Question for you fourth year students and residents....

[SleepyTime]

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If you have a second, I could use some guidance on a simple issue:


I am a 3rd year student, and I have my rotations booked through the end of August. I will already have 4 weeks of neuro at one of my preferred programs by then.

There is another program (OHSU) where I am just as interested in doing my residency as well. So my question is, is September too late to do an audition rotation there?

Also, since I'll already have 4 weeks of neurology, would doing another 4 be overkill? Maybe I should just do a Critical Care rotation or something like that at their same hospital ?

What would you advise?

THANKS !!!!!!

--Matt

 

[osteo2005]

do what you are going to be most comfortable with.

neuro wasn't part of my core rotation experience during year 3, so i was ready to bust out once 4th year came. my first 3 months of electives went to 3 different neuro sites, september right up to thanksgiving. looking back i was really happy with this choice. the extra neuro time never compromised my interview season. you learn about neurology and you get a taste of a potential programs for more than one day. i did two months inpatient and one month private practice with a MS specialist. a great experience.

bottom line, if your interested you should go for it. as for critical care...there is always the spring.

good luck!

 

[Head]

September is definitely not too late, as most programs won't start interviewing until late October at the earliest. You do, however, need to have your neuro application in by early September. If you were hoping to get a letter of rec from somebody there it would be too late. I never did any away rotations because people told me neuro was easy to match into and they weren't really necessary. In addition I had no idea where I wanted to go. In retrospect, it is extremely difficult to get an idea of what a program is like in one day, so I think you are doing the right thing by going to the two that you feel strongly about. I would definitely recommend taking november off and taking an elective with optional attendance in December (like radiology) for ample interview time. I had a harder rotation in December and had to cancel a couple of interviews I would have liked to go on.

 

[bustbones26]

Agreed, September is definitely not too late, in fact, that is a perfect time.

My advise, take it for what it's worth, still have to do internal medicine internship year, so get prepared for that in your fourth year.

Suggestions:

1) Do you neuro rotation at a teaching hospital, one where you may consider applying to

2) If you have any electives in your third year, do a strong iinternal medicine ward rotation. Pay good attention on peds and psych!!!

Then for the fourth year---

3) Do ICU (hog all of the stroke, head trauma, and post neuro surg cases you can get!!), cards (Do your best at paying attention when observing carotid dopplers and echos), ER (will be required to do blocks of ER as an intern), rads (Do only two weeks if you must, but get to see as many head CT/MRI, MRA's as you desire)

If time permits, rheumatology(lots of overlap with neuro), extra neuro rotations (of course)

4) If you are forced to do any surgery rotations in your fourth year ( I was), do neurosurgery or hook up with an ortho that does lots of ortho spine procedures.

Lastly, it all really depends on what your school makes you do for your fourth year. At my school, as I have said, they forced us to do one surgery block, so I hooked up with a neurosurgeon. The force us to do two back to back blocks of ER, which is fine. They also force us to do two back to back blocks of ambulatory medicine (family practice in disguise), which I am not looking forward to at this point, but my goal will be to enjoy the exposure to pediatric cases.

Consider you schedule and then consider this, most likely required rotations for your internship year will most likely be----

Neuro (of course!!), multiple IM blocks, at least one ICU block, ER, peds, some electives, and FP (if you are osteopathic)

Other required rotations throughout your career: psychiatry, neurorads, neuropathology, neurosurgery (depends on which institution you do your residency)

 

[SleepyTime]

Thanks everybody for sharing your experience. You know what it's like...you never really know how to do this med school thing until you're almost finished.

-Matt

 

[scm]

you could also not do any audition electives. i didnt do any, nor did i want to. i dont know many people who did. i guess ultmately ill have done one neuro clerkship, one movement disorders elective, one spinal cord injury elective, one neurophys research elective, and one overseas elective in neuro..if you are interested in neuro, doing electives at your own school is a great way sto make connections in the dept for standout letters of recommendation, which would help with _all_ of your applications. honestly, you probably wont know what your "preferred programs" are until you interview..i thought i knew, after 12 interviews, and along the way, i really learned quite a bit about what was important to me.....you know you'll probably get an interview at OHSU regardless(and probably a good chance at this other place in august too), i would say if you dont mind being under the microscope for a month and doing this, i would do an audition elective at a very compettiive place where you might not get an interview(i.e. UCSF) otherwise etc granted i know nothing about your strengths, but neuro really isnt that competitive... doing an audition elective at all didnt seem very enjoyable to me, i was tired by that time in 3rd/4th yr..granted, you can shine and make a huge difference, but on the other hand, (as my dean always points out) audition electives can certainly hurt you as well.. (vs just presenting yourself for one interview day and looking good on paper, imagine spending a month tryign to keep that up ...)
scm

 

[Rolandicfissure]

...on the other hand, (as my dean always points out) audition electives can certainly hurt you as well.. (vs just presenting yourself for one interview day and looking good on paper, imagine spending a month tryign to keep that up ...)
scm

Our dean cautions us similarly, and I think (respect) that it isn't very good advise. With a little bit of extra work, an externship can potentially take your application a long way with your program of interest. Call several months ahead to see which faculty members are attending which services. Go early enough to secure a recommendation. Meet the program director and chairman, go to their clinics or teaching sessions, and tactfully inform them that this is where you want to be. Write up an interesting case that you see, and bring copies to your interview. I'm sorry if I am repeating other posts, but the importance of an externship cannot be overemphasized, especially if you are looking at a top program or are a borderline candidate. By fourth year, we all know what is required to excell in a rotation. I understand that some "off" days are beyond our control, but you can largely circumvent them with hard work and ingenuity.