HELP: Neurology Clerkship

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livewires

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I am a third-year osteopathic student looking for some advice about acquiring an elective neuro rotation at a program where I might want to apply to residency. I have been calling various programs pleading for a chance to rotate during my third-year. Everyone of them says that they only accept fourth-year students and won't give me the time of day. I have two four-week electives this year: one next month and one in Feb. I really need some direction...I am anxious to get some high-quality clinical exposure. How should I approach this? I'de like to be in the South.

Thanks,
Josh

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someone disagree if they've experienced otherwise, but it's a little unusual to do a neuro elective somewhere else if you haven't already done the clerkship at your school(is that the case?)...i dont think many places would allow such an arrangment(just makes sense). I did a neuro elective at my home school, at the end of 3rd year, but again, it was only open to folks who had completed the neuro clerkship already...granted it's an early match and you'd like to get an elective in there, but once you are sure you want to do neuro, you can always rotate somewhere/do an audition elective somewhere else during the summer after 3rd yr, and through the fall, there's plenty of time...
 
The problem is that there is no formal neuro rotation at my school. There is no university hospital connected so we branch out to do our core rotations by area. Therefore, I am kind of on my own here.
 
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hmm, i find this situation really perplexing, i thought DO schools were much like MD etc. no university? they really make their students find their own clerkship rotations? they don't arrange this for you? apparently not. it still might be worthwhile talking to the administration for DO friendly-elective type places, surely many students before you have done a neuro rotation somewhere, i would think it would be in their interests to have students find clerkship positions, how would anyone graduate(or want to come to said school) othwerwise? they must know where these places are no? sorry i'm of no real help.
take care
scm
 
I'm in very much the same situation, but at an allopathic school. We have opportunities to explore specialties in our third year, but no third year neurology clerkship. This post is ages old - but I wonder if any one has any advice?

*hears crickets chirp*
 
I'm in very much the same situation, but at an allopathic school. We have opportunities to explore specialties in our third year, but no third year neurology clerkship. This post is ages old - but I wonder if any one has any advice?

*hears crickets chirp*

When I was looking for neuro clerkships, I simply went to the websites of nearby neuro residency programs and checked to see if they offer visiting medical student rotations.

Just send out a few polite emails with your rotation dates and see what you get. They will instruct you further on how your school can forward supporting documentation to them (med clearance, insurance, etc.)

Good luck!
 
Before you go off independently contacting programs, most schools only take fourth year students for visiting electives. Remember, they've got their own students to get through whatever neurology elective they may have designed for third years.

As far as applying to aways, most schools use the VSAS system. Cheap, it ain't. But... it's the standardized system for away rotation applications and most direct calls or emails to programs will direct you here. Check it out before you start cold calling. Program coordinators are very busy people, and they're oftentimes not the person that handles the visiting student rotations- it could well be someone in the registrar's office for all you know! All the info you could want can be found here. Be forewarned, in the case of using VSAS, the early bird oftentimes gets the worm- many visiting student slots are first come, first serve, and there's a lot of paperwork to get together. Read all the instructions and pay attention to the dates the applications open and can be sent in. If memory serves me right, it should be soon!

Do NOT panic if your school doesn't have a third year Neurology clerkship- this is more common than you might think. Mine was only a week long! What will be much more beneficial to you is to complete your sub-I (in Neurology if you can, if not, medicine) very early in your fourth year (to fine tune your skills before going on an away elective) followed by an away rotation at a program you're interested in, or, more importantly, one you think you really might want to go to for residency. You've got to be on the ball and work your tail off, but it's helped more than a few people work their way to the ranked-to-match end of their dream program's rank list! Just make sure you schedule your aways as early in the year as possible after completing your sub-I. You don't want to be ditching whatever school it is you're trying to impress to start going on interviews. (Late October-early Feb)

Good luck!
 
Also, forgot to add that in terms of getting letters, IM letters are good for just that, IM prelims. Neurology programs like seeing that you've got letters from neurologists. I know it's tough, but you've got to put yourself out there. Introduce yourself to the department head and program coordinator as someone who is interested in neurology and ask them about opportunities to get involved and get more exposure. This helps in two ways- you start to get to know two very good potential letter writers, and they'll likely be very happy to provide advice (in the unlikely event they don't offer to have you shadow/work with them from the outset). Ask to hang out when neuro team checks out your patient for a consult or if it's ok if you can spend some free time (ha.) in the clinic when you have lighter rotations. Ask early enough, and they might be able to help you get a Neurology sub-I created for you. The worst thing anyone can say to you is no!
 
Also related - everyone always says rotate where you want to go...but how many electives should you use like this? How much is just too much?
 
Check with your med school- most have a limit on how many rotations can be completed "away" for you to receive your degree. I was limited to two aways, and ended up doing two. Quite frankly, while they were a blast, I can't imagine doing more.

There's not really a point to doing them after interview season (and who wants to actually work the last half of fourth year anyway :p). Firstly, they'll wear you out- I literally worked every single day for two months straight with Q4 call. Secondly, they're not cheap. Remember, you've got to pay to apply to places, and you've got to pay for your expenses while you were there- housing, in particular.

Also, think about your 4th year schedule. Let's say your fourth year technically begins in July. July = Sub I, August = Away, September =Away, October= Interview season begins! While you can get away with doing an away in October (I did), just realize that you'll have to schedule your interviews for later dates. This can create scheduling headaches for some, or, like me, you could end up going on interviews in February, by which time you will seriously weigh the options of backhanding the next person who asks you "So, do you have any more questions?!"
 
anybody know of a site that offers third year clerkships for visiting students?
 
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