Timing of sub-internship/externship 4th year?

[Clemson Doc]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone,

I posted this in the Allopathic forum yesterday before realizing that this forum would have been the better choice. I am in the process of scheduling my fourth year rotations, and am curious as to when I should do my sub-internship. I am going into internal medicine, so obviously I will be doing a medicine sub-i. I have decided to do my sub-i at my home institution, although I have no desire to stay here for residency.

I will be taking off the month of July to study for Step 2, and will be doing an away rotation for one month in August or September. Does conventional wisdom suggest that I do my sub-i before November in order to have it on my transcript and possibly get a good recommendation letter out of it? Or does it not really matter? At this point, I am feeling the fatigue from third year and really don't like the idea of having the pressure of excelling on my sub-i and including it in my application, but at the same time I am certainly willing to do that if it is important for my application.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BigRedBeta]

Honestly, I'd do it early, July even. You may be tired now, but when you know the chips are down and you're doing something that you've chosen, it'll likely be different. Getting back into the swing of things after several months off can be difficult.

And if you want a letter out of it, you better get it done so that the letter is in before or shortly after you submit your ERAS. Quite a few IM programs start sending interview invites well before Dean's Letters are released. You don't want to be waiting on LOR's, especially if they're good ones.

 

[njbmd]

Anything that was "required" for graduation, I did early in 4th year. When I was traveling for interviews, I scheduled easy rotations like radiology so that I didn't have to worry about being absent. I took Step II the second week of July (our 4th year started in August) so that it was out of the way.

After Match Day, all I had to do was show up and pick up the diploma. It was one long vacation from Match Day to graduation where I looked for a house and did all of that pre-residency stuff.

In short, if you don't need the grade (or you are not trying to impress a potential PD), then do your sub I at any time (the earlier the better for vacation sake). If you NEED the grade, then you definitely want to do as many strong rotations early in your 4th year. If not, it is up to you and when you want to take a break.

 

[Clemson Doc]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I definitely want to do well in my sub-i and get a good grade and LOR out of it. Currently, I am thinking about taking a little less vacation time for Step 2 and taking it in earlier in July instead of the end of July. This will give me time to complete the away rotation and sub-i by the end of September, essentially gaining a month overall due to the way the rotation dates workout. I think I feel better about that, especially since I should be able to get the sub-i letter included in my ERAS by mid-October.