of the year. In the beginning, he/she is not going to know the system, and is going to be busy getting oriented. Its a good idea to do this in a rotation that he/she is not planning on going into. And he/she should try to avoid surgery at the end because, even though by then, he/she will probably know a lot more about how the hospital works, he/she will also probably be pretty tired at that point. Best to do a rotation in a field you're planning on entering in the middle of the year when you have some experience, and are not as exhausted. That way, you can perform at your peak.

This is definitely an ideal situation but if the second poster is correct, the OP has no choice with the schedule and has to do their core surgery at the end of 3rd year.

With that schedule, they might as well do surgery first, throw themselves in the pit right away, and see how well they survive it.

 

[Vita]

I agree with the Surgery idea!

I wasn't interested in Surgery (totally terrified of it, actually), and I randomly got assigned to it as my first rotation. It was awesome. I got thrown right into the rigorous schedule and after that rotation, my other rotations were not scary at all. It was awesome to get to do procedures and I think it boosted my confidence as a med student (even though I felt completely clueless at first, it was cool to see how much you can learn over a month).

I am not going into Surgery, but I loved my rotation and thought it was the perfect way to start third year.

 

[jfellings]

You go to LECOM right? If so, you already will do 12 weeks of IM and 8 of surgery. Based on the schedule, your surgeries are the last two rotations of 3rd year right? If you think you want to do surgery, it may not be a bad idea to do it as your first rotation. This way you can set up away rotations for 4th year before you do your surgery clerkships at the end of 3rd year. You want to start setting up those rotations in the second half of 3rd year so it would be good to know what you want to do by then. They fill up fast so you don't want to wait til after your surgery clerkships to decide what you want to go into.

If you don't go to LECOM, then disregard most of this advice

Yeah I go to LECOM and the above pretty sums up my schedule. I doubt there is much flexibility in changing it. The hospital that I will be primarily rotating at said they may switch the order of my rotations (except for my electives and vacation month) so I am not entirely sure where my surgery rotations will end up. Either way it is seems most advice points to doing surgery to test the waters. I used to work at the hospital I will be rotating at so I know the system fairly well and am not too worried about that.