<p>What other fields did you seriously consider? Why did those ultimately get crossed off? I like radiology but I don’t like all aspects of it. I went to a mammography conference and hated it. Neuro/interventional/MSK and probably body imaging interest me. </p>
<p>Have you decided how you will pick programs to apply to? Prestige vs location (to be closer to friends/family)?</p>
<p>The issue is that it’s hard to get a LOR from the general radiology elective at my school because we work with a diff attending each day. This means I will have to take the gen radiology elective in July AND a subspeciality elective (neuroradiology) in August at my school to get the LOR’s. That doesn’t leave any time for away rotations. Even if I squeeze in an away rotation in September, it still won’t meet my school’s LOR deadline of October 1st.</p>
<p>If I were to do an away rotation, it would be close to home at Stanford or UCSF (the only other radiology programs in Northern Ca is UC Davis and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center). But, I think even with an away rotation at those places, my application won’t be strong enough to match. Another option is MIR where I did my summer research after M1 but while the program is amazing, I don’t particularly like St. Louis. As my program director said, there’s no reason to do aways at programs that are weaker than my home program and my school already has a strong radiology program.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Other fields I considered were anesthesiology and internal medicine. I feel that anesthesiology is too static of a field and then there is the issue of CRNA’s. I really really liked my internal medicine rotation this year (my favorite rotation) so that would be #2 for me.</p>
<p>Haven’t selected programs yet. I definitely would go to the best program I can. Location isn’t a huge deal to me. My goal right now is to finish my last rotation of the year (12 weeks of surgery), write up my case report, and start on my personal statement. I won’t touch the issue of programs until the summer. I will likely be applying to around 40 programs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Cool. Its great to have a strong program at your school. My school doesn’t have one, but they are very supportive of its 4th.</p>
<p>Good luck with the app process. With ~40 unmatched spots in rads this year, maybe that will forecast an easier year for you.</p>
<p>Yea, heck, I’d be ecstatic if I match at my home program. The averages of the radiology program here are around 250 Step 1, 50%+ AOA so I’m probably on the lower border of competitive here.</p>
<p>When is the usual time for taking Step 2? Do most people take it before they send out their residency applications?</p>
<p>The thinking is that if you bombed step 1, you definitely should take step 2 early, before you send out your residency applications. You have no other choice. If you aced step 1, then you should delay taking step 2 since you have nothing to gain by taking step 2. </p>
<p>I’m sorta in the middle since my USMLE Step 1 score is solid (240-250) but I’m applying to a competitive specialty. I’m planning to take my Step 2 in October, late enough that applications have already gone out but early enough so that if I score well, I can still update my schools about my Step 2 score.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The fourth years who have been rotating on services as I’ve been doing my clerkships on those same services have been GOLDEN this year. Especially the ones from other schools who can tell me what it’s like on the “outside,” since I am also not planning on doing an away rotation next year. Unlike the residents and interns who all, theoretically, loved their chosen fields before they started working 80 hours a week, the fourth years can usually tell you what went into their decision without appearing jaded (and they have more time to tell you than the residents do). Pick their brains when you have the opportunity.</p>
<p>Just got off a 30-hour shift on surgery. Slept 4 hours two nights ago and not a single minute last night while on call. Over that span, had two taquitos and half a slice of cake as my meals 
Had a 18 hour surgery, 1 trauma, did 4 consults, 4 hours of conference, and wrote more notes than I can count. No one from my team showed up for rounds today so I had to round with the chief resident and ended up writing notes on almost everyone on my service since he didn’t know the patients (even though I technically only cover 3 out of the 12 or so patients). Glad I’m not going into surgery.</p>
<p>Anyway, the physician ended up agreeing to let a LOR for me Still need 2-3 more though although I’m finding it IMPOSSIBLE to impress anyone (residents or attendings) on surgery lol No matter what you do, it’s never good enough.</p>
<p>Hey, I thought that the maximum period of hours you are now allowed to stay on the floor was reduced to 26 hrs? This is what I heard at a Sleep conference I was attending at HMS.</p>
<p>NCG, If you are pulling 30 hour shifts, try and stock up protein drinks or protein bars in your lounge areas. You really don’t want a combination of lack of sleep and poor nutrition. Here’s something very quick and convenient you could stock up on. </p>
<p>[Ensure</a> Plus Nutrition Shake - Products - Ensure](<a href=“http://ensure.com/products/ensure-plus]Ensure”>Ensure Plus Nutrition Chocolate Shake | 350 Nutritious Calories)</p>
<p>You gotta take care of your own health if you are going to take care of others’ health. No two ways about it! </p>
<p>On another issue, could you explain what an ‘audition rotation’ is? How does one go about procuring an audition rotation? Is this just another term for the away rotation?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hour rules apply to interns/residents. The newest change is the 16hr limit for interns, so many programs are starting a night float system to deal with the changes. The 80hr avg over 4 weeks is the more commonly known work restrictions. Some medical school might put in place their own hour rules for med students. My school has one but the schools my friends go to don’t. Sometimes working 30+ is semi-required to impress the residents to show that you are hardworking and don’t complain. </p>
<p>Audition is the same as an away, but its at a program you are also seriously considering for residency. So in an audition, you go all out to impress the attendings/residents/staff at that program. For example, its hard to match into California if you have no connection to CA, so one student I know did an away at an ENT program in CA to show that he has an interest in coming to CA (…along with impressing them and getting a LOR).</p>
<p>ASMAJ beat me to it…</p>
<p>Current rules are still 30 hours for all residents, but on July 1st, new work hour rules go into effect that limit Interns (Post Grad Year - PGY - 1’s) to no more than 16 hours of consecutive duty. PGY2’s and higher are limited to 24 hours of consecutive duty. Gone is the 6 hour post-call window to finish up handoffs/paperwork that allowed for the 30 hour shifts.</p>
<p>They’ve also limited the number of consecutive night shifts to only 6 in a row (this is the rule that infuriates me the most - obviously written by someone who has never had to switch back and forth from nights to days with any sort of regularity). </p>
<p>As for Away vs Audition - I would classify audition rotations as a subset of away’s, done with the expectation that you are trying to impress a particular residency program to improve your odds at matching there. An away may be done at a program (or in an entirely different field altogether) simply to get away from campus.</p>
<p>Audition rotations are vital in some fields - orthopedic surgery more so than all the rest, and can be useful in any other field. I did a peds away rotation at a program that I originally had no intention of applying to, but ended up being impressed by the place that I did apply, interview, and rank the program when it was all said and done. So it kind of turned into an audition rotation. More importantly, for me anyways, it was my first exposure to the Peds ICU, and ended up blowing me away, to the point that I’m going into a peds critical care fellowship. Without that experience I’m not sure I’d know what I wanted to do with my life at this point in my career…
I also did an adult cardiology away rotation in Australia…just to go Down Under. It was my last month of adult medicine in my career. I snuck out of rounds most days at 11am to go to the beach…</p>
<p>BigRed,</p>
<p>How do you feel about the changes? Good/Bad? I know the general surgery program director at my school commented that she wasn’t the biggest fan, but she would just have to deal with it. A quote I remember for a presentation I saw, “they need to stop comparing the training of a surgeon to that of a dermatologist.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How often do you think surgery programs follow the work hours regulations ;)</p>
<p>I don’t even know what the work hour rules are for medical students. I definitely went over 80 hours last week. No one “makes” you do anything but if you want to get a good grade, you have to put in the time. My surgery residents complain when I don’t get my notes done early. If I write a note, then they don’t have to write a note. The problem is that surgeries start at 7:30 AM. We round from 6-7:30. It takes me 1 hour to pre-round on my patients and prepare my presentation. It takes me another hour to write the notes on all my patients. So, essentially, I have to get to the hospital at 4AM in order to get my notes in by 6AM. Once surgeries start and the day gets hectic, there’s no way I can beat the residents in writing notes so I make sure I get them done before rounds.</p>
<p>The gen surg service I’m on does surgeries, sees consults, and is the primary team for post-op patients. So, I’m getting an inpatient, surgery, and consult experience all in one.</p>
<p>how many LOR do you need. 5?</p>
<p>You need 3-4. Most residency programs won’t accept more than that.</p>
<p>Gosh! Those hours for surgery rotations are a killer. Only the truly passionate will survive and want to pursue GS I guess.</p>
<p>Whew! Just finished the gen surg part of surgery. I think I’m going to ask my surgery attending for a LOR. Got fantastic feedback from her at the end of the rotation, showed up to work at 4 AM every day, stayed overtime on call, and picked up extra patients. Hopefully she says, yes. I did a good job but she gives me tons of flak for going into rads. </p>
<p>Still gotta work on my personal statement and find a radiology advisor.</p>
<p>NCG, It must feel great to have narrowed down your specialty of interest. My DS is finishing up his MS1 and mentions to me that he has no idea what he wants to pursue yet. I sure hope he figures this out by the end of MS3.</p>
<p>NCG…just a tip: don’t go back and read your personal statement for med school now. Made that mistake a couple of days ago while preparing to work on my PS for fellowship applications and couldn’t believe I spent so much time “perfecting” that piece of work.</p>