Getting all clinical honors important for competitive field?

[lesterfreamon]

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I want to go into radiation oncology, and only got a pass in my OB/GYN rotation.

Given how competitive of a field rad onc is, is getting all clinical honors a filtering mechanism they use? Kind of like how they have a step 1 cutoff?

I did get honors on my first rotation (surgery) if that matters.

EDIT: I figure if there is a filtering mechanism, then it would automatically close some doors for me. But if they just look at the grades, if I were able to do well on the rest of my rotations, it probably wouldn't hurt me since it is ob/gyn.

 

[willen101383]

Its more about the overall trend of grades you get vs one individual eval. Everyone knows how subjective evaluations are. I had evals during 3rd year that were like "zomgz this student is the best student ever, will make a great physician, etc" and then go on to get a pass on the eval. I just came off of an AI at my top choice (EM) where we got daily evals. One attending would ALWAYS give me one level below "intern level" despite always writing "student is functioning at intern level" in the comments section. Its just how it is, and everyone knows that. Try your hardest, be a team player, and never think any task is beneath you. Try not to make a habit of getting passes. Forest vs the trees my friend, forest vs the trees.

 

[JJMrK]

Some schools are notorious for giving everyone honors in everything, while others limit it to 10% of the class. IMO, it'd be tough to use "all honors" as a screening mechanism, as you'd screen out good people from the latter and potentially screen in lesser candidates from the former. That's beside the fact that when you first submit your ERAS application, any screening that goes on initially is done without your transcript or MSPE (tough to know your grades without those). Just try to get as many as you can.

 

[lesterfreamon]

Ok thanks, that makes me feel a little better! It sucks because the reason I'm not getting honors isn't bad clinical evals or the shelf, its another random assignment that i unfortunately didn't put enough time into.

Like you guys said, I'll just have to work hard in the rest of my rotations and hope I don't run into any absurdly tough evaluators.

 

[willen101383]

Ok thanks, that makes me feel a little better! It sucks because the reason I'm not getting honors isn't bad clinical evals or the shelf, its another random assignment that i unfortunately didn't put enough time into.

Like you guys said, I'll just have to work hard in the rest of my rotations and hope I don't run into any absurdly tough evaluators.

Something I sometimes did (and maybe this is done for you as part of your school's procedures) was to meet with my evaluator halfway through the rotation and say something like "hey i am planning on applying to X specialty and it is very important to me that I do as well as possible in each rotation, what do I need to work on in order to achieve an honors level evaluation." Or something to that effect. That tells them what the deal is, and shows that you are interested and engaged.

 

[VisionaryTics]

Something I sometimes did (and maybe this is done for you as part of your school's procedures) was to meet with my evaluator halfway through the rotation and say something like "hey i am planning on applying to X specialty and it is very important to me that I do as well as possible in each rotation, what do I need to work on in order to achieve an honors level evaluation." Or something to that effect. That tells them what the deal is, and shows that you are interested and engaged.

Or that you're a grade-grubber that cares about the rotation only as a means to obtain another honors grade.

I always think it's a good idea to ask for regular feedback, but if I were a resident or attending and had a student come up to me and say, "I'm applying to radonc, so it's super-important for me to honor this rotation," I would think they're a jackass with backwards priorities.

 

[evilbooyaa]

Or that you're a grade-grubber that cares about the rotation only as a means to obtain another honors grade.

I always think it's a good idea to ask for regular feedback, but if I were a resident or attending and had a student come up to me and say, "I'm applying to radonc, so it's super-important for me to honor this rotation," I would think they're a jackass with backwards priorities.

Fully agree with this, as someone who also wants to go into rad-onc.

 

[lesterfreamon]

Hmm yeah i think asking for feedback and mentioning grades at all might not be good, but do you guys think its bad to be asking for feedback in general?? Do residents/attendings think that is annoying or something?

 

[tco]

Don't do it daily, but asking for feedback, especially specific feedback, will benefit you as a learner.

 

[Punkn]

Definitely solicit specific feedback from your residents/attendings, but I would say do it once around half-way through (so you have time to implement any suggestions) and can show improvement over the whole of the rotation. Definitely don't say anything about how super-competitive your current specialty choice is or ask "how do I get honors?" as that just comes off poorly. Before soliciting feedback, have some ideas in mind of what your strengths/weaknesses on the rotation thus far and potential game-plans for how you might improve. This shows good insight, willingness to learn, and a good work ethic.

 

[JP2740]

9 replies, 0 question responses

 

[J ROD]

it will be ok.

 

[evilbooyaa]

9 replies, 0 question responses

To answer OP's question - Yes it will help. Is it important? Sure. So is getting a 260 step 1, 279 step 2, honoring every pre-clinical class, being part of Senior AOA as a MS2, having 10 publications in Nature/Cell/Red Journal as first author, as well as saving the life of Harvard's (or MDAnderson, or MSKCC) PD, twice. That's the only way you'll match.

 

[startswithb]

To answer OP's question - Yes it will help. Is it important? Sure. So is getting a 260 step 1, 279 step 2, honoring every pre-clinical class, being part of Senior AOA as a MS2, having 10 publications in Nature/Cell/Red Journal as first author, as well as saving the life of Harvard's (or MDAnderson, or MSKCC) PD, twice. That's the only way you'll match.

Perspective. I like it.

 

[DrBodacious]

I know of ENT programs that use AOA as an interview cutoff. I thought rac onc was more focused on research, from what I heard, so you can probably compensate with that. The rad onc attendings I have met are all very bright people with impressive backgrounds. I would definitely ntly think honoring as many rotations as you can would be very helpful. Obviously, you are only talking about 1 rotation. Just do your best.

 

[xrevision]

Most of the top programs in different specialties use AOA as a cutoff and not 100% 3rd year honors.