3rd Year schedule

[Skydiver]

To 3rd and 4th year students, what is/was your 3rd year schedule like, i.e. order in which you got your cores and electives, gaps and location?

How much input did you have in your schedule?
How long did it take for you to get started after your step score?


P.S. I'm a Rossy about to start 3rd year

[DocR2B]

wish I knew this info then ... but if it is too long between when you get your step scores and when they schedule you for your first rotation you can always do an elective at a willing hospital.

I am a 4th year and I am matching this year and doing 2 cores (surgery and ob) as my last 2 rotations ...so it is possible to get everything in 3rd year like my roommate but even my best friend had to do 2 cores (ob and peds) 4th year and a friend of mine that matched in 2007 did psych as his last rotation.

In a way I feel it worked out better for me when I was able to complete my EM electives and get great Letters of Recommendation so that when I applied for EM I had rotations under my belt and was able to prove I wanted that field esp after I had rotated through it. I also had time to do a sub-I in my back up field. It def stinks taking the step without certain rotations but if you cannot get them there is not too much that you can do about it.

Make sure you look at the list ross said is required as far as how many weeks in IM electives and surgery electives and free electives. I did those rotations between when ross was able to get me cores and now that I am cutting it close with my cores as my last 2 rotations because I was aware and made sure those other rotations were complete and now I can still match for 2008.

[Dr.Chick21]

I started three weeks after getting my score. I did three weeks of ER because Ross could not get me a core immediately. I then started IM and am in my last week. Fight for your schedule. My schedule was originally undesirable and after fighting it was decent. For example, I originally had an eleven week gap. Now, I have two one week gaps and one four week gap, which I was able to fill with Hem/Onc, a very good IM elective. After that everything is back to back as far as cores. Do research because there are ways to do cores outside of NYC and Chicago and Ross will let you if you do the leg work. Because I started mid January 2006, I can't make 09 match without sacrificing study time. Yes, in theory, I can make it, but in reality, I can't make it until 2010. Because of this, I have the luxury of fighting for better rotations and getting the schedule best for me. I hope some of this helps.

[jjmalu]

How do you decide what electives to take if you are not sure what specialty you want to go into? Also, if you are scheduled too big of a gap before your first core, which hospitals and electives are fine with you doing them as your first rotation? Thanks.

[Dr.Chick21]

In NYC, Caritas and Wyckoff let you do ER, Anesthesia, and Radiology without any core. Those can be up to 4 weeks each.

[DocR2B]

EM and anesthesia definitely .. but to be honest you might want to save radiology for when you are studying for the step because few days and few hours per week which allows for crazy amounts of studying without taking too much time off

[jjmalu]

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I have a couple of more questions, though.

In order to have more options for electives to fill in gaps, is it better to do IM or FP as your first core? Also, since it seems that you wont be done with all of your cores back to back, after which cores or when exactly should you plan to take your step 2?

[Dr.Chick21]

Internal Medicine, 100%. You are required by Ross to do 8 weeks of IM electives such as GI, Hem/Onc, Cardio, Neuro....and so on. Family Med is not a prereq for any other elective, as far as I know. I would do IM first if you can not get them back to back. I hear the family med program in Miami at Miami Beach is good and readily available. You go right into IM after that. Just some advice.