January re entry

[Uwish]

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I finished my Phd and re entered Med school in January. My third year rotations will be finished in January 2020. When should I begin prep for residency applications. In January or next summer for 2021 graduation?

 

[dl2dp2]

Prep? Immediately. Submit? Sept of 2020.

 

[StIGMA]

This is correct for a 2021 graduation, but it really depends on your school. At my program you would be applying right now (during MS3, which would finish in December). We had 1 year of MS3 (January-December, which you are in now), and we only had 1 semester of MS4. So in your position, I applied right now and was on track to graduate for what would be spring 2020.

This kept our graduation times reasonable on an already long training pathway. I felt extremely well prepared for intern year (especially because the MS3-4 was all real clinicals, not part-time electives during MS4 a lot of people do).

If memory serves, 5 of my class of 14 finished in 7 years (including me), 7 in 8 years, and 1 in 9 years and 1 in 10 years due to this system, which is well below average graduation times (<8 years).

I would recommend this if your program signs off and you are prepared. It does mean scheduling SubI's during the middle of MS3 and "finishing" MS3 during MS4 with non-core electives (for instance, I had OB/GYN during MS4).

 

[Neuronix]

Ugh I wish I could help. It's been too long since I was there. Your MD/PhD program, or even just the MD office, should really be helping you navigate this. Isn't there someone onsite who can look at timelines, requirements, etc and figure out what you should be doing?

This is somewhat specialty dependent. In my day some specialties that were less competitive would let you apply without completing all your cores (expected before graduation), more competitive specialties wouldn't let you get away with that.

 

[ganglia777]

This is correct for a 2021 graduation, but it really depends on your school. At my program you would be applying right now (during MS3, which would finish in December). We had 1 year of MS3 (January-December, which you are in now), and we only had 1 semester of MS4. So in your position, I applied right now and was on track to graduate for what would be spring 2020.

This kept our graduation times reasonable on an already long training pathway. I felt extremely well prepared for intern year (especially because the MS3-4 was all real clinicals, not part-time electives during MS4 a lot of people do).

If memory serves, 5 of my class of 14 finished in 7 years (including me), 7 in 8 years, and 1 in 9 years and 1 in 10 years due to this system, which is well below average graduation times (<8 years).

I would recommend this if your program signs off and you are prepared. It does mean scheduling SubI's during the middle of MS3 and "finishing" MS3 during MS4 with non-core electives (for instance, I had OB/GYN during MS4).

You're lucky your program lets you do this. If needed, it may be helpful to get an "ally" in the administration who can help pull strings for you to help you schedule the rotations in time and help you graduate in 2020. You'd be taking step 2 CK (presumably) without finishing all the rotations, so might want to ask for a month to study for step 2 and postpone less important rotations like psych and neuro after step 2.

I tried to propose several non-standard options at my program (e.g., doing sub-I during MS3, doing electives before MS3 to save time, etc) and got shut down, thus I was forced to wait until the next year's MS3 class starts and take an extra year in which 6 months of it will be filled with useless electives. The director's reasoning was that MD/PhDs need to be "very strong clinicians" and "can't cut corners". Others have been similarly screwed over as well. Our program's average graduation time is between 8 and 9 years. Almost nobody does it in less than 8, and more than a handful of people in recent years took 10-11 years.

 

[tr]

I'm also way far out from this but agree with Neuronix that it is specialty-dependent. If you are applying in a noncompetitive specialty you should consult with your dean and determine whether it is realistic and appropriate to apply for 2020. If your specialty is competitive I would certainly take the extra year so that you complete all your core rotations and do well in them before you apply.

I returned to the wards in January, did a lightning 13-month 3rd year plus a sub-I, and graduated.
I knew I was going to be applying in either psychiatry or neurology so I believe I ordered my initial rotations FM, then psychiatry, then neurology, then IM. Those were all the rotations that made it into my application. Even with a grossly mediocre PhD record I interviewed everywhere I applied, got phone calls from most of the PDs before match day, and matched at my #1. I matched mid-year while I was still on core rotations, and finished up the year post-match. Long hair, don't care. The attendings and fellows on my surgery rotation were horrified.

I'm not even sure this would work in psychiatry anymore. At that time (over a decade ago) it was rather a bottom-of-the-barrel specialty but I understand it has become significantly more competitive since then.