What 4th year electives are you taking and what specialty are you going into?

[aaronrodgers]

I am super indecisive about what electives I want to take. A part of me wants to have the chillest 4th year possible and take anesthesia and ultrasound rotations where I can go home by lunch. But another part of me wants to feel more prepared for intern year by taking cards consult, nephro, ID etc. (emphasis on feel as I have heard that it actually doesn't really make a difference in preparing you for residency?). I already enrolled in radiology and radonc and will also take MICU, IM, and EM sub-internships for graduation requirement.

What are others planning to take for fourth year and what specialty are you going into? Love to hear your thoughts

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[Steve_Zissou]

I'm planning to do Cardiology, Interventional radiology, Neurology, Anesthesiology, Crit care, and another round of IM at a bigger hospital. Oh, and I have to do EM still. I want to do an austere/ultra rural outback rotation with a native American village if I can.

I am going into radiology.

Edit: There are a few basic things I want to learn for intern year including airway access and management, acute stroke management, the management of MI and subsequent sequelae, and AKI/electrolyte derangement at some point. I'm not sure what else would be super useful for intern year, but I want to have a few tools in my belt going in so I'm not a completely useless POS on day 1.

 

[Redpancreas]

I am super indecisive about what electives I want to take. A part of me wants to have the chillest 4th year possible and take anesthesia and ultrasound rotations where I can go home by lunch. But another part of me wants to feel more prepared for intern year by taking cards consult, nephro, ID etc. (emphasis on feel as I have heard that it actually doesn't really make a difference in preparing you for residency?). I already enrolled in radiology and radonc and will also take MICU, IM, and EM sub-internships for graduation requirement.

What are others planning to take for fourth year and what specialty are you going into? Love to hear your thoughts

If you're doing IM, take:
1.) Infectious Disease
2.) Nephrology
3.) Required stuff
4.) ICU ONLY if you have never experienced it.
5.) Chill
a) Anesthesia- chill
b) Radiology - go in, learn CXR, come out.
c) Exercise/Enjoy life.

Don't do:
-Cards/GI thinking you'll learn EKGs or something about GI you won't learn in a few days in intern year speaking as someone interested in one of those. The attendings in these procedural specialties are there to move fast, not ramble about electrolyte disturbances, indications of dialysis, source control, etc. (which is what you want!)

 

[aaronrodgers]

I'm planning to do Cardiology, Interventional radiology, Neurology, Anesthesiology, Crit care, and another round of IM at a bigger hospital. Oh, and I have to do EM still. I want to do an austere/ultra rural outback rotation with a native American village if I can.

I am going into radiology.

Edit: There are a few basic things I want to learn for intern year including airway access and management, acute stroke management, the management of MI and subsequent sequelae, and AKI/electrolyte derangement at some point. I'm not sure what else would be super useful for intern year, but I want to have a few tools in my belt going in so I'm not a completely useless POS on day 1.

Definitely agree - I do not want to be an incompetent intern because I didn't maintain my knowledge base in 4th year. It's difficult to strike the right balance of keeping things fresh versus enjoying fourth year.

I think I'll also do cards and crit care. On the fence about doing 2 weeks with ID and nephro.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

If you're doing IM, take:
1.) Infectious Disease
2.) Nephrology
3.) Required stuff
4.) ICU ONLY if you have never experienced it.
5.) Chill
a) Anesthesia- chill
b) Radiology - go in, learn CXR, come out.
c) Exercise/Enjoy life.

Don't do:
-Cards/GI thinking you'll learn EKGs or something about GI you won't learn in a few days in intern year speaking as someone interested in one of those. The attendings in these procedural specialties are there to move fast, not ramble about electrolyte disturbances, indications of dialysis, source control, etc. (which is what you want!)

Good to know regarding cards/GI. Honestly had never thought about ID. Was it useful?

 

[aaronrodgers]

If you're doing IM, take:
1.) Infectious Disease
2.) Nephrology
3.) Required stuff
4.) ICU ONLY if you have never experienced it.
5.) Chill
a) Anesthesia- chill
b) Radiology - go in, learn CXR, come out.
c) Exercise/Enjoy life.

Don't do:
-Cards/GI thinking you'll learn EKGs or something about GI you won't learn in a few days in intern year speaking as someone interested in one of those. The attendings in these procedural specialties are there to move fast, not ramble about electrolyte disturbances, indications of dialysis, source control, etc. (which is what you want!)

Oh really - maybe I won't do cards then. I know that @Steve_Zissou and I are both doing rads based on our interactions on the forums. I will try to anesthesia then and take out cards & gi.

 

[Redpancreas]

Good to know regarding cards/GI. Honestly had never thought about ID. Was it useful?

It is extremely useful for IM. You can just say Vanc/Zosyn of Vancopime (empiric combinations), but there are tons of principles like what the implications of Staph Aureus Bacteremia are, What to do with Enterobacter in the urine? Not to mention ID docs are incredibly empathetic and care about teaching for the most part. If you do this in M4, you'll be ahead of all the other IM residents who spent time chilling or doing GI rotations thinking it'll help them somehow in residency.

 

[Redpancreas]

Oh really - maybe I won't do cards then. I know that @Steve_Zissou and I are both doing rads based on our interactions on the forums. I will try to anesthesia then and take out cards & gi.

I say this being interested in one of the bolded.

 

[A-poor-student]

What about a heme onc rotation? Useful or waste of time

 

[mrbreakfast]

A few recommendations:
1. Radiology - it's super chill and every resident should be able to interpret at least the basics of a CXR and KUB. Also, I think most residents should be able to notice obvious abnormalities on head CT, chest/abd/pelvis CT, and to at least have an idea if a bone is broken on a plain film. This is very helpful, particularly overnight when you might not get a read (or a correct read) for hours.
2. EM - it's also chill, fun (in my opinion), and useful to understand the process of the ED in terms of workup and dispo. Many residents will often do this rotation in residency too, but it's never too soon to start. Also, good for developing your gestalt of whether a patient is "sick" or not (i.e. how worried you should be), one of the main intern skills.

Services you, as a resident, will consult heavily:
3. Neurology consult service (or inpatient service if you haven't done it) - generally the most-consulted service in the hospital. Learn why your patients are altered, what to do if you discover a subacute stroke, basic neuropathy workup, etc.
4. ID (ideally consult service) - ID seems overwhelming as a fresh intern but by learning a few basics you can do a lot yourself. ID primary service is also a decent idea, just make sure it isn't 95% HIV and IVDU osteo.
5. CL psych - managing agitation/delirium, inpatient depression, and determining capacity are all things you can learn to do without consulting psych. If you don't have a consult liaison psych service, I wouldn't do any other psych rotation (other than for fun)

Other things to think about:
6. SICU (assuming you already did MICU) - from a med student perspective, SICU is good for emphasis on drips and vents as opposed to medical management of patients in multi-organ failure. However, probably not a chill rotation.
7. Nephrology - kidney problems are very common in the hospital and can get complicated quickly. You'll probably get a lot of teaching and learn stuff you'll be able to apply widely.
8. Hepatology - interesting organ system because once it goes, everything else follows suit, but slowly enough that you get to take care of pretty sick/complicated patients in a non-ICU setting.

If you're going into medicine, a GI or cards rotation (non-procedural) might be helpful, but you'll get a lot of that in residency. Rheumatology might be interesting as well. As a M4 I took a rotation in vascular medicine (not surgery) and learned a handful of things that I feel like few other people in the hospital know.

Rotations I wouldn't do: pulm, any oncological service (everything will go over your head), endocrinology, any procedural service unless you're interested in doing it

Finally, I'd take as much time off as you're allowed. You'll have plenty of time to do rotations as a resident...

 

[sievert_fever]

Radiology - it's super chill and every resident should be able to interpret at least the basics of a CXR and KUB. Also, I think most residents should be able to notice obvious abnormalities on head CT, chest/abd/pelvis CT, and to at least have an idea if a bone is broken on a plain film. This is very helpful, particularly overnight when you might not get a read (or a correct read) for hours.

Because after a single radiology observership as a medical student you'll be able to catch the glaringly obvious finding that the PGY3+ radiology resident missed overnight. 🙄

 

[aaronrodgers]

So for someone going into prelim IM + radiology, I currently have the following 4th year schedule (have to finalize in the next few days):

1. Diagnostic radiology (4 weeks)
2. Radiation Oncology (4 weeks)
3. Internal Medicine AI (4 weeks)
---Submit ERAS 9/29---
4. Infectious Disease (2 weeks)
5. Cardiology Consult (2 weeks)
6. Nephrology (2 weeks)
---8 week break--- (for interviews + winter holidays & new years)
7. Critical care clerkship (2 weeks)
8. GI (2 weeks)
9. MICU AI (4 weeks)
10. Clinical Lab Medicine, seeing how labs are processed & interpreted (2 weeks)
---2 week break--- (Match Day 3/18)
11. Emergency Medicine AI (4 weeks)
---1 week break---
12. Intern Boot Camp + Graduation

Maybe I can take out cards + GI and squeeze in 4 weeks of anesthesia instead...but it would be nice to become more familar with cardiac and GI workups since it's so common..

 

[Ho0v-man]

You guys are adorable. After step 2 ends and interviews start, your brain just...stops. Schedule nothing difficult after eras goes out. It’s just too hard to care at that point.

 

[7331poas]

Its important to ask your seniors what rotations are *actually* chill at your school. At my school rads is actually pretty difficult with lots of studying. Also you get put in your own reading room and you "read" images well past noon.

On the other hand you get let out of some of the more traditionally "hard" specialties earlier because the docs dont give 2 ****s about the student.

 

[aaronrodgers]

You guys are adorable. After step 2 ends and interviews start, your brain just...stops. Schedule nothing difficult after eras goes out. It’s just too hard to care at that point.

Does everyone start intern year with atrophied knowledge base lol I just don’t want to be incompetent

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

My 4th year is a bit all over the place, going for Med/Peds. current schedule:

1. 4 weeks IM SubI
--step 2-- (at this point i'm done with all the hard parts basically)
2. 2 weeks Peds ENT (mostly because it was convenient, but also to get good at those ear exams on squirming kids)
3. 2 weeks Genetics (personal interest)
4. 2 weeks Med/Peds
5. 4 weeks ??? (possibly Rads/PM&R just for funsies/convenient open spots. maybe some vacation)
--submit ERAS--
6. 2 weeks Neuro (required)
7. 2 weeks ID
--literally 2 months off for interview season/holidays--
8. 2 weeks MICU
9. 2 weeks Peds Palliative
(+ required virtual course thing)
--freeeeeedooooommm/match day/etc----

I might be doing one of our intern boot camps in late spring, TBD. Also likely doing a longitudinal Med Ed elective. I'm hoping that doing MICU in the spring semester will give me a little bit of knowledge to carry me over but i will absolutely have total brain atrophy going into intern year...

 

[mrbreakfast]

Because after a single radiology observership as a medical student you'll be able to catch the glaringly obvious finding that the PGY3+ radiology resident missed overnight. 🙄

Meant it more as a baseline foundation, but you might be surprised what sometimes get read as "no acute abnormalities." Not an insult to radiologists, anyone can have a rough night and miss one or two findings out of a hundred+ scans, just as they can miss findings on physical exam or overlook a lab, etc, that even a medical student might catch.

To put it another way, though, it's good to be able to recognize clear abnormalities (like stuff tested on step 2) so that you can either call to confirm or treat without having to wait for the read overnight.

So for someone going into prelim IM + radiology, I currently have the following 4th year schedule (have to finalize in the next few days):

You will be burned out beyond belief before you even start intern year. You're taking an AI after match? No. Also, you're taking a heavier course load than someone going into categorical IM. Take more time off, you won't get much more of it for a long time.

Does everyone start intern year with atrophied knowledge base lol I just don’t want to be incompetent

Yes. We expect interns to be dumb and nervous and to ask 100 questions a day. You will get hosed during your first few rotations and there's not a ton you can do to prevent it. It's ok, that's why you have an upper level. You're here to learn, not to already know.

 

[LunaOri]

I was going categorical Gen Surg, so I did ICU, ED, pathology (which would be helpful for IM as well--Blood bank is important), heme-onc, and a couple of surgery sub-I's.

 

[aaronrodgers]

Meant it more as a baseline foundation, but you might be surprised what sometimes get read as "no acute abnormalities." Not an insult to radiologists, anyone can have a rough night and miss one or two findings out of a hundred+ scans, just as they can miss findings on physical exam or overlook a lab, etc, that even a medical student might catch.

To put it another way, though, it's good to be able to recognize clear abnormalities (like stuff tested on step 2) so that you can either call to confirm or treat without having to wait for the read overnight.


You will be burned out beyond belief before you even start intern year. You're taking an AI after match? No. Also, you're taking a heavier course load than someone going into categorical IM. Take more time off, you won't get much more of it for a long time.


Yes. We expect interns to be dumb and nervous and to ask 100 questions a day. You will get hosed during your first few rotations and there's not a ton you can do to prevent it. It's ok, that's why you have an upper level. You're here to learn, not to already know.

Thanks for the input! I’m laughing because this courseload is actually the minimum amount of credit to graduate - so I am already maximizing the amount of time off from school at 16 weeks out of the academic year.

You’re right, I’ll do my AI before match instead of after.

 

[odyssey2]

Radiology rotations, transgender medicine, anatomy, derm, sleep medicine. Chillest possible schedule. Going into rads

 

[AzBasRad]

You guys are adorable. After step 2 ends and interviews start, your brain just...stops. Schedule nothing difficult after eras goes out. It’s just too hard to care at that point.

This!! Also, you need to keep you schedule relatively free for interviews. Interview season this past cycle ran from late Oct (i.e. ~ 2 weeks after apps opened for review) until mid February. Sometimes, I got trickle-down interviews at desirable places with only 1 open slot at a specific date.

If you want to schedule hardcore rotations to feel prepared for intern year, schedule them from March onwards. But as Ho0v-man stated, your brain just stops caring after IVs start.

Personally, I am studying for Step 3 now to take early in my intern year. This is also helping me relearn a ton of basic clinical info I purged from my brain during the IV season.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Radiology rotations, transgender medicine, anatomy, derm, sleep medicine. Chillest possible schedule. Going into rads

****, I need to find me a Derm and sleep medicine rotation. Those two sound like they would be great for interview season.

 

[aaronrodgers]

My chill 4th year version:

AIs: IM, EM, MICU
Electives: Radiology (4 wks), Rad Onc (4 wks), Anesthesia (4 wks), Ultrasound (4 wks), Clinical Lab Medicine (2 wks), Underserved community medicine (2wks)

Gut feeling wise, this makes me alot happier.

 

[Redpancreas]

My chill 4th year version:

AIs: IM, EM, MICU
Electives: Radiology (4 wks), Rad Onc (4 wks), Anesthesia (4 wks), Ultrasound (4 wks), Clinical Lab Medicine (2 wks), Underserved community medicine (2wks)

Gut feeling wise, this makes me alot happier.

Looks perfect, especially for Rads. Keep in mind 2 weeks as an M4 in X or Y will not make a dramatic impact on your education in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Smurfette]

May also want to consider a PM&R rotation if looking for something chill.
Some of my classmates did an outpatient ortho rotation, lots of reviewing films and minor procedures but no rounding or OR.
My school offered a 4th year anatomy class. That would be good for rads as well.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Does everyone start intern year with atrophied knowledge base lol I just don’t want to be incompetent

God I hope so. I set really reasonable study goals to make sure I wouldn’t be like that. But I really underestimated how much the interview season burns you out. You’re so stressed about checking your phone for interviews, researching programs, coming up with questions, keeping your running ROL, etc. It doesn’t sound bad but it can sort of suck.

Combine that with everyone on every rotation telling you to rest because you can’t prepare anyway and yeah...you suck.

I did ICU during interview season and straight up didn’t care. I’ve been on night shift ER for the past month and I just don’t get why they won’t let me leave!

 

[InternistDO]

Everyone who sets up hard rotations (surgery, MICU, etc) after interviews finish in January regrets it. Interviewing drains you, and especially after match day the last thing you're going to want to do is drag yourself to the hospital at 6am to present your two patients and watch other people round for hours. Unless you can do a procedural elective (centrals, USIVs, paracentesis, and you're going into a specialty where you'll be doing them), or do a real subi where you write your own progress notes and field your own pages (please don't do this in the spring), nothing you do is going to be terribly helpful for intern year anyway.

If you absolutely must torture yourself 2nd semester 4th year then listen to some podcasts like the Curbsiders and watch Strong Medicine or OnlineMedEd. You still will feel like an idiot July 1st but it can help brush up on some background knowledge.

 

[odyssey2]

My chill 4th year version:

AIs: IM, EM, MICU
Electives: Radiology (4 wks), Rad Onc (4 wks), Anesthesia (4 wks), Ultrasound (4 wks), Clinical Lab Medicine (2 wks), Underserved community medicine (2wks)

Gut feeling wise, this makes me alot happier.

Did you have to do 3 sub Is or did you do them to prepare for intern year?

 

[aaronrodgers]

Did you have to do 3 sub Is or did you do them to prepare for intern year?

I have to do 3 sub Is to graduate! EM AI is mandatory. I don’t have to do MICU but everyone recommends it - especially because I didn’t get exposure to ICUs as a third year aside from 2 weeks in the Burns ICU

 

[Redpancreas]

Did you have to do 3 sub Is or did you do them to prepare for intern year?

I had to do a medicine SubI, EM SubI (which for non EM folk was more like a rotation), and like he says above everyone recommended the ICU subI because you don’t want your first experience in the ICU to be as an intern which was essentially mine.

 

[Redpancreas]

Everyone who sets up hard rotations (surgery, MICU, etc) after interviews finish in January regrets it. Interviewing drains you, and especially after match day the last thing you're going to want to do is drag yourself to the hospital at 6am to present your two patients and watch other people round for hours. Unless you can do a procedural elective (centrals, USIVs, paracentesis, and you're going into a specialty where you'll be doing them), or do a real subi where you write your own progress notes and field your own pages (please don't do this in the spring), nothing you do is going to be terribly helpful for intern year anyway.

If you absolutely must torture yourself 2nd semester 4th year then listen to some podcasts like the Curbsiders and watch Strong Medicine or OnlineMedEd. You still will feel like an idiot July 1st but it can help brush up on some background knowledge.

This is on point. To add to it, you’re also not going to be treated as an intern on these hard rotations as a second semester M4. Even if you do retain the motivation, you’re going to be laughed at for being so ambitious at this time of year.

It’s helpful to do some simple stuff prior to medicine residency like Nephro, ID, and ICU to get exposed to it so you don’t come into residency not knowing what empiric antibiotics are and when to call Nephrology for renal failure. I imagine Surgery has its unspoken prerequisites too like maybe a suturing elective, trauma, or SICU.

 

[odyssey2]

I have to do 3 sub Is to graduate! EM AI is mandatory. I don’t have to do MICU but everyone recommends it - especially because I didn’t get exposure to ICUs as a third year aside from 2 weeks in the Burns ICU

That’s rough I only had to do one. Chilling in a neonatology sub I and getting out at 2 every day.

 

[mrbreakfast]

To add to it, you’re also not going to be treated as an intern on these hard rotations as a second semester M4.

Agree with this. Even if you are very motived and work hard, you're being treated as an M4, far from an intern. Your job is to impress the attendings (for letters) and the residents (for MSPE).

I don't remember my M4 schedule exactly, but I'll use what I do remember as an example:
1. 2 weeks radiology, 2 weeks addiction psych (a chill rotation)
(took Step 2 near end of addiction psych)
2. 4 weeks AI in my field (finalizing letters)
3. 4 weeks PM&R (not very interesting, but gave me time to submit ERAS about halfway through)
4. 2 weeks inpatient procedural service in my specialty
5. 4 weeks anatomy lab, 4 weeks pathology case studies - at my institution these electives have very limited time commitments, so I was able to attend every interview I wanted without taking any time off
6. 2 weeks vascular medicine (not what I thought it'd be, but interesting), 2 weeks outpatient procedural service in my specialty
7. 4 weeks emergency AI (chill as while the shifts are long, it's only a few days/week, and on night shifts the residents dismissed us non-EM folks hours early)
8. 2 weeks intern boot camp (online)

And that's it, graduation requirements satisfied before match day because I took zero rotations off. I guess what I'd advise is:
1. Chill rotations early to take step 2
2. Bust your butt before ERAS to get good letters
3. Super chill rotations (or take time off) for interviews - probably not as big of a deal as I'd assume 90%+ of interviews will be Zoom this coming cycle too
4. Take a few things you find interesting to satisfy your remaining credits

 

[ArdorAyurveda]

What electives if you're a 4th year going into psychiatry?

Part of me wants to do stuff just for the sake of knowing it. Women's Health, Sleep Medicine, Nutrition...not necessarily to prepare me for intern year, but just to for my own sake of being a doctor.

For example, I like the idea of doing a PM&R elective to maintain some degree of confidence in my physical exam skills. The thought of doing an Infectious Diseases elective in 4th year sounds like hell to me

What I'm hearing though is that it's better to do something chill rather than something super ambitious. I like this philosophy. Hell, might just travel.

 

[Chads2]

Aaronrodgers,

Did you do MCB at Cal in order to get into medical school? Is Jordan Love more of a midlevel?

 

[aaronrodgers]

Aaronrodgers,

Did you do MCB at Cal in order to get into medical school? Is Jordan Love more of a midlevel?

If I could trade Jordan Love for my big boi Eddie Lacy back I would do so in a heart beat. If the mid level takes over my job, I can fall back to hosting Jeopardy 😎

 

[Chibucks15]

Online rotations and research. Residency is hard enough no need to go do a bunch of ICU rotations

 

[Neopolymath]

If you are doing a TY before radiology there is no reason to do anything but chill fourth year based on how most TYs work. A TY is designed to expose you to many areas of medicine but it also prevents anyone from really evaluating you in a meaningful way due to rotation length or having real expectations of you since you aren't going into the field and might have never rotated on the service before. If you are competitive enough to match radiology and a TY then you are competent enough to perform adequately intern year. This seems to get repeated every year in person and online.

At most TYs you do 4 week rotations in various specialties with a few terrible wards months mixed in. If you do OB, for example, they expect you to know nothing because they know you haven't thought about OB since your rotation third year and you aren't going into OB. On surgery, many TYs are just having fun in the OR and the ones that aren't definitely didn't seem as tough as 3rd year surgery clerkship. On medicine, you have a real job but you need to remember what the interns were doing during your core clerkships. Studying isn't going to help you do what their job is because it's not about knowing anything. It's about presenting, scut work, placing orders, discharges, etc. This is stuff you learned or at least saw during school. This is stuff anyone who got good evals during school can learn quickly to a competent level for their 4 ward months (or whatever number) if they didn't know it already. Learning about thrombocytopenia won't help achieve this lol.

My two cents based on mentors, the interview trail, and TYs I know is to find a good mix of chill and variety. You have 2 more years of clinical medicine before doing radiology so just see a bunch of stuff.

Finally, no one in your life that actually matters cares if you did great on a TY rotation because you studied. The TY year is about doing a good job for your patients, a good job for your co-interns, and seeing a bunch of stuff in that order. Anything else like your random IM attending thinking you are a really smart intern and not just a safe/competent one who does what is asked of them and shows up on time is objectively pointless. It does not help your career at all. Frankly, who cares what they think if you are the idiot who misses every pimp question and asks a ton of questions to your senior? You are there to be cheap and dependable labor for their service. Their opinion has no utility in your radiology career.

Just offering some food for thought. I think most people who did well in third year understand the importance of working hard even at things you don't care about so hopefully it is understood that I'm not saying to be a ****ty intern. I'm saying figure what you think the point of the year is and what you think you will achieve by doing what you are doing. Everyone will have a different answer. This answer will help you determine just how chill to make your 4th year.

 

[odyssey2]

Has anyone ever actually regretted having a chill fourth year?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Has anyone ever actually regretted having a chill fourth year?

I mean that’s not a fair question because I’ve regretted every year of med school, so...

 

[AzBasRad]

Has anyone ever actually regretted having a chill fourth year?

I have never met anyone, in person or online, who has regretted a chill 4th year or a chill TY

 

[mrbreakfast]

Has anyone ever actually regretted having a chill fourth year?

For the first two months or so, I regretted not taking a medicine AI, MICU, or other rigorous things. For those people doing true prelim years, the going can be rough at first if you haven't actually taken much medicine (e.g. my only inpatient medicine rotation was my M3 clerkship, which was my first clerkship) as you can end up carrying way more patients than you did in med school, starting on day one of intern year.

That being said, you learn much more quickly in residency, and overall I'm glad I took a chill fourth year, did rotations I was interested in, and traveled rather than worked hard for relatively little benefit.

If you're doing something like radiology, intern year doesn't really matter, and many TY years are glorified "M5" years anyway.

 

[Redpancreas]

I mean that’s not a fair question because I’ve regretted every year of med school, so...

For the first two months or so, I regretted not taking a medicine AI, MICU, or other rigorous things. For those people doing true prelim years, the going can be rough at first if you haven't actually taken much medicine (e.g. my only inpatient medicine rotation was my M3 clerkship, which was my first clerkship) as you can end up carrying way more patients than you did in med school, starting on day one of intern year.

That being said, you learn much more quickly in residency, and overall I'm glad I took a chill fourth year, did rotations I was interested in, and traveled rather than worked hard for relatively little benefit.

If you're doing something like radiology, intern year doesn't really matter, and many TY years are glorified "M5" years anyway.

Agree with mrbreakfast. I'm not saying you go ham with clinical rotations, but I regret not having ICU exposure as an M4 and very little as an M3 and then maybe add Nephro/ID and then you still have like 4-6 months to chill. I suppose for Radiology (which it seems most in this thread are doing) it's OK do just chill and TY will be chill too.

 

[ciestar]

For the first two months or so, I regretted not taking a medicine AI, MICU, or other rigorous things. For those people doing true prelim years, the going can be rough at first if you haven't actually taken much medicine (e.g. my only inpatient medicine rotation was my M3 clerkship, which was my first clerkship) as you can end up carrying way more patients than you did in med school, starting on day one of intern year.

That being said, you learn much more quickly in residency, and overall I'm glad I took a chill fourth year, did rotations I was interested in, and traveled rather than worked hard for relatively little benefit.

If you're doing something like radiology, intern year doesn't really matter, and many TY years are glorified "M5" years anyway.

Speaking from experience. I did a medicine sub-i, which sucked, and i only ever carried like 4 patients. Im expected to carry 8-10 right now and nothing in med school would have prepared me for this.
And i did like 4 sub-i’s 4th year since i didnt know what i wanted to do with my life.