Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread

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Ashers said:
Anyone know if we can do an away rotation at a private doctor's office not associated with a medical school?

I want to go back home and do derm for a chance to see some leprosy patients.
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I don't remember what you have to do to make it count, but I believe it is possible..
 
Yep, that's a legit away. I know some people that have done one, including Michael Bradshaw. I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you how it worked.
 
akpete said:
I don't remember what you have to do to make it count, but I believe it is possible..
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Xandie said:
Yep, that's a legit away. I know some people that have done one, including Michael Bradshaw. I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you how it worked.
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Awesome. Thanks guys. I haven't talked to Michael Bradshaw since M2 year when I was actually going to jazz band, but since I now know it can be done, I'll figure out how.

I saw something online about how you can't do a rotation with family or close family friend. I just hope that since this person's from Maui that doesn't count. I've met him once, and he knows my parents since Maui's inbred, especially the medical community. He also did a talk at my high school when I was in 10th grade that convinced me I'm going to and really don't want to die of skin cancer.
 
Ashers said:
Anyone know if we can do an away rotation at a private doctor's office not associated with a medical school?

I want to go back home and do derm for a chance to see some leprosy patients.
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This is a very handy way to weasel an extra month of virtual vacation out of the system. I also know of people who have done an away like this during interview season and used their home as sort of a home base for traveling to interviews in the area (may not work so well in Hawaii). And if you know the doctor you're rotating with, they tend to be extremely lenient about time off for interviewing. I wish I had done something like this instead of blowing all my vacation time on interviews.
 
[YOUTUBE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=B6RRm24xu2w[/YOUTUBE]
 
As I was babbling on in the 2010 thread, it occured to me that the M-3s will be making their lists soon, we wise (also old) M-4s could give our impressions of the electives we took. Some of them will be pretty specific to our fields, but still.

Here goes.

Women's Health (Integrated Selective): Awesome, almost all outpatient, different clinic or activity every day. Included DEXA scanning, mammography, primary care and OB clinics. Good for anyone going into a primary care field.

Peds Uro (Surg Sub-I): Small team, just you and the fourth year resident. Good mix of clinic and surgery, and they let you come up with what mix of those you want. I did a lot of surgical cases, because I like that. Also, exam at the end is easy. Only one "official" weekend on, but you're q1 home call during the week. What weekend you're on depends on what weekend the fourth year resident is on. There will be a fellow next year, so that might change the experience. Also, you do a week over on the adult side, and they might want you to round on the weekend if they don't have students.

ER at Columbia: "Try and come in 40 hours a week if you can." Pick your own shifts, no scheduling, stay as long as you want, and they'll tailor your experiences. I did all procedures and pelvic exams, very little psych, and only a few r/o MI type picture stuff. It was great. I'm extremely comfortable with my suturing/I&D skills after this month.

Geriatrics (inpatient): I loved, loved, loved this month, and I don't like male patients, as a rule. The attendings are all great, the fellows (although that will change) are fantastic, and it's a great experience as a fourth year. They really give you the sub-I approach, with you reporting on your patients directly to the fellow/attending and you being the primary person responsible for their care.

Research: Yeah, not going to do this one, but thought I'd list it for the sake of completeness.

And that's it for this year so far. I hope it's helpful for someone, in some way. 🙂
 
As a fourth year, you request it. You request almost everything (except where you do your med sub-I, although that can be arranged, which I'll explain at another date. I listed Geriatrics pretty high on my list (don't remember where).
 
Once you figure out what you wanna do with your life, do you rec padding the schedule early on so its on the transcript when your applications go out? If so, what are some easy honor rotations?
 
Conventional wisdom is that the early months (typically July-September, but really July and August, as those are the only grades in the Dean's letter), should be for the fourth year electives in your specialty (sub-Is and what have you) so that you can get letters of rec, if you don't already have them lined up. It seems to me that most people do one of their sub-Is during this time.

Oh yeah, and September and October are great months for aways. I wouldn't recommend November or the other interviewing months, because if you're doing an audition away it looks extra-tacky to leave to go somewhere else.

I wouldn't recommend doing throw away electives (research, for example, although I loved my research month), during that time, because again, that's what program coordinators see when they look at your transcript. I think it looks better (and feels better, eventually), to front-load your year and do the tough stuff at the beginning. Trust me, you will have serious senior-itis by this time next year, and the last thing you want is a couple hard months hanging over you. I still have my med sub-I to do, and while I really did front load my year, I'm not looking forward to it.
 
The really annoying this is that August starts on a Friday. I'm hoping to do an ortho sub-I here in July and one in Arizona. I'd like to do it in August, but that gives me only part of a day to get to Arizona. September would be great for traveling to and from Arizona, but if it doesn't get on my transcript, that's crappy. If I went to Arizona in Sept, I'd go to Maui for derm in August (doctor would be more lenient for travel time), then I'd just look like a slacker, but I really just want to go there before my parents move.

Oh, the dilemma!
 
Yeah... Don'll be a surgical intern in August and I'll be an OB intern. The sympathy abounds, seriously. 😛
 
Xandie said:
Conventional wisdom is that the early months (typically July-September, but really July and August, as those are the only grades in the Dean's letter), should be for the fourth year electives in your specialty (sub-Is and what have you) so that you can get letters of rec, if you don't already have them lined up. It seems to me that most people do one of their sub-Is during this time.

Oh yeah, and September and October are great months for aways. I wouldn't recommend November or the other interviewing months, because if you're doing an audition away it looks extra-tacky to leave to go somewhere else.

I wouldn't recommend doing throw away electives (research, for example, although I loved my research month), during that time, because again, that's what program coordinators see when they look at your transcript. I think it looks better (and feels better, eventually), to front-load your year and do the tough stuff at the beginning. Trust me, you will have serious senior-itis by this time next year, and the last thing you want is a couple hard months hanging over you. I still have my med sub-I to do, and while I really did front load my year, I'm not looking forward to it.
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Oh the truths she speaks....

Xandie said:
Yeah... Don'll be a surgical intern in August and I'll be an OB intern. The sympathy abounds, seriously. 😛
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Um, yeah. +pity+ 😉
 
See? I'm only kind of full of it.

Don, ready for Friday? 🙂
 
TheProwler said:
Hey, at least you'll be getting paid for your efforts.
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I have to admit, while it's better than paying for the experience, with more than 200k of debt over my head, 45ish-thousand isn't really sounding... how should I say... worth the effort? But, that's why I always tell people that the stupidest reason to go into medicine is for the money.
 
Xandie, about research...I need to talk to my advisor about this, but I thought I'd get your input as well. I'm thinking that I might like to do a month of it since I didn't do any during my summer after M1 year. Assuming that would be worthwhile, do you think I should try to get it in early so it would show up on my transcript/dean's letter? I was thinking either that, or maybe if I did it in October I would at least be able to talk about the research on my interviews. Or is it just totally not worth it as a 4th year?
 
crew.jpg


Space Shuttle Challenger, STS-51L, January 28, 1986

Crew, from left to right:
Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka
Pilot Michael Smith
Civilian Teacher Christa McAuliffe
Commander Francis "Dick" Scobee
Payload Specialist Gregory Jarvis
Mission Specialist Judy Resnik
Mission Specialist Ron McNair

The Launch of Challenger, shortly before the explosion.
launch.jpg


"High Flight"
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
--Gillespie Magee
 
Xandie said:
I have to admit, while it's better than paying for the experience, with more than 200k of debt over my head, 45ish-thousand isn't really sounding... how should I say... worth the effort? But, that's why I always tell people that the stupidest reason to go into medicine is for the money.
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It's not much, but at least it's not MORE debt.
 
Gimlet said:
Xandie, about research...I need to talk to my advisor about this, but I thought I'd get your input as well. I'm thinking that I might like to do a month of it since I didn't do any during my summer after M1 year. Assuming that would be worthwhile, do you think I should try to get it in early so it would show up on my transcript/dean's letter? I was thinking either that, or maybe if I did it in October I would at least be able to talk about the research on my interviews. Or is it just totally not worth it as a 4th year?
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My $0.02 here...

If you have a decent idea about what you want to go in to, get involved in research with someone in that field soon. You won't have the time to do much, but you'll at least be involved, and you may even choose to get a letter from the person you are doing research with. It's doubtful you will have the time to get anything meaningful done (read: publication), but at least you'll be able to:

1) Put it on ERAS that you're involved in a given project.
2) Talk about it during your interviews.
 
donnyfire said:
My $0.02 here...

If you have a decent idea about what you want to go in to, get involved in research with someone in that field soon. You won't have the time to do much, but you'll at least be involved, and you may even choose to get a letter from the person you are doing research with. It's doubtful you will have the time to get anything meaningful done (read: publication), but at least you'll be able to:

1) Put it on ERAS that you're involved in a given project.
2) Talk about it during your interviews.
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Research is definitely possible if you get involved with the right people. And doing bench research it's harder to finish anything meaningful. My summer research was slow and painful and luckily ended in a poster for me at a national meeting. But then during 3rd year (primarily during OBGYN and psych) I did a clinical project (picking through charts evenings and weekends), which resulted in a first-author full-length paper, easily the most helpful thing I did as far as getting good residency interviews. It's very possible. As I said, it depends on who you work with. For recommendations, find residents in the field to ask.

I agree that you should do research in the field you want. When I was in your shoes, they all said, "any research is good research," but now I wish I had done something different that first summer off. Of course, I didn't really know what I wanted to do then.
 
ok, so taking Xandie's lead about the electives thing:

Radiology: I didn't really like my rads rotation, but I think it might be a little more interesting or at least more schedule-friendly at other locations. At Froedtert, you really just sit behind the resident or attending and try to stay awake until 5 o'clock. You can ask questions if you can think of any, but they usually had so many cases to get through I would feel like I was slowing things down by asking. There are some attendings who are better than others about teaching. Also, at the dert you have to do a presentation, while at other hospitals I don't think you do. Probably the best place to do it only if you are planning on going into radiology.

Multidisciplinary breast integrated selective: This was a very good month, truly in the spirit of what the "integrated" rotation should be. You spent a day or two a week in the OR, a couple days in the clinic, two or three days of the month in radiation oncology, and a few (slightly more painful) days just looking at mammograms and MRs. Definitely a good option for anyone who wants a more surgical IS, or if you like oncology.

GYN oncology sub-I: I think this was also a really good choice for a surgical sub-I. The attendings (one in particular) has sort of a reputation for being... blunt? gruff? evil? but I got along with her just fine and thought the reputation was undeserved. Again, I'm into oncology, so it was a great option for me in that regard. Probably the best thing about this one is that while you will certainly do scutty sub-I work, you really only do what is needed to learn how to be an intern without it becoming slave labor. I think I did like 4 discharge summaries all month. There is a lot of dictating in clinic.

Radiation oncology: again, this is my field, but all the people I've talked to who have done rotations have enjoyed the rotation. Most people get very little exposure to the field in their careers and have no idea what radoncs do, so this is a good chance to see what your cancer patients are doing every day for 6 weeks and what kinds of problems you should expect the radiation to cause them. The rotation has a lot of downtime, so if you aren't good with downtime it's probably not for you. If you show any interest at all in what you are doing you will honor this month.
 
I'm with the boys on the research responses. Mine was a continuation of my M1-M2 summer project, which was well-suited because the research elective is in the family department, which was where my research was in the first place. Wow, that was special.

And Matt, the only reason I didn't put you in there is because transitional/medicine intern doesn't quite inspire the same sympathy/fear as surgical/OB. No hard feelings! You're just not as pathetic as Don and I. 😛
 
Hey Marc? I don't love you anymore.
 
FYI, the mods have removed the 1000 posts/thread limit with a recent database upgrade. I've asked one of them if it would be possible to merge all 4 parts of "The Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread" under one thread. Speak up now if you don't like that idea.
 
Gimlet said:
FYI, the mods have removed the 1000 posts/thread limit with a recent database upgrade. I've asked one of them if it would be possible to merge all 4 parts of "The Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread" under one thread. Speak up now if you don't like that idea.
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you really DO want to see what your own heart looks like, don't you?

no, really, i don't care either way.
 
Gimlet said:
FYI, the mods have removed the 1000 posts/thread limit with a recent database upgrade. I've asked one of them if it would be possible to merge all 4 parts of "The Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread" under one thread. Speak up now if you don't like that idea.
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Could we get it stickied? Not that it really needs it.
 
Gimlet said:
FYI, the mods have removed the 1000 posts/thread limit with a recent database upgrade. I've asked one of them if it would be possible to merge all 4 parts of "The Official MCW Class of 2009 Thread" under one thread. Speak up now if you don't like that idea.
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I'm down. They should do it for all of our class threads (per year, of course), because then it would show our true power.
 
yeah, each year needs to remain individual. i'm not going to be lumped together with those 2010 freaks, except of course samenewme. i'll lump with her any day.
 
Agent Splat said:
yeah, each year needs to remain individual. i'm not going to be lumped together with those 2010 freaks, except of course samenewme. i'll lump with her any day.
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Wha--?

<LIBRARIAN POWERS ACTIVATE!>

Oh!

You mean we'll move with heavy clumsiness? I don't think I'm into that.
 
samenewme said:
Wha--?

<LIBRARIAN POWERS ACTIVATE!>

Oh!

You mean we'll move with heavy clumsiness? I don't think I'm into that.
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Do these include the super shush of death and the scowl of fear?

😉
 
donnyfire said:
Do these include the super shush of death and the scowl of fear?

😉
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No, actually, the librarian superpowers mostly include the politically-correct hissy fit when a librarian stereotype is detected. Seriously, when the Librarian Action Figure came out with the push-button Shushing Action, you would have thought somebody's murdered a baby and cooked and eaten it by the way some people reacted. One librarian I know sputtered, "Couldn't they have shown her giving someone some information?"

I'm still trying to figure out what the Information-Dispensing Action Move looks like.

I logged onto the listservs every day just to laugh at the collective angst.
 
But I have his! So there. 😛
 
Wow... look at us and our bad selves. Post #5395 in this thread, thanks much.
 
I love it. We are juggernauts!

(I think the c/o 2010 threads would be even bigger if they were merged.)
 
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