When to finish cores for MATCH

[gynosquad]

Hi everyone,

I really hope I'm not double posting something, but I searched and alas, did not find anything. So I am a third year student at a caribbean school. I'm about 7 months from completing my cores (if everything is scheduled smoothly one after another*crossing fingers*). Is there a deadline for completing core rotations when applying to MATCH?

Thank you so much for your replies. I am a little lost when it comes to all of this mumbo jumbo of applying and deadlines. Our school isn't great with this information either.

[Ubuntu]

Take it for what it's worth given that I'm behind you but....

Given you're 7 months away from finishing cores I will assume you still have all of your electives to do as well. I'd say you're going to miss the 2013 match since you won't even be done with cores until late October if everything goes smooth. That would mean you had no time to take step 2 cs/ck and I'm guess you haven't even signed up to take either and given everything that is up with step 2 cs I can only imagine what the wait time is at right now. SO....I guess if I were you i'd either slow down and space stuff out if you're on fin aid or keep at it and realize you're prob going to have a ton of extra time between finishing clinicals and starting residency pending matching....which isn't a horrible thing but could put you in a crunch if you're on fin aid and don't have the funds to start paying back after your grace period.

To you main Q about needing to do cores before applying to match.....I guess from what I've read...simple answer is no...REAL answer is yes...? You sure could apply without all your cores done and no step 2 scores...however you'd look like a fool and would end up just wasting what ever money you spent on those applications.

The best way to go about it would be to finish your cores, take step 2 cs/ck the summer of the year prior to your match year and then apply that september when ERAS opens. But, like you stated...you won't be done with cores...and therefore Im guessing won't have taken step 2.

Hope I didn't word vomit too much but take it for what it's worth...someone who knows what they're talking about feel free to jump in and school me/

[gynosquad]

Take it for what it's worth given that I'm behind you but....

Given you're 7 months away from finishing cores I will assume you still have all of your electives to do as well. I'd say you're going to miss the 2013 match since you won't even be done with cores until late October if everything goes smooth. That would mean you had no time to take step 2 cs/ck and I'm guess you haven't even signed up to take either and given everything that is up with step 2 cs I can only imagine what the wait time is at right now. SO....I guess if I were you i'd either slow down and space stuff out if you're on fin aid or keep at it and realize you're prob going to have a ton of extra time between finishing clinicals and starting residency pending matching....which isn't a horrible thing but could put you in a crunch if you're on fin aid and don't have the funds to start paying back after your grace period.

To you main Q about needing to do cores before applying to match.....I guess from what I've read...simple answer is no...REAL answer is yes...? You sure could apply without all your cores done and no step 2 scores...however you'd look like a fool and would end up just wasting what ever money you spent on those applications.

The best way to go about it would be to finish your cores, take step 2 cs/ck the summer of the year prior to your match year and then apply that september when ERAS opens. But, like you stated...you won't be done with cores...and therefore Im guessing won't have taken step 2.

Hope I didn't word vomit too much but take it for what it's worth...someone who knows what they're talking about feel free to jump in and school me/

No, that was very helpful. I am willing to take CK during my next rotation if it means I can make the match this year. There are no spots to take the CS until after the change, but I'll take that as soon as possible. I have four months of electives left, so I'll be able to finish before July. Like you said, if I don't make the match it's probably best that I do space it out, and maybe get a part time job and take a good chunk of time to study for the step. The thing is that this school kind of schedules you as you go, and I took a long break to study for step 1 which set me back. Thanks so much for your advice.

[C35]

Well, you can I think as long as you have no interruptions between rotations, meaning no dedicated study time off in between rotations.

And, if your school isn't too anal about graduating at a certain time period to be deemed "graduate".

Heres an example:

A person who's done 18 weeks until now (March 27 2012) of Cores so far can still go for the 2013 match, as long as he/she doesn't take dedicated time off to study for exams and has no delays scheduling rotations. As long as the person takes CS and CK before September 1st. CS Isn't too bad, but CK you need to dedicate yourself to study, and that's where the problem lies.

Instead of rushing through trying to meet the deadlines, its best to concentrate on your exams because that's what'll determine your future, rather than graduating with a piece of paper that says "MD".