Have to repeat one year...which one?

[PeepshowJohnny]

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Okay, totally hypothetical.

You get offered the following deal: You will be given the residency of your choice and a million dollars AND a forgiveness of all your school debt. All you have to do...is repeat a year of medical school and pass. And fourth year is too easy an option so it's got to be year one, two, or three.

Would you do it...and which year would you take?

 

[pmpkn219]

Aww, you took away fourth...

I'd say 3rd. I liked it head & shoulders better than 1 and 2 combined. I might even repeat 2nd year for a million bucks. But first- no way!

 

[THP]

Heck, I would repeat years 1, 2, and 3 for that deal.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Third.

 

[jbp100]

Second definitely. It would be a cakewalk once you have already completed all 4 years of school, plus the schedule would be incredibly easy.

 

[78222]

Just pass? I'd do First or Second year if all I had to do was pass (probably M2 since that information is semi fresh and I could get by with very little studying I think.

 

[78222]

Third.

Really? I mean, M3 has been my favorite year of medschool so far, but I don't know if I could repeat it. The hours suck and a lot of times you end up getting scutted to oblivion. Definitely the most valuable year of medschool but there is no way I could do OB/GYN again.

 

[peppy]

I think I'd do 2nd year again. It'd be really easy to pass since it's all stuff I have seen before. 🙂 I also liked being able to set my own hours back then.

 

[Tiger26]

1st year--no question. I could take off a week here and there and it never mattered.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

2nd year w/o a doubt - easiest year overall, plus getting to do path and pharm another time would probably be pretty useful

 

[BigRedBeta]

Easy: third year. I absolutely detested sitting in the library or the coffee shop for hours at a time. It was bad enough studying for 4 hours a day to prep for Step 2. Absolutely get me out where I'm talking with people, and doing work that actually matters (at least occasionally).

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Well, I've heard 4th year is the easiest, but of the ones I've done, I'd go with 2nd year. Definitely, 100% not 3rd year. I don't hate 3rd year, but I don't have it in me to repeat a few of the rotations I've done.

 

[Dral]

1st year easy. Take away studying for Step 1 and I might say second year. Take away pharm also and it would be 2nd yr. for sure.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Really? I mean, M3 has been my favorite year of medschool so far, but I don't know if I could repeat it. The hours suck and a lot of times you end up getting scutted to oblivion. Definitely the most valuable year of medschool but there is no way I could do OB/GYN again.

For a few reasons
1) It's really not THAT bad in the scheme of things - at least it wasn't for me. My surgery rotation is probably the only one I couldn't make it through again.
2) Doing nothing all day other than reading makes me crazy
3) I would know which hospitals to rotate at for each rotation

 

[AK_MD2BE]

1st year...no contest. Total hours devoted to medicine is MUCH less than third year. And, unlike 2nd year, the material is not nearly as relevant for Step 1 so its much less stressful.

 

[tacrum43]

1st year. It would be pretty easy now, there's no Step looming and I could use some anatomy review.

 

[psychbender]

Wait, wait, wait...just repeat a year and pass? For $1 million, my residency of choice, and total loan forgiveness (does this include buying my sould back from Uncle Sam?)? No retaking boards, or anything?

Well, damn, does it even matter which year, then? Whichever you choose, you've already completed the material, and have nothing other than the minimum passing to shoot for (no Step 1 or 2, no rocking your shelf exams/rotation evals/regular exams), so where's the problem? With those rules, I could repeat any of them standing on my head, though the most frustrating would be 3rd year. While I enjoyed third year (much better than first or second), it would just be damn annoying to have to still be "the med student" on rotations, where most people assume you know little, and are largely worthless. Also, it would mean having to do OB and Geriatrics again, so I think I'll just take second year, part deux.

 

[HunterGatherer]

2nd year. Clinical stuff you've seen before. No calls. No waking up at 5am.

 

[smq123]

Well, I've heard 4th year is the easiest, but of the ones I've done, I'd go with 2nd year.

I know it's not an option, but I would never, ever, ever want to repeat 4th year.

Interviewing for residency? Ugh...kill me. Well, first, let me force my contracted facial muscles out of the fake and plastic smile that I had to plaster on my face for each tour. And you can only feign enthusiasm for so long. I mean, I feigned enthusiasm for large chunks of third year....at some point, you start wishing that you could be honest and sincere and say, "Actually....no, I don't want to see the ED. I'm sure it looks JUST LIKE the ED of every other place that I interviewed. But I have to endure this endless, pointless tour, or else you won't feed me."

And, you know those residents who enjoy punishing students who aren't going into their particular specialty? As a third year, it's not a problem, because you can always hedge by saying, "Well, I'm not sure - I'm keeping my options open." If you say that as an MS4, they know that you're lying, because otherwise you're in serious trouble.

Really? I mean, M3 has been my favorite year of medschool so far, but I don't know if I could repeat it. The hours suck and a lot of times you end up getting scutted to oblivion. Definitely the most valuable year of medschool but there is no way I could do OB/GYN again.

I'd love to do MS3 again, but only if I could cherry pick which rotations to do. Months and months of OB/gyn and surgery, and maybe 2 weeks of peds. 😀

It would be hard to go back to MS3, though. After going through the sub-I as an MS4, being given more patients and more responsibility, it would be tough to go back to being treated like a clumsy idiot. Not being allowed to do any procedures by myself, being given 1-2 patients to follow, writing one progress note on an extremely stable patient....it'd get old after a while. It makes me wonder how FMGs (many of whom were high-ranking attendings in their home countries) can survive doing residency in the US again.

Would you do it...and which year would you take?

Yeah, I'd do it. I guess I'd do MS2 again - pharm would be SO MUCH easier now, after actually using the drugs on real patients. Would I have to take Step 1 again, though? That might make me hesitate slightly.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Hmmm...I waffled on whether to include Step 1 with second year and decided to leave it out. I think to make it fair though, for second year you would have to retake Step 1, but on a pass/fail basis. I.E , 190 = you win.

Personally, I'd take second year again. I think it'd be great to go back and review all the relevant pathology and things in detail now that I've seen it out in action.

Also, I made this deal purposefuly sweet because I was afraid I'd get a lot of people saying "I'd never repeat any year of medical school ever again, no way, no how".

 

[RxnMan]

Hmmm...I waffled on whether to include Step 1 with second year and decided to leave it out. I think to make it fair though, for second year you would have to retake Step 1, but on a pass/fail basis. I.E , 190 = you win.

Personally, I'd take second year again. I think it'd be great to go back and review all the relevant pathology and things in detail now that I've seen it out in action.

Also, I made this deal purposefuly sweet because I was afraid I'd get a lot of people saying "I'd never repeat any year of medical school ever again, no way, no how".

2nd year, even with the addition of retaking Step I. Sleep in, make my own schedule, review the path after seeing it in person (good point). Yeah, it'd be easy.

 

[PenguinHead]

Second year. Show up once every six weeks for the tests. 3rd year is much better than second but if I was repeating, second would be much easier.

 

[nightowl]

second year. I could actually really use a repeat course in pharm and micro, and liked path so much I don't think I'd really mind it. I would sleep in, work out two hours every day, cook.... in fact, I wish I had this option! It would be a blessing from heaven!!!

 

[JacobSilge]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say I'd repeat M3. If you are just aiming to pass every rotation it wouldn't be particularly stressful since you basically just have to show up to pass (at least at my school shelf exams are never worth more than 30% of your grade). Sure the hours would be long, but hey you could probably disappear to "read" in the middle of the day and catch a quick nap if you wanted.