MS3 Clerkship scheduling?

[chasgocats]

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I was just wondering if any of you think there is a strategy for scheduling MS3 clerkships? My dream schedule (which at a school of 250+ I won’t get) is as follows:

Blocks 1/2 - Medicine
Block 3 ---- Family
Block 4 ---- OB/GYN
Blocks 5/6 - Surgery
Block 7 ---- Peds
Block 9 ---- Psych

I think this schedule would help me do best on the medicine shelf exam fresh from step 1, give me time with med & ob/gyn to prepare for the surgery rotation and then allow extra study time at the end of the year for step 2. Since I probably won't get this, I’m particularly curious which of the following is most important for being a competitive match to anesthesia: high internal medicine grade, high surgery grade or high step 2 score?

Thanks for your help!

 

[G-Man82]

Re: scheduling. As a med student, we spend a lot of time figuring out how to schedule our clinical clerkships, but in all honesty, it doesn't matter. At the end of 3rd year, you'll be on the same footing as everyone else in your class. But you'll still hear stuff like: 'do med before surg so you score high on the surg shelf' or 'don't do the specialty you're interested in first or last'. But in retrospect, it honestly didn't matter.

As far as matching into anesthesia - all of the above?

Do well in medicine and surgery, have good step 1s (>220), and step 2s if necessary, get a letter from an anesthesiologist, and the rest from others. All I can really say.

 

[Depakote]

I was just wondering if any of you think there is a strategy for scheduling MS3 clerkships? My dream schedule (which at a school of 250+ I won't get) is as follows:

Blocks 1/2 - Medicine
Block 3 ---- Family
Block 4 ---- OB/GYN
Blocks 5/6 - Surgery
Block 7 ---- Peds
Block 9 ---- Psych

I think this schedule would help me do best on the medicine shelf exam fresh from step 1, give me time with med & ob/gyn to prepare for the surgery rotation and then allow extra study time at the end of the year for step 2. Since I probably won't get this, I'm particularly curious which of the following is most important for being a competitive match to anesthesia: high internal medicine grade, high surgery grade or high step 2 score?

Thanks for your help!

If you're trying to nail the medicine shelf, I would avoid taking it first. Traditionally, your first shelf tends to be your worst. I'd also take into consideration the fact that you'll need some time to adjust to the wards... a "practice" rotation in something you're not planning on going into wouldn't be the worst idea.

Personally, I did Surgery first. You might consider doing OB/Gyn or peds first then Surgery and Medicine around the middle of the year.

The Family shelf is a killer at the beginning of the year but cake at the end when you've got everything under your belt.


edit: do consider the advice in the context of G-Man82's advice... the order you do ultimately won't matter, you're accountable for all the material.

 

[GeorgeMichael B]

I was just wondering if any of you think there is a strategy for scheduling MS3 clerkships? My dream schedule (which at a school of 250+ I won’t get) is as follows:

Blocks 1/2 - Medicine
Block 3 ---- Family
Block 4 ---- OB/GYN
Blocks 5/6 - Surgery
Block 7 ---- Peds
Block 9 ---- Psych

I think this schedule would help me do best on the medicine shelf exam fresh from step 1, give me time with med & ob/gyn to prepare for the surgery rotation and then allow extra study time at the end of the year for step 2. Since I probably won't get this, I’m particularly curious which of the following is most important for being a competitive match to anesthesia: high internal medicine grade, high surgery grade or high step 2 score?

Thanks for your help!

I'm applying to anesthesia this year, and based on my experiences Internal Medicine is slightly more important than Surgery to most programs. If I were you I would go for OB/GYN or Peds first so you can get used to being a third year, and try to do Medicine second so that it's still early in the year. Do surgery whenever you like. However, as I am sure you know, every single 3rd year clerkship is important and programs love to see very good scores in all of them. The beauty of third year is that expectations are often lower in the beginning of the year, and grading tends to be a bit easier.

As far as USMLE, many programs use Step 1 as a screening tool for interviews. I think > 220 generally gets you through most screens, though this fluctuates based on program and other things (ex, AOA status can get you interviews you may not have otherwise received)

I have been told by several programs that Step 2 is becoming more important, and a very high Step 2 CK score can really boost your application (I'm talking > 245) though an average/solid score probably doesn't change much.

 

[Depakote]

I have been told by several programs that Step 2 is becoming more important, and a very high Step 2 CK score can really boost your application (I'm talking > 245) though an average/solid score probably doesn't change much.

I would say this has been my experience...