How does your school set up rotations?

[oldman]

I'm curious as to how your schools set up the rotations. You can also comment on what you think of the system.

University of Minnesota - Lottery (6 rounds, 1-4 = required rotations, 5-6 = electives); comment - mine worked out ok, but many people are complaining about getting screwed.

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[Smurfette]

My school also does the lottery system. I was last in the lottery for 3rd year schedules (so I got screwed) and this year (scheduling for fourth year), I was too low in the lottery to get a sub-i in my field of interest during the fall semester (during the time frame I needed it in order to get some LORs). Do I dislike the lottery system? Yes. I know that my problem is not very common and most of my classmates were pretty happy with their schedules, but I really think trying to do a rotation for an LOR should get more weight than simply taking a class b/c you just need to fill a month in your schedule. My school goes through the lottery with people ranking courses from #1 on down. It fills the highest rank class on your list that is still open to students, then moves on to the next person in the lottery. Then the lottery repeats with the next highest ranked course that's still open and so on until everything ranked has been filled.

Good thread...I'm curious how most schools work regarding scheduling clinical rotations.

Smurfette

 

[oldman]

My school also does the lottery system. I was last in the lottery for 3rd year schedules (so I got screwed) and this year (scheduling for fourth year), I was too low in the lottery to get a sub-i in my field of interest during the fall semester (during the time frame I needed it in order to get some LORs). Do I dislike the lottery system? Yes. I know that my problem is not very common and most of my classmates were pretty happy with their schedules, but I really think trying to do a rotation for an LOR should get more weight than simply taking a class b/c you just need to fill a month in your schedule. My school goes through the lottery with people ranking courses from #1 on down. It fills the highest rank class on your list that is still open to students, then moves on to the next person in the lottery. Then the lottery repeats with the next highest ranked course that's still open and so on until everything ranked has been filled.

Good thread...I'm curious how most schools work regarding scheduling clinical rotations.

Smurfette

we do it for both 3rd and 4th year at the same time. it's a rotating schedule at our school, so you get screwed at different times, but within a month everything is registered for. my friend at yale said that they have a "match" type system that was set up by some students that tries to optimize things for everyone.

http://www.meded.umn.edu/year34/course_scheduling/group_definitions.htm

 

[Vincristine]

We have a lottery for M3, whereby we all sit in a room (there are only 30 of us) and pcik numbers for each round. We only do cores this way. All electives are self scheduled provided preceptors are free (not usually a problem). First round you can only pick something for slot 1, and if you aren't doing something in slot 1, then you don't get a number. Second round opens up everything and we all draw numbers again. However, there are interesting rules like once someone picks OB in block Y, for instance, the minumum number of required students has to be reached for OB in that block before someone can pick OB in block X. Minimums range from 2-4. We keep picking numbers until everyone is done (theoretically 6 times since we have 6 8-week blocks, but there are a couple 4 week rotations so it takes more than 6 rounds).
For M4 we just write out our desired schedule and hand it in. Again, the only real competition is for the core clerkships (and most people only have 1 or 2 left for M4). Very rarely are there conflicts with electives. M4's have priority over the M3's for cores.
It works out fine for most people. I know some people who had complaints last year, but once they are "living" their schedule this year, they see it really doesn't matter. I "took one for the team" and switched my OB and peds rotations, but it really didn't matter in the long run.

 

[oldman]

wow, your class size is only 30?

we have about 200 total students. we combine with the u of MN twincities and u of MN duluth schools plus the decelerated and md/phd students. it's crazy.

We have a lottery for M3, whereby we all sit in a room (there are only 30 of us) and pcik numbers for each round. We only do cores this way. All electives are self scheduled provided preceptors are free (not usually a problem). First round you can only pick something for slot 1, and if you aren't doing something in slot 1, then you don't get a number. Second round opens up everything and we all draw numbers again. However, there are interesting rules like once someone picks OB in block Y, for instance, the minumum number of required students has to be reached for OB in that block before someone can pick OB in block X. Minimums range from 2-4. We keep picking numbers until everyone is done (theoretically 6 times since we have 6 8-week blocks, but there are a couple 4 week rotations so it takes more than 6 rounds).
For M4 we just write out our desired schedule and hand it in. Again, the only real competition is for the core clerkships (and most people only have 1 or 2 left for M4). Very rarely are there conflicts with electives. M4's have priority over the M3's for cores.
It works out fine for most people. I know some people who had complaints last year, but once they are "living" their schedule this year, they see it really doesn't matter. I "took one for the team" and switched my OB and peds rotations, but it really didn't matter in the long run.

 

[Blade28]

We have a lottery-type system for both 3rd and 4th years. For 3rd year, you basically get to decide where your Internal Medicine rotation goes, as well as one other rotation (you pick). Priority is determined by a random number. Then the rest of your rotations are fit in randomly, and people trade with each other.

For 4th year, you're able to pick where and when you want your Emergency Medicine rotation. Then, according to your random number, you go around and sign up for electives.

 

[Vincristine]

wow, your class size is only 30?

we have about 200 total students. we combine with the u of MN twincities and u of MN duluth schools plus the decelerated and md/phd students. it's crazy.

Oldman: the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine is the largest medical school in the coutry (or so I've been told), HOWEVER, there are 4 sites. Chicago has...I don't know, 150+ people/class, then there are another 125 spread between the other sites (Rockford, Peoria and Urbana). Rockford and Peoria both have 50 people/class, and Urbana is mostly (soon to be, completely) MD/PhD's (the MSTPer's are in Chicago and there's a second program in Urbana). All the non-Chicago folks spend the first year together in Urbana for the basic science curriculum. Anyway, all the sites more or less operate independently except for annoying bits like having to register like 3 times, dealing with record people in Chicago who don't understand you are 2 hours south, etc. There are disadvantages, but I think for the most part, I get a really good experience in such a small program. Additionally, we only have residency programs in IM and FP down here, so the vast majority of clerkships are done one-on-one with attendings. Advantage: we have no problems talking to or presenting to attendings. Disadvantage: in some places this is seen as disrepecting the chain of command.

 

[kutastha]

At UVM we gave our preferences and they tried to fit it. We have three blocks, Psych/Neuro/Int Med inpt, FP/Peds/Int Med Outpt, OBGYN/Surg. During any block, a third of our class can be in Maine. Then the administration sends out a list of who is where and we can switch with others to get the rotation we want, e.g. a lot of folks wanted to do PNI or PFO in Maine to enjoy the summer.

Also, if your FP or Outpt takes you to the far reaches of rural VT, then they set up housing for you. It seems to work out pretty well, but we only have 100 kids in our class.

 

[Fermi]

At the U of MN, it almost seems like there's too much freedom, because as a second year, you don't really know when it is best to take all your required and elective rotations. I tried to pinpoint certain rotations that I wanted at certain times, but this caused me to be too late in scheduling other required rotations, such that I have to take some well into 4th year now. I'd rather have a "match" system, at least for required rotations.