What are "core clerkships"?

[nah6969]

Most med schools will have the usual Med, Surg, Fam, Peds, OB/GYN, and Psych rotations. but many have additional core clerkships such as Neuro, Radiology, EM, or Surgical subspecialty, etc.. To that end, how do residencies treat these more unique, school-specific required clerkships? How do they standardize performance in 3rd year among applicants if most schools will have variations on required clerkships. Do they just focus on the big 6 (+/- Neuro)?

Edit: In anticipation for responses, I realize this is highly program and specialty specific, and most of us will never know, but I just want to hear your opinions or n=1 experiences with PDs

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[FrkyBgStok]

oops. thought i was in a different forum. disregard.

 

[mvenus929]

They treat them like electives, like all the things that appear on your transcript fourth year. Or they compare you to your classmates, since your Dean's letter includes a histogram of your performance compared to your classmates. Or, if the 'extra' core clerkship is their field (e.g. EM, etc), then they put a little more weight into it.

 

[ProfMD]

The 6 you mentioned are usually considered core clerkships. The surgical specialties like to see high marks on your surgery rotation. We will also pay attention to your elective / sub-I in the particular specialty to which you are applying.

Letters of recommendation still carry the most weight, though, particularly for smaller specialities.

 

[Donald Juan]

I don't think the differences in core clerkships between schools will matter for residency much at all, outside of possibly helping you get exposure to what you want to do. Most programs are looking for what you did in their specific core clerkship, your sub-I (assuming it's relevant, otherwise fourth year elective in chosen specialty) and your away rotations. Other than that, it is a general look at your overall performance. If you are going into surgery, no program is going to like one candidate better because he had a mandatory EM and neuro while another applicant didn't.

 

[nah6969]

Ah thanks for the input this is helpful.

Letters of recommendation still carry the most weight, though, particularly for smaller specialities.

😱 is that true that letters carry more weight than clerkship grades?? I'm interested in a surgical subspecialty and wasn't aware of this.

 

[ProfMD]

Ah thanks for the input this is helpful.




😱 is that true that letters carry more weight than clerkship grades?? I'm interested in a surgical subspecialty and wasn't aware of this.

I am not involved the initial screening process in my department that results in invites, so I am not sure what the chair and PD look for. However, when I interview people, I care most about the actual interview, second most about letters from people I know and/or respect.

 

[nah6969]

I see. I guess that makes sense, especially in small fields. I can imagine, two decades from now when I'm an attending, if I'm reviewing an applicant who has a letter of rec from some classmate of mine, I'll be like "hey Jake wrote this letter!" it would complete change the initial tone and impression I have of that applicant - whether deserved or not.

 

[Stagg737]

Ah thanks for the input this is helpful.




😱 is that true that letters carry more weight than clerkship grades?? I'm interested in a surgical subspecialty and wasn't aware of this.

Here's the document of the 2014 NRMP PD survey:
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/PD-Survey-Report-2014.pdf

There is variation from field to field as well as what is most important in order to get the interview vs. what's important when you actually have one. However, generally speaking LORs, especially in that specialty, will hold significantly more weight than any grades or class ranks.

 

[ProfMD]

I see. I guess that makes sense, especially in small fields. I can imagine, two decades from now when I'm an attending, if I'm reviewing an applicant who has a letter of rec from some classmate of mine, I'll be like "hey Jake wrote this letter!" it would complete change the initial tone and impression I have of that applicant - whether deserved or not.

I wouldn't worry to ouch about the "whether deserved or not" part. Physicians develop reputations as letter writers. We know who is a straight shooter and who is full of it.

 

[Law2Doc]

...

😱 is that true that letters carry more weight than clerkship grades?? I'm interested in a surgical subspecialty and wasn't aware of this.

Grades matter far less than what people say about you the further you get from undergrad. It's all about the evaluations in clerkship.

 

[Psai]

Grades matter far less than what people say about you the further you get from undergrad. It's all about the evaluations in clerkship.

I did have an interviewer be like hey I see you scored low on your psych shelf. I said ...but I'm interviewing for anesthesiology?

But yeah I got way more comments about what people said in evals.

 

[The Kraken]

I did have an interviewer be like hey I see you scored low on your psych shelf. I said ...but I'm interviewing for anesthesiology?

But yeah I got way more comments about what people said in evals.

BTW why did you pick anesthesiology? Just wondering

 

[Psai]

BTW why did you pick anesthesiology? Just wondering

I'm a sucker for punishment and love dealing with nurses that think they're doctors+

Psai, PHD, DNP, CRNA, FNPBC, ANPBC, CCRN, ACORN, RNBC, DNPBC, ASNBC, ABC, FOX
Chief Nurse Anesthetist, Cleveland Clinic School of Nursing Medicine

 

[nah6969]

Psai, PHD, DNP, CRNA, FNPBC, ANPBC, CCRN, ACORN, RNBC, DNPBC, ASNBC, ABC, FOX
Chief Nurse Anesthetist, Cleveland Clinic School of Nursing Medicine

They hope the alphabet soup will fool people into missing the fact that there's no MD in that mix.

 

[NontradCA]

They hope the alphabet soup will fool people into missing the fact that there's no MD in that mix.

Haha I've seen one put BSN, RN ;in a med school email. 😕