fourth year scheduling

[thegold91]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

How do most fourth year medical students who are pursuing a career in ophthalmology setup their fourth year schedule? When do you schedule your elective time? Sub-I? When do you take time off for interviews?

 

[200UL]

In general, try to schedule ophthalmology electives during the first 2 months (this allows time to get letters of rec from these rotations in). I do not feel scheduling a sub I in medicine during this time is a smart move (unless you are considering medicine as possible residency).

I had some vacation during interview season. I also had non-ophthalmology electives that I did not care about during interview season - this way I could miss a day or two on these rotations for my interviews. All medical schools have different policies for missing time for interviews so be sure to check with your school.

I took USMLE step two just after interview season. I took my sub-I in medicine slightly before the end of the year. This helped get me ready for internship.

 

[MR1]

Agree, everything ophtho needs to be early, July-Sept. You have to get your app off early.

Interview season peaks Nov and Dec, so schedule either vacation during that time or easy electives that you can miss a lot of time on. Some happen in Oct and Jan but mainly Nov-Dec. There were times during interviews I would leave on a Thursday and not get home until Tues the next week and repeat that next weekend.

Put the sub-I off, doesnt help you.

 

[JMK2005]

I remember radiology electives were the easiest to get days off for interviews.

 

[browneyez01]

Would a sub-I in January be a bad idea? Would people applying to ophtho be interviewing for prelim/transitional year at this time or can we get them out of the way early by submitting the ERAS app early?

 

[jsridhar]

Agree, everything ophtho needs to be early, July-Sept. You have to get your app off early.

Interview season peaks Nov and Dec, so schedule either vacation during that time or easy electives that you can miss a lot of time on. Some happen in Oct and Jan but mainly Nov-Dec. There were times during interviews I would leave on a Thursday and not get home until Tues the next week and repeat that next weekend.

Put the sub-I off, doesnt help you.

Agree with the above.

This link could be helpful:
http://groups.google.com/group/ophthalmologyinterestclub/files

 

[thegold91]

Thank you everyone for the advice. Based on your recommendations I am planning on scheduling 4-6 weeks of ophthalmology at my school, possibly an ophtho externship, and a 2 week unite for sight trip to Honduras for the first three months of senior year. When do most of the interviews take place for the transitional year? Is it possible to schedule an interview for the transitional year as well as the ophthalmology program during the same trip? Thanks again.

 

[JMK2005]

Internship interviews generally lag about a month after ophthalmology interviews, so there is considerable overlap. Many residencies will coordinate a transitional year internship interview if interested. You just have to ask the coordinator.

 

[docdoc2012]

Thank you everyone for the advice. Based on your recommendations I am planning on scheduling 4-6 weeks of ophthalmology at my school, possibly an ophtho externship, and a 2 week unite for sight trip to Honduras for the first three months of senior year. When do most of the interviews take place for the transitional year? Is it possible to schedule an interview for the transitional year as well as the ophthalmology program during the same trip? Thanks again.

Hey thegold91,
sounds like a plan except for the away rotation in honduras- my PD specifically told me not to do an international rotation during the peak 3 months but to have it on schedule for later so that you can still talk about it when you go on interviews. He said we would be better off doing away rotations instead at least for matching purposes.
You probably already did this but I would definitely talk to your PD about the intl rotation before you commit

 

[DrZeke]

So, I really want to use a sub-i letter for ophtho. Should I just find another letter for Ophtho from a different specialty. I just didn't feel like I made any great connections with attendings in 3rd year. And the ones that I did make, turns out those people write crappy form letters.... What should I do? Schedule sub-i in the first 3 months - our year starts in June (early) or should I try and reconnect with one of my 3rd year attendings...

 

[LeLu]

Hey thegold91,
sounds like a plan except for the away rotation in honduras- my PD specifically told me not to do an international rotation during the peak 3 months but to have it on schedule for later so that you can still talk about it when you go on interviews. He said we would be better off doing away rotations instead at least for matching purposes.
You probably already did this but I would definitely talk to your PD about the intl rotation before you commit

Per above post - I was planning an international rotation in the first few months, but planning to get a letter from that (ophtho dr writing it). My PD said it would be a good addition. I'm also planning 2 externships early in the year.

This is all good advice, thanks guys.

 

[thegold91]

Hey thegold91,
sounds like a plan except for the away rotation in honduras- my PD specifically told me not to do an international rotation during the peak 3 months but to have it on schedule for later so that you can still talk about it when you go on interviews. He said we would be better off doing away rotations instead at least for matching purposes.
You probably already did this but I would definitely talk to your PD about the intl rotation before you commit

Hey thanks for the info. I asked the PD and he said that it was fine to go on an international rotation but stressed the importance of sending out the application early. He said september 1st is too late.

On another note, How many weeks of ophthalmology rotations are you all doing at your home institution?

 

[taco bell]

Is doing an externship in september considered too late?

 

[JMK2005]

Is doing an externship in september considered too late?

Too late for a letter of rec, but if you're doing it as an audition, that's OK.

 

[taco bell]

Is there a specific date after which your step 2 will NOT be a part of your application? I want to turn in my app middle august. So, if I take it end of august, and assuming my score comes back in middle-end september, will my scores automatically get sent to all the programs I applied to or will programs not find out my score? Thanks

 

[fourchambered]

Hey guys, quick question. I am signing up for a three week rotation in October at my school. The coordinator is telling me that if I am going to be away at any interviews, I will have to let them know what those days are before the start of the rotation. Having said that, how far in advance do these programs invite you to interview? Trying to see if it would be feasible. Are there many intervies in October anyway?

 

[OPPforlife]

Hey guys, current third year here who probably does not need to flood this already popular thread. However, it seems like the popular opinion here is to schedule opthamology externships and away rotations in the beginning of fourth year and take step 2 later. I was wondering if this advice is based on how you did on step one? my step one score is just a little above average for ophtho (243) and was wondering if this advice of doing rotations first and step 2 later would hold true for me? thanks in advance.
p.s. I am not particularly looking to match in to the top 20 programs. A decent, academic program in the mid to south east would do just fine.

 

[docdoc2012]

I wondered the same thing last year, but my PD told me to wait to take step 2 because as long as your score was at or above avg, it would get you an interview if the rest of your app was solid
unless you are an awesome test taker, I was told not to risk taking step 2 early unless you are sure you can beat or equal your current score. In general, students are supposed to improve their score on step 2, but if you are already above 240, I wouldn't risk it.

 

[OPPforlife]

I wondered the same thing last year, but my PD told me to wait to take step 2 because as long as your score was at or above avg, it would get you an interview if the rest of your app was solid
unless you are an awesome test taker, I was told not to risk taking step 2 early unless you are sure you can beat or equal your current score. In general, students are supposed to improve their score on step 2, but if you are already above 240, I wouldn't risk it.

Thank you for the response. I recently spoke with another resident from my school and he agreed with this statement as well.