Third year...might like pathology but I can't seem to experience it!

[medgrlsox21]

My school doesn't seem to offer anything pathology related except for electives. They also refuse to let students move things very often in terms of their clerkship schedule. The earliest I'd actually get to take pathology as an elective is August and September 1st is the new ERAS date right? So how do I know I will really like pathology if I can't even see it until a month before. Better yet how do I get letters?

Stupid Fing Medical School

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[jenesaispas0005]

That is really frustrating. I was lucky because my school allowed us to do some electives toward the end of 3rd yr so I got some experience a few months before ERAS came out. However, on one of my electives (in Oct of 4th yr) I met some other students applying for path for whom that was their first path rotation. They said that they got letters from other rotations that were focused on their interest in path, but no pathologist letters. They had gotten a good number of interviews too so it worked for them.

 

[Entgegen]

You could always wander into the lab while on your downtime during a different rotation and talk to the pathologists. They'd probably let you hang out on some sign-outs, and just keep going back when you have some free time.

That'll at least let you know whether or not you like path enough to invest a rotation on it.

 

[gschl1234]

My school doesn't seem to offer anything pathology related except for electives. They also refuse to let students move things very often in terms of their clerkship schedule. The earliest I'd actually get to take pathology as an elective is August and September 1st is the new ERAS date right? So how do I know I will really like pathology if I can't even see it until a month before. Better yet how do I get letters?

Stupid Fing Medical School

That is a frustrating situation but don't despair, if all else fails, August will not be too late to rotate and get good letters.

One thing I did during third year was come in for an unofficial 2 week rotation during Christmas break. Maybe you can do something like that during spring break? I also showed up for as many resident lectures as possible depending on whether my rotation schedule allowed it.

During surgery, you can follow-up with cases by scrubbing out and going to frozens and checking with pathology resident/attending once the permanents are out. The surgery attendings are usually very supportive.

If you are very ambitious, and you have some easier rotations coming up (like primary care or psych) where you know you'll have some weekends off, you could approach one of the attendings to ask about starting a project. Be realistic with them on how much time you'll have to devote to it. They won't expect you to get done with it in your third year but make a good faith effort to get some groundwork done and complete it for 4th year. Even if you don't end up in pathology, doing any kind of research during med school will be a plus on your application for other specialties. Good luck.

 

[LADoc00]

My school doesn't seem to offer anything pathology related except for electives. They also refuse to let students move things very often in terms of their clerkship schedule. The earliest I'd actually get to take pathology as an elective is August and September 1st is the new ERAS date right? So how do I know I will really like pathology if I can't even see it until a month before. Better yet how do I get letters?

Stupid Fing Medical School

this is common. nothing to worry about.

I want to level with you: doing a single med student rotation in pathology can make the training seem very very easy...too easy.

You would be better off just pondering a career in path, talking to private prac types on what their day is and making a decision sans a single med student type rotation.

Trust me.

 

[medgrlsox21]

Thanks everyone, I'll talk to one of the Pathologists who taught a lot of our 1st and 2nd year courses and see if I can't spend some spare time working with him and getting to see what typical days are like for pathologists.

 

[liliequist]

How far up the chain of command have you gone regarding your clerkship schedule? I think it's ridiculous that they won't allow elective time 3rd year. There's always a way, you just have to push your academic dean / whomever to accommodate you. It's your education, your money, your time, and potentially your future career. You need more than just shadowing or observing the odd afternoon here or there to make an informed decision on pathology. A month doing path at a minimum would give you just a flavor for what training is like. August is too late to do this; as you anticipated you will have issues getting good letters, and your ERAS application will sit incomplete well past Sept 1st if you do it this way.

Talk to the higher-ups; talk to your dean. If it means splitting a core rotation to do a month of path, so be it. This is your time to figure this out so don't take "sorry we can't let you do that" for an answer.

 

[KCShaw]

Long story much shortened, I pretty much had to do that in order to do some away courses in med school. I wasn't getting any kind of answer, much less support, from tier after tier until I found myself having a meeting with The Dean, who was extremely supportive. Quite inadvertently stirred the pot as a result -- apparently those I previously had been trying to ask got together and decided I couldn't do what I was asking for, but by then I already had permission from the dean.

I've been fortunate enough that if I pushed enough buttons for long enough, far enough ahead of time, in a "how do I make this happen" sort of way rather than asking someone to help or asking permission, I've been able to do what I most wanted. You're much more likely to simply be faced with mere obstacles than outright denials if you bulldog it the right way.

 

[Ishie1013]

I'm applying for path (I know, I'm going to die in the street like a peasant drowned in my horrible career choices, but I love it and nothing else, so my fate is sealed), and essentially turned a great deal of my surgery rotation into a path elective. I checked for the frozen section cases (which other students don't typically want anyway) and followed those and then introduced myself to the pathologists during our "library" times so they knew me, so I got to spend a bunch of time down in the lab with the PAs and occasionally was free for sign out. I even managed to wriggle into an autopsy by being in the right place at the right time.

If you find the surgeons that have a good relationship with the pathologists and tell them that you're interested in pathology, I found they'd try to emphasize that aspect.