Fourth Year Away Elective Rotations Competitiveness & Scheduling

[AspiringPhys4]

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Hey guys,

I have recently been accepted into the KCU-COM and I had a question about how competitive it is to schedule away electives in fourth year.
Due to the fact that I am hoping to match to a Residency program in Chicago (personal reasons), and since I am not keen on moving from city to city during fourth year, I am planning on scheduling all my fourth year elective rotations in the Chicago-Metropolitan Area.
My question is, how competitive is it to schedule rotations in a big city like Chicago? Would it be realistic for me to be able to schedule ALL of my electives in the city?
Some of the specific schools I was hoping to rotate at were Rush, Loyola, UIC, and Northwestern (I know the last one is a stretch).
The two specialties I am mainly interested in and am hoping to schedule my electives in are: PM&R & FM.

Thoughts/Advice from any of the upper year/graduated Med students?

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[alecseriously]

Also interested in this *bump*


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[MightBeACylon439]

Hahahahaha. Make it through the first two years of medical school first.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Nothing wrong with planning early. Pre-meds have been know to be clueless about rotations only to have it bite them in the @ss when they want something hyper competitive in medical school.

Those two fields by far are DO friendly, but I'm not far enough into my education to give a good answer. I would say could rotate at most of these place. I know that there are multiple DOs on the Northwestern roster for PM&R (but I got to admit its one of the top PM&R programs in the country, so a tough place to match). I think if you are from Chicago it might help, but I cannot give a definitive answer.

 

[AlteredScale]

I really don't think many pre-meds are going to know the answer to this question so I'll move it to the osteopathic medical student side.

 

[AspiringPhys4]

I really don't think many pre-meds are going to know the answer to this question so I'll move it to the osteopathic medical student side.

Thanks!


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[779663]

I've also been accepted to KCU, but I'm a bit confused about this, are you insinuating that during the fourth year all your rotations can be away electives?

This seems like you'd be moving 3 times. Once to KCU for yrs 1-2. Once for third year electives assuming you don't stay at a KC rotation site, and then once in the fourth year for your away rotations in Chicago?

Am I following you correctly?

 

[AspiringPhys4]

I've also been accepted to KCU, but I'm a bit confused about this, are you insinuating that during the fourth year all your rotations can be away electives?

This seems like you'd be moving 3 times. Once to KCU for yrs 1-2. Once for third year electives assuming you don't stay at a KC rotation site, and then once in the fourth year for your away rotations in Chicago?

Am I following you correctly?

Hi cantcatchme,

Yes, you are following me correctly.
Years 1 - 2 in KC.
Year 3 at my assigned rotation site.
And Year 4 in Chicago.

I am aware that the KCUCOM curriculum consists of 1 - 2 core rotations (EM) during fourth year, but I just wanted to get an idea if it was possible to be able to schedule most (if not all) of my elective rotations in a specific area.

 

[SurgDoc95]

Hi cantcatchme,

Yes, you are following me correctly.
Years 1 - 2 in KC.
Year 3 at my assigned rotation site.
And Year 4 in Chicago.

I am aware that the KCUCOM curriculum consists of 1 - 2 core rotations (EM) during fourth year, but I just wanted to get an idea if it was possible to be able to schedule most (if not all) of my elective rotations in a specific area.

No idea but chances are you'll change your mind about wanting to do that.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Unfortunately I don't know how competitive it is in a Chicago. I would ask c/o 2018 specific thread or on FB since I know we had a bunch of students wanting to go back.

You also have 2 electives in your 3rd year you can do as always if your core site allows it and the receiving institution agrees. It's not as common though since most places require you to do 3rd year but it's possible.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

No idea but chances are you'll change your mind about wanting to do that.

Why is that?

 

[SurgDoc95]

Why is that?

May get to KC or where ever you do your 3rd year and decide to stay there for residency.

 

[ameetsing]

il chime in...

So for fourth year, you could definitely do all your rotations in Chicago. Doing them at big Med Centers might be abit more challenging. Most Med centers have a limit of 3 months of rotations at their sites. So if you sprinkle a few random clinics you should be definately be able to pull it off.

You do have some "required core site" rotations. Currently you can petition them out for any site with a residency program.

That being said when push comes to shove after MS3, Auditions, interview time, good letters, board study time, there is a bunch of variables to consider.

my 2 cents.

 

[D4C]

The trick is to apply as early as possible through vsas (the service that schedules away rotations), that will give you your best shot.

 

[AspiringPhys4]

il chime in...

So for fourth year, you could definitely do all your rotations in Chicago. Doing them at big Med Centers might be abit more challenging. Most Med centers have a limit of 3 months of rotations at their sites. So if you sprinkle a few random clinics you should be definately be able to pull it off.

You do have some "required core site" rotations. Currently you can petition them out for any site with a residency program.

That being said when push comes to shove after MS3, Auditions, interview time, good letters, board study time, there is a bunch of variables to consider.

my 2 cents.

Thanks ameetsing!
I am fully aware that there are a number of factors that come into play and that my plans can very well change.
I just wanted to get a sense of how competitive it is to schedule away rotations and to see if such an idea was even feasible!
Thanks for your input.


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[MightBeACylon439]

Nothing wrong with planning early. Pre-meds have been know to be clueless about rotations only to have it bite them in the @ss when they want something hyper competitive in medical school.

Those two fields by far are DO friendly, but I'm not far enough into my education to give a good answer. I would say could rotate at most of these place. I know that there are multiple DOs on the Northwestern roster for PM&R (but I got to admit its one of the top PM&R programs in the country, so a tough place to match). I think if you are from Chicago it might help, but I cannot give a definitive answer.

So this is something that you and I will likely disagree on. You'll say "No because of XYZ," and I'll retort "NO! You must do ABC!!!" We'll go on because we are competitive in nature, but this is the internet so neither of us will win; and the subject will only change when a small comment in our ramblings derails the conversation into a different debate entirely.

BUT, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you. Those who are so concerned about rotations or [Insert X here, where X=not studying the course material] are the one's who struggle and are borderline failing because they refuse to concentrate on the here and now. I'll admit this is a purely observational study, but N=everyone I saw who was too concerned about **** that we had to do tomorrow, and not concerned enough about the **** they had to do today.

You might say I'm taking a bit of a leap here, but given that A) behaviors displayed by an individual are usually consistent and B) this person who JUST got into medical school is already worried about 3rd and 4th year: I would say it's a fair statement to make that they need to chill out about where they are going to be located in three years, and concentrating on the barrage of information they are about to encounter starting this summer.

 

[lamamadind]

Hey guys,

I have recently been accepted into the KCU-COM and I had a question about how competitive it is to schedule away electives in fourth year.
Due to the fact that I am hoping to match to a Residency program in Chicago (personal reasons), and since I am not keen on moving from city to city during fourth year, I am planning on scheduling all my fourth year elective rotations in the Chicago-Metropolitan Area.
My question is, how competitive is it to schedule rotations in a big city like Chicago? Would it be realistic for me to be able to schedule ALL of my electives in the city?
Some of the specific schools I was hoping to rotate at were Rush, Loyola, UIC, and Northwestern (I know the last one is a stretch).
The two specialties I am mainly interested in and am hoping to schedule my electives in are: PM&R & FM.

Thoughts/Advice from any of the upper year/graduated Med students?

Thanks in advance everyone!

I'm also interested in this. I hope someone in the upper years can have some input.

 

[IslandStyle808]

So this is something that you and I will likely disagree on. You'll say "No because of XYZ," and I'll retort "NO! You must do ABC!!!" We'll go on because we are competitive in nature, but this is the internet so neither of us will win; and the subject will only change when a small comment in our ramblings derails the conversation into a different debate entirely.

BUT, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you. Those who are so concerned about rotations or [Insert X here, where X=not studying the course material] are the one's who struggle and are borderline failing because they refuse to concentrate on the here and now. I'll admit this is a purely observational study, but N=everyone I saw who was too concerned about **** that we had to do tomorrow, and not concerned enough about the **** they had to do today.

You might say I'm taking a bit of a leap here, but given that A) behaviors displayed by an individual are usually consistent and B) this person who JUST got into medical school is already worried about 3rd and 4th year: I would say it's a fair statement to make that they need to chill out about where they are going to be located in three years, and concentrating on the barrage of information they are about to encounter starting this summer.

Yep, I understand where you are coming from. And yep we have an agree to disagree situation. When I see people doing what you have stated above, I say they didn't have their priorities straight. As an adult, you have to learn more about yourself and what you can and cannot handle. There is no way I want to do research during MS-2 because boards are my priority, but I slowly am looking for research during the second half of MS-1 because now I have adjusted (at this point I'm doing a review article, since I know research is a time commitment and I want flexibility in my schedule).

In OPs situation, we don't know if he or she has made a final decision on a school. My first statement is more of a warning to all pre-medical students that you need to look at the whole package when picking a school, because you could end up like this: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/aoa-ortho-with-rads-acgme-backup.1235813/ as a result (we get this around twice a year on the forums). You have to be ahead of the game if you want a competitive specialty, once you are in 3rd year and you don't have your ducks in a row your too late. Of course you will say only a few DO will want something extremely competitive, but in the end you don't know if you will be that one.

It's fine if you disagree with it, nothing wrong with that. It is why I didn't respond to your post, because this is truly a difference of opinion which both have its correct points.

 

[ameetsing]

Thanks ameetsing!
I am fully aware that there are a number of factors that come into play and that my plans can very well change.
I just wanted to get a sense of how competitive it is to schedule away rotations and to see if such an idea was even feasible!
Thanks for your input.


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yup its doable, just a bit of work on your end that is all.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

yup its doable, just a bit of work on your end that is all.

What if I want to change my Peds rotation??

 

[ameetsing]

What if I want to change my Peds rotation??

LOLL Nope you just straight fail.