When to do first ophtho rotation?

[Chargers09]

Hey Everyone,

I'm an M2 interested in ophtho, and we just got our lotto #s for our 3rd year tracks. The first track is Med/Surg/Neuro/Elective and the second track is OB/FM/Psych/Peds. My lottery # is right in the middle of my class, so I'm wondering where I should try and fit in an ophtho rotation. I likely won't be able to do it at the end of my first semester since most people I've talked to want to start with medicine or surgery, leaving the electives in Nov/Dec. So my other choice would be doing it at the beginning of my second semester, but I would really rather do med/surg earlier in the year in case something pulls me away from ophtho. Doing it at the end of the second semester seems like a time crunch for letters and deciding if it's for me. Should I even do an ophtho rotation if it means doing it as my first or second rotation? I can't help but feel like I wouldn't perform as well as if I had med or surg under my belt. I suppose I could do a research elective to strengthen my app, but without rotating I can't know for sure if ophtho is what I want to do... I'm sure many of you have gone through similar dilemmas. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ocularis]

You do your away and audition rotations as an M4. So as an M3, you probably want it as early as possible (well, maybe not your first 1-2 rotations so you can warm up a little bit), in order go gauge your interests. You will do your home audition rotation as an M4. As an M3 it is more about figuring out what you want to do with your life vs. being worried about 'auditioning' ... however, of course your home program will remember you and all impressions you make are important and you should work as hard as possible either way, but not having medicine and surgery under your belt is not a deal breaker. It is more just about being a nice person, without being over bearing, and seeming interested. Your home program will more so have an eye on you during your M4 home rotation, and if anything the added interest as an M3 will be a bonus. Check if it is a 2 week or 4 week elective available to you.

If you want to use it strategically as an audition rotation, then you need to schedule it as far into the end of M3 as possible because it needs to almost coincide with the beginning of your M4 year. Then you may not have to rotate a second time with your home program as an M4; however, the obvious downside in that is if you have only one elective slot, you won't be able to rotate early on to gauge your interests and get a head start on building your application.

I recommend getting it in on your calendar early to figure out whether it is for you, and if it is - it gives you plenty of time to get to know your department and get solid letters, etc, really just build a strong application. And if not, you didn't waste all of M3 waiting to find out. M3 is a time when you really get to see the different specialties and may change your mind many times about what is for you, so unless you have already seen some ophtho or have a specific reason to be interested in it, I would not be surprised if you changed your mind. Give a good thought to how you want to spend your elective time to begin with, and make sure that anything else you maybe considering you will have a chance to see in some other way either through a core rotation or shadowing, etc. Good Luck!

 

[Chargers09]

Thanks for the advice! They offer a 2 week and a 4 week rotation, so I guess I could just start with a 2 week rotation early on and split time with another specialty like ENT that offers a 2 week rotation, then do my audition rotation first thing 4th year. I guess I'll just ask around to see what the norm is.