Thread: Very Helpful info. from Medstud3 re. Clinicals in General, waiting, and Oklahoma City

SORRY ABOUT THE FORMATTING HERE, MY ACCOUNT IS ACTING WEIRD, AND I HAVE TO PASTE THESE 2 PM'S INTO DIFFERENT RESPONSES... THEY JUST CUT OFF, WILL ONLY ACCEPT SO MUCH TEXT, I GUESS...SO JUST READ, IT'S WORTH THE READ, SO VERY GOOD INFO. FROM "THE FRONT LINES..."medstud3 Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007Posts: 2 Re: Questions abotu Oklahoma City Rotations --------------------------------------------------------------------------------YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT HIS THREAD "OKLAHOMA CITY, ST. ANTHONY'S, ETC"I had asked questions about if OKC was easier rotation to get into, and not have to wait so long for, quality of it, etc.....(Response from Medstud3)"Hey...MUA is still affiliated w/ St. Anthony. I know of two students currently rotating there. I did not do my electives there. When i was started in OKC, I was surprised to find out that there were only 5 MUA students rotating including myself and I knew for the fact that St. Anthony had at least 3-4 more spots that could be filled up. I don't know how the whole "system" (placing of the students into rotation) works and how MUA decides "when to put which students where" is still beyond me. But you are right. There are many students who are still wondering about where and when they are gonna start rotating. That was the case about a year ago and that issue still has not resolved. I think the school is expanding - meaning accepting more students in basic sciences but struggling to put them into rotations. Which only means one thing - to get more hospital affiliations for rotation spots. I was an example of a student that was put in the wrong spot/place in the fear "not getting the rotation at all". I was told that if i didn't accept OKC for rotations then i would have to wait for 4-5 months to start clinicals w/o a guaranteed spot and other option that was given to me by "someone" (you know who) - to transfer to other school. Which i tried as well, but no one would take 3rd year student even w/ the good step 1 score. Newayz, the best thing to do is to talk to the coordinator at the hospital directly and find out if they can handle your spot. Do your research and then contact the Gardner - MUA office about the spot being open and available for that specific hospital for that specific date. It seems that there are slackers at the MUA office and so, if you do the work for them then the process will be faster and easier, and from experience, it works.I lived in the downtown of the OKC. From there, Bricktown

...From there, Bricktown was <5 min drive. The hospital was also <5 min drive. Bricktown is the place where things are happening. Its a newly developed part of the town and has nice, up-scale restaurants, new theater, sport bars, stadium etc. From the downtown, shopping to wal-mart and mall was about 10-15 min drive. the Penn square mall is nice as well, they have cheesecake factory, and other great restaurants. In the downtown, there is a brand new library w/ &quot;okay&quot; hours and YMCA gym which is also <5 min drive. You can tell why i chose to live in the downtown. Another, newly developed area called Edmond, which was ~20-25 min drive is also nice w/ plenty of stuff to do. Sorry, I don't know any elementary schools in that area.

Newayz, let me know if you have more Qs. Good luck w/ med4 and med5.[/quote]
(SORRY, I CANNOT GET THIS TO FORMAT WELL, BUT THIS IS THE NEXT PM THAT medstud3 sent me....)"MUA is still affiliated w/ St. Anthony. I know of two students currently rotating there. I did not do my electives there. When i was started in OKC, I was surprised to find out that there were only 5 MUA students rotating including myself and I knew for the fact that St. Anthony had at least 3-4 more spots that could be filled up. I don't know how the whole &quot;system&quot; (placing of the students into rotation) works and how MUA decides &quot;when to put which students where&quot; is still beyond me. But you are right. There are many students who are still wondering about where and when they are gonna start rotating. That was the case about a year ago and that issue still has not resolved. I think the school is expanding - meaning accepting more students in basic sciences but struggling to put them into rotations. Which only means one thing - to get more hospital affiliations for rotation spots. I was an example of a student that was put in the wrong spot/place in the fear of &quot;not getting the rotation at all&quot;. I was told that if i didn't accept OKC for rotations then i would have to wait for 4-5 months to start clinicals w/o a guaranteed spot and other option that was given to me by &quot;someone&quot; (you know who) - to transfer to other school. Which i tried as well, but no one would take 3rd year student even w/ the good step 1 score. Newayz, the best thing to do is to talk to the coordinator at the hospital directly and find out if they can handle your spot. Do your research and then contact the Gardner - MUA office about the spot being open and available for that specific hospital for that specific date. It seems that there are slackers at the MUA office and so, if you do the work for them then the process will be faster and easier, and from experience, it works.</p> </p>I lived in the downtown of the OKC. From there, Bricktown was <5 min drive. The hospital was also <5 min drive. Bricktown is the place where things are happening. Its a newly developed part of the town and has nice, up-scale restaurants, new theater, sport bars, stadium etc. From the downtown, shopping to wal-mart and mall was about 10-15 min drive. the Penn square mall is nice as well, they have cheesecake factory, and other great restaurants. In the downtown, there is a brand new library w/ &quot;okay&quot; hours and YMCA gym which is also <5 min drive. You can tell why i chose to live in the downtown. Another, newly developed area called Edmond, which was ~20-25 min drive is also nice w/ plenty of stuff to do. Sorry, I don't know any elementary schools in that area.

Newayz, let me know if you have more Qs. Good luck w/ med4 and med5.[/quote]

This was the question posted by FOTL - "I do have one more brief question. did you get the feel from "you know who" or the clinical department, that OKC is not very desirable, and therefore more available"

My post was (with little modification)-
"When I accepted the agreement for OKC, I was in the same shoes as lot of students from my class - waiting for rotations after passing step 1 for ~3-4 months. I was under the fear of not making the residency match - meaning if i didn't start rotation right away then i would have to wait a year to get into residency. So, at that time, I did not care for where I go, and did not do research on the quality of the clinical training at the St. Anthony. But after experiencing st. anthony, I feel like I should have waited those 4-5 mos (hence, after my experience it was less desirable, because clinical training wise - it's not that good hospital). Again, I dont know how MUA clinical department places students by preferences. I was pushing to go to Houma, LA, but I could not get in because apparently it was full at that time, only to find out later that 3 other students (my classmates) got in even though they did not prefer to go to Houma.

Reading and talking to people at different clinical sites, my take is that, there's always mismatch of place, time and preference of students, and there's no specific answer to when and where you will start (and i know you are told nice and good things during the interview w/ "someone" in med5 at the island - trust me i've been there and it's not as easy as they make it sound). Some students have started as soon as possible, even w/o step 1 results, but then students w/ good score wait for 4-5 mos. I also know of students who have failed step 1 while enrolled in clinical rotations.

This advice is probably far in advance and you may have already heard of it. I don't care what anyone says - if you're not comfortable taking the step 1 exam, DO NOT TAKE IT. There will be people pushing your buttons from the Gardner (that "someone") and rush you to take the test, but only take it if you feel ready. The goal should be to break 200 mark. It's better to do well in that exam then to fail it and retaking it. Also, a low score doesn't guarantee interviews from good hospitals. Every rotation I start, during the introduction, I was asked by all the residents and attendings..."what's your step 1 score?" and believe me, they treat you differently if you have a good score. Also, since we're considered FMGs, >50% of interviews for residency match are based on your step 1 score. Anywayz, I just thought this info would be helpful to you."

I just thought this post would be helpful to other students..