help needed for scheduling 3rd year tracks...

[ozarka]

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hi guys, i'm a bit new to posting but i really need some help. we're to turn in our 3rd year track choices soon and i've heard varying things about this (from - "it's not important, don't worry about it", to "it's important to take them in a particular order for applications", etc.). for someone who doesn't really know what they want to go into yet (but is thinking internal medicine subspecialization - i.e. cardiology or gi...maybe med/peds), is there an optimal order to schedule tracks (ie starting easy or delving right in with surgery)? what are your thoughts about doing electives at home vs. in offsite locations, especially for harder rotations like ob/gyn, int medicine, surgery?

any help, any thoughts would be wonderful. thank you very much for helping me out!

 

[Squonk]

hi guys, i'm a bit new to posting but i really need some help. we're to turn in our 3rd year track choices soon and i've heard varying things about this

Hi. There are as many theories about this as there are med students. At my school, the tracks are assigned by lottery, which adds to the angst. I think the people who say "don't worry too much about it," are giving good advice. That said, I arranged my rotations with medicine (our longest rotation) last so that it would be fresh in my mind when I took Step 2.

Good luck!

 

[orientedtoself]

- Pick a track that has medicine in the early-middle part of the year. You won't be very good in the beginning of the year. Don't have it last, because you will want to find out if medicine or med/peds is what you actually want to do.
- Pick a track with your friends. You will be spending a lot of time with them.

 

[marydee]

Open the "sticky" on this forum thread and find the HUGE thread about rotation choices. Hope you find it helpful.

 

[ozarka]

thanks so much for the helpful responses. by the way...we also have the option of doing some of our rotations in off-site locations (i.e. the va or other community/outpt sites). what are your thoughts on doing some of the more traditionally "difficult" rotations (like ob/gyn) at these sites? are there certain rotations that are better to do off-site? any thoughts? thanks again for helping me out!

 

[whispers]

Don't schedule what you are interested in first put it at the middle or end. You want to be ready and well prepared. Think about who is in your track make sure they are cool people to work with. I got stuck with a bunch of $%##]holes. That will make the year much longer. Try not to put rotations with long hours back to back. Read the previous faqs and for specifics. About different hospitals at your school ask current third year and a fourth year if you can find one

 

[zack_morris]

If your school uses the shelf exams, I would start with medicine. Its definitely tough to begin with, but you will need medicine for all the exams. I have friends that started with surgery, psych or ob/gyn and totally bombed the exams- each felt that they should have started with medicine.

 

[betz]

If your school uses the shelf exams, I would start with medicine. Its definitely tough to begin with, but you will need medicine for all the exams. I have friends that started with surgery, psych or ob/gyn and totally bombed the exams- each felt that they should have started with medicine.

On the flip-side, if you start with medicine, you may not do as well on the medicine shelf (which would be not so good if you want to do medicine). At the beginning of the third year, you are learning how to be a med student (i.e. doing the physical exam, writing notes, presenting, etc.). I also chose to do medicine and surgery last, so it would be fresh on my mind for Step 2. Ultimately, you have to work out your schedule based on what you think you would want to do. Talk to current 3rd yrs/4th yrs at your school that are doing what you think you might be interested in. They usually have the best advice.

 

[CANES2006]

I started out with Internal Medicine followed by Surgery. 16 weeks straight of hell, but afterwards third year was a piece of cake. I finished up with family medicine, which really helped out with Step 2 prep. Hey, worked for me. 😀

 

[RonaldColeman]

If your school uses the shelf exams, I would start with medicine. Its definitely tough to begin with, but you will need medicine for all the exams. I have friends that started with surgery, psych or ob/gyn and totally bombed the exams- each felt that they should have started with medicine.

If you're school uses shelf exams, I would recommend taking Peds and then Internal Medicine. After this, in my opinion, the order isn't that important. I think taking Peds first is better than IM because the Peds mock board is much more "step1-ish" than the other shelfs. You can do really well on this exam without much 3rd year knowledge. In contrast, the IM shelf is much more of a "3rd year shelf." Your experience in Peds will help you on the IM shelf, while your IM experience will not be as helpful for the Peds shelf. After taking both of these rotations, you will definitely have an advantage on the remaining shelfs. People also recommend Peds before IM because the attendings tend to be less malignant. You will get a chance to hone your skills on the wards in a less intense atmosphere...or so the theory goes.

 

[lattimer13]

if i had it to over again....i would schedule surgery and internal medicine early enough in the year that you have these done by the time you have to turn in your 4th year schedule...that way you at least know if you wanna go into a more medicine-related or surgery-related specialty. also try to get any of the other core requirements you think you might be interested in by that time so you can plan your 4th year accordingly.

other than that it truly makes no difference the order of your rotations.