Med school free time?

[deleted357625]

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So what do y'all do when not studying or doing work?
Besides SDN

 

[bravofleet4]

first year's not that bad so far.

we usually go out to block parties after exams but there's no reason why you can't go out to things or hang out with your friends at least once a week/

 

[swamprat]

yeah first year isnt that bad... there are times when it is, but I go out every weekend

 

[deleted357625]

Hmm doesn't sound to bad.
Does it get more intense around your 3rd and 4th year?

 

[Catalystik]

Hmm doesn't sound to bad.
Does it get more intense around your 3rd and 4th year?

It depends on the rotation. Surgery, OBGYN, and maybe Internal med can be pretty intense. Psych usually isn't. But it depends on the schools and the clinical site, so this isn't universally true. Taking call + full daytime duties + need to study for the end-of clerkship shelf exam = pretty grueling. Fourth year is mostly electives, so you can choose something more intense that will prepare you well for first year of residency, like an ICU rotation or a sub-Internship. Or take it easy and arrange Derm or a research elective. Mostly students pick a mix of both.

 

[TarHeelEMT]

Lots of climbing and a little bit of mountain biking. In the preclinical years, I still worked part-time as an EMT.

 

[TarHeelEMT]

Hmm doesn't sound to bad.
Does it get more intense around your 3rd and 4th year?

Thanksgiving day was the first time I had been outside during daylight hours in about three weeks.

It gets WAY less intense 4th year.

 

[deleted357625]

Thanksgiving day was the first time I had been outside during daylight hours in about three weeks.

It gets WAY less intense 4th year.

Haven't seen daylight in 3 weeks? lol nice!

 

[fahimaz7]

First and second year are a lot of work, but there's plenty of time to work out, watch tv, etc.

Third year is a little more intense, but the only rotations that are horrible are Surgery and Medicine.

Fourth year is a joke, except for the short sub-internship block (of surgery or medicine).

 

[teenmachinery1]

first year free time? depends on the school imo

 

[TarHeelEMT]

Haven't seen daylight in 3 weeks? lol nice!

Yeah. OB/GYN. I'm having fun, but the schedule is nuts. Family medicine was better - I went surfing every day after work.

 

[eablackwell]

Yeah. OB/GYN. I'm having fun, but the schedule is nuts. Family medicine was better - I went surfing every day after work.

I could get used to something like that.

 

[adaptation1]

.

 

[marele86]

There's a lot of middle-ground even if your school is P/F. The time commitment is up to you, especially if you have a strong biology background.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'll be honest and say that for the preclinical years a lot depends on your school and how hard you want to work. I do something fun probably 1-3 times a week (fewer starting ~2 weeks before the exam or so), and I'm right around the middle of my class I'd say. There are some who place a lot of importance on being near the top of the class who go out less, and there are some who take P=MD to heart and spend more time socializing. There's no universal "right" amount of studying--once you're in med school, everyone is smart and just about everyone is capable of banging out A's in every class if that's what they want to do, it's just an investment of time that some people choose to make and others don't.

 

[smq123]

First and second year are a lot of work, but there's plenty of time to work out, watch tv, etc.

Third year is a little more intense, but the only rotations that are horrible are Surgery and Medicine.

Fourth year is a joke, except for the short sub-internship block (of surgery or medicine).

I would not say that 4th year is a joke. The last third of 4th year is easy, but the first 2/3rds are much more intense than people think.

The first four months of 4th year is when most people do their sub-Is, and they generally do 3-4 sub-Is. This is where you are most likely to get your LORs for the Match, so you have to SHINE. Not just "do well," or "honor," but shine. The competition is intense, and is getting worse every year. You also have to put together your ERAS application, write ANOTHER personal statement, etc.

Furthermore, in certain specialties, more and more places are basically making Step 2 CK a requirement in order to rank you. So, unlike in past years where you could put off Step 2 CK until, say, February or March, many places are basically making it necessary to have a Step 2 CK score before they will even consider putting you on their rank list.

The next 3 months are spent interviewing. In a moderately competitive specialty, you can estimate that you'll have 1-2 interviews a week. A good friend of mine had a week where he had FIVE interviews that week. Four of those interviews were in completely different cities, so he had to travel to get to them.

Fourth year was probably more of a joke back when you could go on 6-8 interviews and stand a good shot at matching. Now, with the exception of maybe peds, FM, and community IM, you have to apply to >8 places to be relatively assured at matching unless you are a completely stellar applicant. By the time you guys get to that point, it will likely be >10. The number of applicants for each residency spot keeps getting higher as med schools expand.

 

[sideways]

^medical training

 

[WingedOx]

Honestly, the most fun I had in med school was the start of second year. By then, the work is harder than 1st year, but you are better conditioned to know when to work and when you can give yourself free time. (plus, the Phillies were in the world series that fall)

and re: smq's comment about 4th year. There's a big difference between 3rd and 4th year in terms of flexibility with your schedule. Unlike 3rd year where you're pretty much shuffled to wherever the school has open spaces, even if you're doing sub-is with long hours, you're doing what you like, and you have the ability (more or less) to pick which team and department you want to be in. There's a big difference between doing a "tough" rotation as a 4th year on blue surgery at Jefferson than a "tough" rotation on OB at a main line health hospital.

And with interviews, if you're smart about your schedule you can schedule vacation or a rotation where you won't be missed during nov/dec/jan. I've been doing about 2 interviews per week, and most have been within driving distance (though I consider anything within an 8 hour drive to be driving distance). The hotels have been pricey, and I've just started to cancel a few interviews, but it's been a pretty enjoyable experience so far. Thankfully though I'm headed to a less than competitive specialty. I don't envy my friends trying to go into ortho. I'm also not a Californian, but who'd want to live on the stinky west coast? 🙂

 

[fahimaz7]

I would not say that 4th year is a joke. The last third of 4th year is easy, but the first 2/3rds are much more intense than people think.

The first four months of 4th year is when most people do their sub-Is, and they generally do 3-4 sub-Is. This is where you are most likely to get your LORs for the Match, so you have to SHINE. Not just "do well," or "honor," but shine. The competition is intense, and is getting worse every year. You also have to put together your ERAS application, write ANOTHER personal statement, etc.

Furthermore, in certain specialties, more and more places are basically making Step 2 CK a requirement in order to rank you. So, unlike in past years where you could put off Step 2 CK until, say, February or March, many places are basically making it necessary to have a Step 2 CK score before they will even consider putting you on their rank list.

The next 3 months are spent interviewing. In a moderately competitive specialty, you can estimate that you'll have 1-2 interviews a week. A good friend of mine had a week where he had FIVE interviews that week. Four of those interviews were in completely different cities, so he had to travel to get to them.

Fourth year was probably more of a joke back when you could go on 6-8 interviews and stand a good shot at matching. Now, with the exception of maybe peds, FM, and community IM, you have to apply to >8 places to be relatively assured at matching unless you are a completely stellar applicant. By the time you guys get to that point, it will likely be >10. The number of applicants for each residency spot keeps getting higher as med schools expand.

Everyone realizes that they are going to have to apply for residency during the Fall of the 4th year. Are you trying to say that fourth year isn't the cake walk that most say that it is (when comparing it to previous years)? All the people that I've talked to say that 4th year is a nice time to unwind, and focus on getting ready for their residency.

 

[smq123]

Everyone realizes that they are going to have to apply for residency during the Fall of the 4th year. Are you trying to say that fourth year isn't the cake walk that most say that it is (when comparing it to previous years)? All the people that I've talked to say that 4th year is a nice time to unwind, and focus on getting ready for their residency.

The main thing that I liked about 4th year was the lack of exams. At least there wasn't that rhythm of studying for an exam q6 weeks or so.

No, I personally did not find 4th year to be a cake walk until after the Match. On my inpatient sub-I, I worked 30 days straight, and with call, it worked out to about 120 hours a week. I did an away, which comes with its own stresses of finding a place to live, trying to settle in to a new hospital ASAP, etc. I did another inpatient elective that, while taught me a lot, was also fairly intense and there were days when I did not get home until 10 PM.

If you're a strong applicant, applying to a relatively non-competitive and less intense specialty (FM, peds, IM, path, PM&R, psych), and you have zero geographic constraints, 4th year is probably not going to be that bad. If you're pretty committed to the specialty that you have chosen, and have no second thoughts or regrets, 4th year is also not going to be that bad. I initially thought that I wanted to do a more intense specialty, had a lot of self-doubts through the trail, and had to do a lot of time-intensive electives. Intern year was actually somewhat less intense than the first half of 4th year was.

 

[smq123]

There's a big difference between doing a "tough" rotation as a 4th year on blue surgery at Jefferson than a "tough" rotation on OB at a main line health hospital.

Oh, psh, Blue isn't that bad. Copit practically promises you an H if you can just name all the songs on his iPod. 😉

 

[WingedOx]

Oh, psh, Blue isn't that bad. Copit practically promises you an H if you can just name all the songs on his iPod. 😉

actually I meant blue in a good way. Plus there's Moore starting every operation with "so does anyone have any celebrity gossip?" and interrupting the operation with "Oh, [scrub nurse] can you roll the computer over? I want to show this funny video I saw on youtube."

(Plus, I used OBGyn at MLH as an example just because breaks between friday OB lectures consisted mostly of complaining from Lank students about how cold everyone was... a combination of stereotypes about OB residents and stereotypes about Main Liners. Then there's the fact that there's no good way to get from Wynnewood/BM from center city without getting trapped in traffic.)

 

[WingedOx]

oh, I should also add to my original point about 4th year. No shelf exams (with the exception of EM and Neuro if your school puts it off til 4th year.) If you're coming home after rotations you're not studying unless you need to look up a topic relevant to a case you're working on or a presentation.

 

[45408]

Everyone realizes that they are going to have to apply for residency during the Fall of the 4th year. Are you trying to say that fourth year isn't the cake walk that most say that it is (when comparing it to previous years)? All the people that I've talked to say that 4th year is a nice time to unwind, and focus on getting ready for their residency.

Everyone says 4th year is easy because they're comparing it to M3 and intern year of residency. By comparison, yes, it's easy. It was still about as busy as a full-time job though, sometimes much more so. I only had a few "cake" rotations as an M4 (two).

The complete lack of exams was also quite a relief.