I'm waffling on how to set up my 3rd year schedule - it comes down to Peds versus Ob-gyn.
I think I want to do medicine, so that's out as a first.
The idea of surgery first fills me with dread, even though people say the July/August block is the easiest time to do it (yes?)
Ultimately, I don't have a big interest in either Peds or Ob-gyn, so I feel that if I'm not stellar at either, I won't cry over it.
Is there any advantage to doing one or the other first?
There is no advantage of doing anything in order except for doing Internal Medicine last in terms of what you want to do as a specialty. You have to go though all of the required clerkships and we (the residents) alter our expectations based on whether we are dealing with third year clerks at the beginning of third year versus later in third year. Order is not much of a defining factor but performance is a great defining factor in terms of grade.
There is an advantage of placing Internal Medicine last in terms of taking USMLE Step II CK. Most of this exam is Internal Medicine and thus taking it early when medicine is fresh in your mind is optimal and gets this exam out of the way quickly.
In terms of "easier months" versus "harder months", the difference is not much of a factor. Any rotation in surgery can be busy if the hospital is busy and any rotation in Family Medicine can be less busy if the service has less patients. No matter how busy the service, there is a limit to what a third-year medical student can do and learning is your top priority.
In terms of order of rotation affecting your choice of specialty or choice of specialty affecting order of rotation. I started medical school and third year wanting to do pediatrics. Our dean assigned us randomly to rotation orders and thus we had no control over what we did or the order of our rotations. They literally pulled names out of a hat. I wanted to be a pediatrician and peds was my first rotation. I honored Peds.
Family Medicine was my second rotation and I honored FM. Psych was my third and I honored Psych. My next rotation was surgery and the first time I walked into the OR, I was hooked. I honored General Surgery and I am now a senior resident in General Surgery headed for fellowship. I had no control over the order of my rotations and neither my ability to do the specialty of choice nor my grades suffered. My classmates had the same experience.
I did realize that having Internal Medicine last was a very lucky thing for me because I took Step II early in my fourth year. By Match Day, I had nothing else to do except show up and get my diploma. I had six weeks of pure vacation fourth year and I enjoyed every second of it before graduation. I was able to travel to the site of my residency and take my time purchasing a house.
In the end, order really doesn't matter except if given a choice, do medicine last and take Step II as soon as you can.
