Is fourth year better?

[honey0102]

Current M3. I'm really not having a great time this year.

In my first two rotations, I got along with most preceptors, but had an abusive preceptor in each. One was a long-standing attending. The school has record of her being abusive as many students have filed reports. Some of my friends had easier, nicer attendings-and got higher grades despite doing less.

Second rotation, abusive chief resident. Abused us + intern + resident. He got in trouble with the school after the fact.

Third rotation is great. But the preceptor has a policy of never giving Honors, only HP at most.

The subjective grading is killing me. My classmates and I are worried about looking dumb so we refrain from taking on harder cases where we may learn more-just because grading here is so subjective and Honoring is so hard.

Is m4 any different?

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[Chibucks15]

Welcome to the fun stuff! That's how my 3rd year has gone too. But you at least get HPs. My site is notorious for only passing students. I've just come to accept it and I'm going for collecting as many good comments on my MSPE rather than the grade itself. It's all a crapshoot, the sooner you lessen the amount that a certain letter can affect self worth and self confidence, the better

 

[MedicineZ0Z]

Same crap except neither you or the other side cares.

Take a couple rough rotations that are useful though. And take useful ones where you can come in for 2-3 hours then take off.

 

[theonlytycrane]

hang in there and keep grinding.

ms3 here- we're all going through the same random grading silliness.

ms3 seems to be a twisted exercise in learning to persevere despite being put down unfairly and so many things being out of our control

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

I promise you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Third year was likely the overall worst year of my life and my quality of life suffered horrendously. Fourth year has been amazing!!! I have time to do what I love and I'm mostly doing rotations that I like and care about, instead of the forced rotations of third year! Keep chugging along and remember it's only a year and you can do anything for a year!

 

[honey0102]

Welcome to the fun stuff! That's how my 3rd year has gone too. But you at least get HPs. My site is notorious for only passing students. I've just come to accept it and I'm going for collecting as many good comments on my MSPE rather than the grade itself. It's all a crapshoot, the sooner you lessen the amount that a certain letter can affect self worth and self confidence, the better

Do PD's actually read the MSPE? If so that would be great but I keep hearing otherwise

 

[honey0102]

I promise you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Third year was likely the overall worst year of my life and my quality of life suffered horrendously. Fourth year has been amazing!!! I have time to do what I love and I'm mostly doing rotations that I like and care about, instead of the forced rotations of third year! Keep chugging along and remember it's only a year and you can do anything for a year!

Thanks so much. This is really encouraging

 

[Chibucks15]

Do PD's actually read the MSPE? If so that would be great but I keep hearing otherwise

I bet it varies and there isn't any real way to know. But I'm assuming they skim the grading and at least read the comments. If I'm in their shoes, comments from another attending matter a hell of a lot more than a scoring system. The scores tell you the knowledge, while comments can tell you how they interact, work ethic, if they improved, etc.

 

[curbsideconsult]

M4 could be better or worse or the same. If you do lots of away rotations, M4 will really suck for you, especially since subjective evaluations seem to hit you hard. If you don't do away rotations and are allowed to choose your preceptors then M4 will probably be great (aside from the stress of residency interviews).

Hang in there. The anonymous SDN collective is rooting for you.

 

[MSTP18]

I generally think M4 is always better because it’s usually more focused on areas of interest, less rigid grading, and really big: no shelf exam. Even though my sub-I was way more hours in the hospital than MS3, the face that when I got home I didn’t need to do step up and Uworld was just such a great feeling.

 

[honey0102]

M4 could be better or worse or the same. If you do lots of away rotations, M4 will really suck for you, especially since subjective evaluations seem to hit you hard. If you don't do away rotations and are allowed to choose your preceptors then M4 will probably be great (aside from the stress of residency interviews).

Hang in there. The anonymous SDN collective is rooting for you.

Aww. Thanks so much. Posts like this are just what I needed

 

[IMGASMD]

Learn to play the game. No one is above it unless you’re a super superstar or a supernova.

If you show genuine interest, you will be okay. All the grades and comments are only snapshots of your life and performance. It’s always the trend they’re (PD) looking for. Do one more sub-I to improve your knowledge or competitiveness. Take initiative to talk to some of these attendings who are handing out grades. Sometimes even that wouldn’t make any difference. You just have to accept that, you can only do the best you can. You may just have to move on. And you will have to learn to move on.

Know plenty of people who didn’t get H/HP who still ending in that specific speciality. Because they believe and know what they want to do.

There is another thread about a M4 being asked to repeat a year. I mentioned now you’re in the business of taking care of human beings, there are many many human beings that you will have to work with. Many of them may not like you, many of them you may not like. You need to learn to work smart around these people. IQ is no longer the only parameter that you will be judge in.

Good luck!

 

[CidHighwind]

Meh. You still have to try somewhat depending on your preceptor. Everyone tells me it gets better after match, so we will see.

 

[Tabiyou]

It gets better after you submitted ERAS.

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

It never actually gets better. It keeps getting harder and you just get more desperate for the carrot at the end of the stick.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Do PD's actually read the MSPE? If so that would be great but I keep hearing otherwise

Yes.

 

[zero0]

It sure as hell isn't the vacation everyone said it would be

 

[ciestar]

It sure as hell isn't the vacation everyone said it would be

I front loaded my schedule so it hasnt been easy at all. I also have a mandatory sub-i in APRIL.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I front loaded my schedule so it hasnt been easy at all. I also have a mandatory sub-i in APRIL.

Gross.

 

[takeurmeds02]

It's better in the sense that you kind of get to do what you're actually interested in. It sucks the first couple months though because of away rotations, Step 2 CK/CS, and ERAS. Once you've gotten all of that out of the way, it's definitely a vacation. Sure you'll have to finish your credit requirements but you're basically just showing up and passing without any thought to evaluations. I can basically participate as much or as little as I choose lol.