Research in 3rd year vs. Honoring clerkships

[FenderB2004]

So I have the opportunity to do a research project with a "bigwig" in ophtho during my 3rd year; however, in order to do so (due to the time commitments), it would probably be more difficult to honor my 3rd year clerkships...would you guys recommend doing the research project or concentrating sole on getting honors?

thanks!

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[DOCTORSAIB]

So I have the opportunity to do a research project with a "bigwig" in ophtho during my 3rd year; however, in order to do so (due to the time commitments), it would probably be more difficult to honor my 3rd year clerkships...would you guys recommend doing the research project or concentrating sole on getting honors?

thanks!

Nailing honors in BS rotations like Peds, Ob/Gyn, etc isn't going to count for much when you're applying for ophtho. I'd focus on honoring Medicine and Surgery (and of course your ophtho rotations).

Otherwise, get on top of some research b/c that and the LOR you will get will count for much more.

 

[MAYOphtho]

I wasnt sure truly how to answer this question since both would be important...then I saw DoctorSAIBs response and realized this is a GREAT answer...I completely agree with him

 

[ophthal3]

Completely agree. However, you must still strive to honor all your rotations, and try and at least get high passes. I would imagine grades of "pass" might come up at interviews, showing possible lack of effort or not caring. If you can honor Medicine and Surgery, it doesn't look good to get a passing grade in Family Medicine. Don't be that med student that is so engrossed in your field (ophtho research) that you come off as not caring about any other field, and not showing interest. That would be detrimental. Remember, ideally you could do the research, and strive for honors in all rotations. That should be your goal. Clinical grades are pretty important, much more so that preclinical. Don't underestimate this.

 

[FenderB2004]

Wow, thanks for all the great responses!

Our school only has honors/pass/fail and from my understanding, it is pretty tough to get honors (and also highly subjective from what i hear)...i was just wondering if it was worth all the extra stress of trying to get honors when I could put that time into doing a nice research project (which I would enjoy more!).

 

[FenderB2004]

point well taken about not being too engrossed in research and showing interest in other fields though! (which I am)

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Completely agree. However, you must still strive to honor all your rotations, and try and at least get high passes. I would imagine grades of "pass" might come up at interviews, showing possible lack of effort or not caring. If you can honor Medicine and Surgery, it doesn't look good to get a passing grade in Family Medicine. Don't be that med student that is so engrossed in your field (ophtho research) that you come off as not caring about any other field, and not showing interest. That would be detrimental. Remember, ideally you could do the research, and strive for honors in all rotations. That should be your goal. Clinical grades are pretty important, much more so that preclinical. Don't underestimate this.

That was SO me! haha

I knew I wanted ophtho from day one. And I knew that to get the Honors grade, I'd have to Honor both the evaluation and the rotation exam. Personally, I'd rather put all my focus on the exam and Honor that instead of scutting myself out for 4+ weeks just for the POSSIBILITY that I'd also honor the eval. Plus studying for the exams hardcore was excellent prep for Step 2.

So when there was nothing to do during rotations I had no problem saying "I'm going to leave now if you don't mind." Yeah some residents teased me about being too "gung-ho ophtho" but in the end everything ended up just fine (i.e. mostly P's on evals).

Hence, I honored almost all 3rd year exams and ended up with a rack of High Passes for overall grades (which I was totally happy with) in the rotations I didn't really care. One attending (Psych) even gave me Honors on the eval which was a pleasant surprise!

Of course, I went all out during Medicine and Surgery and honored both the evals and the exams.

This approach helped me remain sane, IN CONTROL and happy all of 3rd year.

 

[Gravi69]

What would you say someone's chances were with zero honors 3rd year? Just high passes.

 

[MAYOphtho]

depends on step 1 score, med school reputation, letters of rec, research, extracurriculars...anything you can do to show a program they'd be excited to get you