Managing AI/Clerkship/Step II schedule

[Cards21aceking]

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Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could comment on my situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My school is in a transition year with a new curriculum, which ultimately ended up with me being scheduled to do 5 of my 6 clerkships during my 3rd year, and then I'll finish my final clerkship (Neuro/psych) at the beginning of my fourth year. This opens up my final block of 3rd year to be for anything (AI, elective, etc..)

So my options/thoughts are to do:
Medicine AI
Neuro/Psych
An easy elective
Take 2 weeks off for Step II, and then take it in Mid-Sept.

Could anyone offer any thoughts on this. Any other options would also be openly received. 🙂 I'm so confused!

 

[gutonc]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could comment on my situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My school is in a transition year with a new curriculum, which ultimately ended up with me being scheduled to do 5 of my 6 clerkships during my 3rd year, and then I'll finish my final clerkship (Neuro/psych) at the beginning of my fourth year. This opens up my final block of 3rd year to be for anything (AI, elective, etc..)

So my options/thoughts are to do:
Medicine AI
Neuro/Psych
An easy elective
Take 2 weeks off for Step II, and then take it in Mid-Sept.

Could anyone offer any thoughts on this. Any other options would also be openly received. 🙂 I'm so confused!

You should check w/ your school and make sure that you can take your Sub-I as a 3rd year. I had a similar situation and I had to do an elective (2 actually, one research, one sub-specialty) b/c you couldn't do your Sub-I/AI until you were a 4th year. I still did it before my last 2 core clerkships (Surgery in Sept/Oct and ER in May). If you've got the time, take Step 2. Or do an interesting elective. Doesn't really matter.

 

[orientedtoself]

i would recommend doing a consult month and studying for step 2 during that month, take it soon after and get it out of the way. then you can take your medicine ai early fourth year, get letter of rec, (i'm assuming) apply to medicine, and coast!

 

[Cards21aceking]

You should check w/ your school and make sure that you can take your Sub-I as a 3rd year.

The school is the one who informed us that we could take Sub-I's during third year. Typically, they don't allow this, but since it's a transition year and there's going to be twice as many med students on the wards (since we're currently shifting curriculum's), they're being more flexible.

If you've got the time, take Step 2.

My biggest concern here is that I won't have taken my Neuro or Psych clerkships before sitting for Step 2. Would that be advisable?

 

[gutonc]

The school is the one who informed us that we could take Sub-I's during third year. Typically, they don't allow this, but since it's a transition year and there's going to be twice as many med students on the wards (since we're currently shifting curriculum's), they're being more flexible.



My biggest concern here is that I won't have taken my Neuro or Psych clerkships before sitting for Step 2. Would that be advisable?

Psych was by far the easiest of the Shelf exams and the Psych part of Step 2 is pretty basic. It would probably be helpful to have done the rotation but not essential. 60% of med students in the US don't have a neuro clerkship so don't worry about that.

 

[yippyskippy]

I'm confused -- in your original post, it looks like you could take Step II after everything (including psych and neuro) in mid September... assuming you did well on Step I, and unless you are an IMG or DO student, this sounds like a good way to do it -- you just need to take it in time to submit it on ERAS well before rank lists go in.
More important to get the AI in early so that you can get a good grade and letter of recommendation, in my opinion. Most people at my school do them end of third year, before finishing all their cores. Step II is not that bad, but it's nice to take it after you are done with everything. As the above poster said, the psych part was easy, but it still makes it easier to study when you've done the rotation. That said, I never did a neuro rotation and scored well...