Is the Summer Rotation Worthwhile?

[Tupais]

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Hi,
I've been reading from a few of you that the first summer-rotation is a "throw-away" rotation. Is this because it is the first rotation, or because it's in the summer before medical school starts? Is it worth doing the summer rotation? What did you get out of it? I am getting married this summer, and may not have the time to go on a honeymoon if I am working in a laboratory, so I am trying to decide if doing a rotation this summer would actually be helpful. Thanks!

 

[jeniffer lopez]

I am in the same situation. I am also getting married, but I will take a short honeymoon and do my rotation. I am a lab rat though I must say the PI I will work with mentioned that it might not be significant for me and him since I would not join the lab until two years later, and who knows what they wil be working on/what the funding situation will be then. I recommend you to talk to your future husband and decide together what will be best for both of you. You don't want him to blame you down the road because he could not go surfing in hawaii when you guys had the time and resources

 

[someday soon?]

Hi Tupais,

Did you interview at UW, Seattle, last week? There was someone who was in the same situation as you described. If so, what did you think of the program?

Regardless, congratulations on the wedding and good luck with your summer rotation dilemma!

 

[Tupais]

Nah, wasn't me. Thanks anyway. It's interesting to hear that so many people are getting married this summer. Cheers to good relationships!

 

[greg12345]

It depends. It very much can be a worthwhile rotation if your goals are to test out a potential lab to see if it is a good environment to train in and whether the PI is a good fit. You cannot expect a PI to "hold" a project for you 2 years, so don't expect to be doing your thesis on your rotation project. And losing funding usually isn't a huge issue for good labs. I did a summer rotation before 1st year and thought it was a great idea for me. It was about 8 weeks long and helped get a good feel for the PI/Lab and the research direction/interests of the lab, my project was pretty cool and interesting too. We are required to do 2 rotations at my institution before choosing a lab, so I did another one after MS1 (which became my thesis lab) then started in my thesis lab right after I took Step 1 after MS2.

By no means should you feel that you are compromising your training or time if you decide NOT to do one though; if you have a once in a lifetime kinda thing then my advice would be to relax and enjoy the summer because the pain will start soon enough...and it only gets worse...

 

[Vader]

Congratulations on getting married!

Considering that many MSTPs require only 2 lab rotations of their students, as opposed to 3 for "regular" graduate students, I would look at the rotations as an opportunity to get to know the lab & PI, and try to make the most out of each.

It is unlikely you will accomplish very much on your own during 10 or so weeks. However, there is also a chance that you could contribute to something if you work under a postdoc in the lab. This is what happened to me with my first rotation, the summer before med school--worked hard with a postdoc on an exciting project and ended up getting authorship on his paper.

If I were you, I'd take a nice honeymoon and enjoy the summer. How often do you go on honeymoons anyway?