Thread: Commuting to clinical rotation site

During clinical rotations, do some students have a bit of a commute to the hospital they rotate at, or do most just live within a few blocks? Is it not recommended to commute? Thanks.

Some students live within walking distance, others commute. As a studio/one-bedroom is $1,500-2000+util/mo near my hospital, I have a 15 minute commute via public transport. Others live further away (~45-60min) for even cheaper rents. For a rotation like Psych it doesn't matter, but in Surgery where you are expected to be in the hospital from 5am - 10 or 11pm on call days, two hours of commute time would cut down the time available to sleep to just 4 hours. However, some hospitals have overnight call with the next day off, so a longer commute may be easier.

I plan on going to St. Joe's in Paterson and that would be about a 30min commute for me, I could go to St. Barnabas that's less then 5min from my house but I feel like I would get a better experience at St. Joe's and besides it would give me an excuse to go grocery shopping at Carrado's in clifton.

sorry to be a little off topic but speaking of clinical rotations, do students get to pick their own clinical hospital sites or does sgu pick them for you...or is it based on grades, ppl with higher GPAs get prioirty over others(i am a first term student and dont wanna start a new thread about this)

you put down your top three choices and most people get one of the top three, it's not determined on grades or anything but luck. The people with family in the area have priority over others but mostly people pick rotations close to where they're from in the states.

Originally Posted by icycrazydesi

sorry to be a little off topic but speaking of clinical rotations, do students get to pick their own clinical hospital sites or does sgu pick them for you...or is it based on grades, ppl with higher GPAs get prioirty over others(i am a first term student and dont wanna start a new thread about this)

I've heard all sorts of rumors from GPA to BSCE scores and all sorts of other stuff. I asked my advisor and a few other faculty about it and nobody seems to have a clue or if they do know how it works they don't wish to disclose it. Just a few days ago I e-mailed the clinical education department (clined@sgu.edu) asking them which hospitals would be available for the incoming 5th/6th term class and they weren't even able to tell me that.

RJ pretty much have it down. having family in the area takes a priority. grades are pretty much useless. i know a few 4.0's who didnt get their first or second (and in one instance 3rd) choice. on the request form there is an optional area to put down your reason's for preference. other than having a pretty good reason ( eg your married and your spouse works there)the school pretty much tries to give everyone one their choices and if they cant fit it then its random select

Originally Posted by GonnaBaMD7

I've heard all sorts of rumors from GPA to BSCE scores and all sorts of other stuff. I asked my advisor and a few other faculty about it and nobody seems to have a clue or if they do know how it works they don't wish to disclose it. Just a few days ago I e-mailed the clinical education department (clined@sgu.edu) asking them which hospitals would be available for the incoming 5th/6th term class and they weren't even able to tell me that.

Dean W. told us when he came to visit in Vinnies that GPA,Step scores (with the exception of Kern) makes no difference- well need passed scores to start in NJ, but the score itself doesn't make a difference.

And i would imagine that the new HHC agreement is probably why clined can't tell you about the hospitals available to your class- it will probably change and there will probably be more NY spots available (typially the Jan class has more NJ options).

Originally Posted by rokshana

(typically the Jan class has more NJ options).

Yes, I actually visited St. Joseph's last week and the medical education office there told me that they only take students in May which would be the January class.

yep. St. Joe's only takes people from the Jan class. St. Barnabas/Newark Beth Isreal takes students from both terms. That must have been quiet a trip from Indianapolis. You're not planning on going to NYC like most of the class?