I've always wondered why people say the last summer you will have is between years 1 & 2. I understand about Step 1 between years 2 & 3 but what is going on between years 3 & 4. Do rotations run for 2 years straight?
Is there a break between 3rd and 4th year?
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Double post.
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1st year runs Aug-May/June (break for 8-10 weeks)
2nd = Aug-Apr/May (classes usually end in apr, then you have 4-6 weeks for boards).
3rd = June 1 - May 31
4th = June 1 - May 31
In 3rd/4th year the only time you have "vacation" is if you have a vacation month. So to answer your question directly, yes rotations are 24 months and you do not get a break unless you have a vacatino month.
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Our M3 and M4 years technically start on 1 July. However, we have 4 days of "Transition to Clerkship" at the end of June that we have to attend.
Then since 1 July was on a Tuesday last year, we got a 3 day weekend in between M3 and M4 year. The last day of M3 year was the Friday before 1 July.
Oh, and we got a week off at Christmas for vacation M3 year. And an elective/vacation month like above.
M4 year we could have 3 months of vacation if we took an elective M3 year. Nothing was specifically designated off at Christmas as an M4, it was rotation dependent.
Then since 1 July was on a Tuesday last year, we got a 3 day weekend in between M3 and M4 year. The last day of M3 year was the Friday before 1 July.
Oh, and we got a week off at Christmas for vacation M3 year. And an elective/vacation month like above.
M4 year we could have 3 months of vacation if we took an elective M3 year. Nothing was specifically designated off at Christmas as an M4, it was rotation dependent.
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Speaking of "vacation," i have a related question. I'm going to be graduating in the class of 2013 (assuming all goes as planned).....how does that "vacation month" during 3/4th year work? Can you plan it whenever you'd like as long as you give notice far enough in advance? Here is my deal....i would LOVE to go the rugby world cup in 2011 with my gf and other rugby friends. It will be happening in the fall, which will be smack dab in the middle of 3rd year. Now, with proper planning, would I be able to plan my "vacation month" so that I can go to NZ and watch the tournament? Even if its just a week or something? Can i choose to only take a week off? Can I do the whole month? The next rugby world cup would be in 2015, which theoretically would be smack dab in the middle of my residency. Somehow i dont think that would be any better of a time to try and get vacation.
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I had a week off between the end of 3rd year and the start of 4th year...
As for scheduling of third and fourth year, it's different at every school. Your best bet is going to be asking your upperclassmen at your school. At my school, there's no flexible vacation during third year. Fourth year though is very, very flexible, and there are also a lot of rotations that really don't require an entire month (anatomy dissection, writing a PBL case, etc), so it's easy to do some interesting things if you put one of those back to back with a vacation month or an international elective...
As for scheduling of third and fourth year, it's different at every school. Your best bet is going to be asking your upperclassmen at your school. At my school, there's no flexible vacation during third year. Fourth year though is very, very flexible, and there are also a lot of rotations that really don't require an entire month (anatomy dissection, writing a PBL case, etc), so it's easy to do some interesting things if you put one of those back to back with a vacation month or an international elective...
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Many schools I know have "vacation" built into the third year rotations-e.g. your 8wk surgery rotation is really 7wks of surgery plus the weeks afterward is vacation so depending on how flexible your school is about how you schedule your clinical year there may or may not be the ability to get a specific chunk of time off. All this stuff is fairly school dependent and you really kind of have to wait and see how your institution does it.
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We get 2 weeks off between 3rd and 4th year. We also have 8 weeks of vacation 4th year with pretty flexible scheduling, so I guess you could take more time off if you wanted to. Most of us are planning to save that time off until the end of 4th year, though. We also have no flexible vacation in 3rd year. We get about 6 weeks off between 2nd and 3rd year, but of course you have to take Step 1 in there. We also get 2 weeks for winter break 3rd year and a few scattered days off here and there (thanksgiving, memorial day, labor day, etc.).
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Just going to depend on how your school schedules out the 3rd/4th years..... so I definitely wouldn't go buying your ticket just yet. 🙂
Some places you may have a little more control over your schedule and could put in a preference for which month you'd prefer to have vacation on, others you may just get handed a schedule.
