New to Rotations

[JibsGuy52]

Hi all,

Starting medical school in July, Class of 2021. I just had a few questions about how rotations work and how the help you in securing the residency spot you want.

1: Can you have the option to rotate at a single hospital only?
2: How do you set up rotations at the desired locations you want?
3: How can you use this to your advantage when trying to get a residency spot?

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[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Hi all,

Starting medical school in July, Class of 2021. I just had a few questions about how rotations work and how the help you in securing the residency spot you want.

1: Can you have the option to rotate at a single hospital only?
2: How do you set up rotations at the desired locations you want?
3: How can you use this to your advantage when trying to get a residency spot?

Your school will give you plenty of info when the time comes. Always seek out the advice of the students ahead of you. But to briefly answer your questions:

1. Sure, it is possible. You'll likely be scheduled for M3 clerkships by your school. Schools use different methods for assigning students, so you'll have to see how and where your school places you. Ask your classmates. For M4 clerkships, I would try to broaden your clerkship experience at different institutions.

2. For M4 clerkships, you use VSAS (Visiting Student Application Service), but some institutions do not use it. In that case, you'll have to follow the procedure outlined by the institution. You'll have to do your own research to find this out by going on their website.

3. Since M3 will likely be more or less planned for you, you should schedule some M4 clerkships at institutions with a strong program in your area of interest. Although it's not necessarily a guarantee, a lot of places will interview visiting medical students while you're there. Overall, an away clerkship is a great opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with the department faculty and program director, so be on your A game and make the best of it. Plus you'll have the knowledge and experience of how that program operates. If you think it's a good fit for you, you should have no issue articulating this during your interview.

Best of luck in school.


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[Amygdarya]

Hi all,

Starting medical school in July, Class of 2021. I just had a few questions about how rotations work and how the help you in securing the residency spot you want.

1: Can you have the option to rotate at a single hospital only?
2: How do you set up rotations at the desired locations you want?
3: How can you use this to your advantage when trying to get a residency spot?

Just like @Mr. Mojo Risin says, all of these questions will be answered by your school when the time comes. Schools vary in how they assign students to rotation spots (usually some kind of lottery or first come/first served), so there are often no guarantee that you'll get exactly the rotation spots you want. In many cases you can arrange to switch spots with other students, though this depends. In other words, just wait and see; it doesn't matter where exactly you rotate with few exceptions.
To address your question:
1. Yes, you may be able to do all of your rotations at the same hospital (see the caveat above), but I would suggest doing one or two rotations at other hospitals just to be exposed to different ways hospitals may run (I especially recommend doing a community hospital rotation if most of your rotations are at an academic medical center - this will broaden your understanding of how medicine works in general).
2. Your school and your upperclassmen will answer this question. If you know you're interested in certain specialties, ask your upperclassmen which sites are best for these rotations and try to get them. I would say that aside from the rotations important to your future specialty, it generally doesn't matter where you rotate, as long as you get good grades.
3. You may choose to do rotations at places you may want to go to residency. Though this may backfire, especially as a 3d year clerkship student, because unless you have an awesome personality, there's really no way to know if people you work with are going to like you, especially as a clueless and mostly useless 3d year student. Which is why "audition rotations" - i.e. home program and away rotations at programs you're interested in - are done early in 4th year when you have some idea of what to do/how to behave on the wards and have a better chance to leave a positive impression. (That said, you shouldn't avoid doing core rotations at your home residencies of interest - residents and attendings pretty much expect 3d years to be clueless - it's just that it may be hard to leave a lasting positive impression unless you get along really well with residents and attendings there. Note: to be liked, be personable and enthusiastic, not overeager and know-it-all which may annoy people.)

 

[Ismet]

Hi all,

Starting medical school in July, Class of 2021. I just had a few questions about how rotations work and how the help you in securing the residency spot you want.

1: Can you have the option to rotate at a single hospital only?
2: How do you set up rotations at the desired locations you want?
3: How can you use this to your advantage when trying to get a residency spot?

You should find an upperclassman at your school and ask them these questions. Rotations and how med schools go about scheduling them is not a universal thing. Upperclassmen at your school will give you much better answers than strangers on the internet who have no idea how your school does it.

#1, it depends on your school and the associated hospitals. For my school, we had a ton of different hospitals in the city that were under the same hospital system. A separate children's hospital, a separate women's hospital where we did OB/gyn and newborn, a separate psychiatric hospital, and several different "adult" hospitals where we did medicine, surgery, and everything else.

#2 depends entirely on your school.

For #3, if you have a couple specialties in mind, I recommend not doing those rotations first. I.e. if you want to do surgery, don't do surgery as your first rotation if you can help it. Do it early-ish in the year, maybe Oct or Nov, but don't start with it in July. The transition to clinical years takes a little getting used to, and you don't want to be getting used to it while you're also trying to impress and find mentors and possible letter writers during a rotation in your desired specialty. You of course will have the opportunity for more rotations in that field in 4th year so it's not a complete death sentence if you end up with it first, but just something to keep in mind if your school gives you some power over creating your schedule.