M3 schedule

[831929]

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any suggestion for the best order of M3 clinical schedule? Good to do family med first or save for later before step 3? Should I do my specialty interests first to make sure I actually like them? or do easy stuff first to get warmed up to clinical rotations?

 

[Ismet]

Don't do FM first, it has elements of IM, Peds, and OB-gyn on it and the shelf definitely wasn't the easiest IMO. You don't need to have all 3 of those done before FM but it would be nice if you do.

Try not to do your specialty interests as your first rotation. 3rd year is an adjustment. Get your feet wet with something else. Do your specialty interest relatively early though.

 

[ciestar]

General consensus is to never make your top interest your first rotation.
Other than that, I am on the fence about my own schedule and made a thread about it a few days ago.

 

[el_duderino]

I did surgery first and medicine last and thought it was great for learning and for CK prep. If I were to do it again, I might try to do FM last.

 

[Stagg737]

I personally liked doing OB and IM early, at least before surgery because surgery just felt like a repeat of IM with surgical aspects thrown in. A lot less purely surgical questions on that shelf than I expected. Imo psych was the easiest shelf followed by OB. FM and peds are good later because I felt like it was a lot of review in those (with preventative medicine thrown in).

I personally liked having easier shelfs early to get used to the pace of being in clinic and not having all day to study. Some people like to jump right in. I'd also recommend breaking up the really heavy rotations (surgery and OB at most places from the sounds of it) with something easier in between to prevent burnout, but some people just like to get it all over at once. I think it'll really come down to your personal preference though and the "best" order may vary depending on how difficult particular rotations are at your institution.

 

[Donald Juan]

People will have strategies for everything, but really no order of rotations will make or break you.

The only thing I went for was to have surgery (which I was interested in) in the first half of the year so I could figure out earlier if I really wanted to do it.