Is August too late for first rotation?

[dude1344]

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[ILikeEyeballs]

It shouldn't be a problem if you have good ophtho faculty who support their med students. I did my ophtho rotation in August and was able to get 2 letters from faculty who I barely knew at the start of the rotation. My med school's ophtho faculty were really helpful though so it probably depends on where you are. Make sure you talk to your letter writers early in the rotation because it can take 2-3 weeks for them to get around to writing you a letter.

 

[DrZeke]

It shouldn't be a problem if you have good ophtho faculty who support their med students. I did my ophtho rotation in August and was able to get 2 letters from faculty who I barely knew at the start of the rotation. My med school's ophtho faculty were really helpful though so it probably depends on where you are. Make sure you talk to your letter writers early in the rotation because it can take 2-3 weeks for them to get around to writing you a letter.

I'm doing rotations in August and September. I was told by some that you should always let the person that you are working with know that you want a letter. I was also told by an attending that it may look kind of annoying and crappy to notify of that fact right at the beginning. I know for the logistics of it all, it makes sense to ask earlier, but any thoughts?

 

[imfancyboy]

I'm doing rotations in August and September. I was told by some that you should always let the person that you are working with know that you want a letter. I was also told by an attending that it may look kind of annoying and crappy to notify of that fact right at the beginning. I know for the logistics of it all, it makes sense to ask earlier, but any thoughts?

IMHO, you should definitely ask early on. Maybe not the first day, but soon. One of the attending gave me several projects before promising me a letter, I think to test my knowledge and timeliness. If I didn't ask him early on, he probably wouldn't have given me these projects, though. Base on the projects, he promised me a letter by the end of my rotation.

I know it can be annoying, but try to identify attendings who are friendly to medical students early on, and ask him or her for help. If they get annoyed, you probably picked a wrong person, who may not have given you a letter, even if you asked later on! 😀

 

[macula]

I don't think it is too late...I did my first rotation then, liked it, then applied. You will have a tight timeline though so be vigilant.