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Career Development
Rising Fourth Year: Frequently Asked
Questions
When should I take the boards?
You must take the boards by December 1 according to our school policy.
If you got > 230 on Step I, you may request a deferment to January 20
but NO later. This request must be in writing via e-mail with an e-mail
confirmation back to you that it is O.K. and the request is granted.
Can I get elective credit for board study if I do not take the board review
elective?
No, you may not. We will not allow credit for self-study outside the
board review elective nor for a Kaplan course or any other study course.
If you need to take the time to study, either use the elective board review
time or use your vacation/interview time. There is a total of 14 weeks of
vacation or interview time in the fourth year (not including the time after
graduation until the beginning of residency)
When should I do my sub-I?
If you did not get honors in Medicine and Pediatrics and are going
into Medicine or Peds you may wish to do your sub-I early. Remember that
the clerkship director has 4 weeks to get the grade in. Ideally it should
be done by block 4 or 5. Your departmental letter can be updated and your
transcript can be updated. In addition, you may get to know a faculty member
well during the experience who can then write a letter of recommendation
on your behalf.
I deferred a third year clerkship, when can I take it?
You must contact the Registrar after the third and fourth year lotteries
to fit that rotation into your schedule. The deferment of third year clerkships
gave you flexibility at that time and may limit some of your flexibility
in the fourth year. The Family Medicine clerkship should be taken by the
end of the 5th block so that you will have exposure to primary care prior
to decision-making for the match.
What if I am not sure what I want to go into, how do I decide?
You are encouraged to meet with your mentors, with faculty and with
the deans. Each department has identified an educator willing to
talk to you about career decisions. You may find that list: http://www.mssm.edu/studentaffairs/dept_advising.shtml.
You may wish to immerse yourself in several elective experiences. These
advisors can help with choosing electives and also will help facilitate
the
departmental letter for residency once you decide on your career choice.
I am going into a competitive early match, can you make a special circumstance
for me to defer the required clerkship until the spring?
The lottery is meant to be fair and everyone has certain preferences
and unfortunately we cannot accommodate everyone up front. We are allowing
special circumstances only for those students with a critical personal issue
and it is limited to putting that student in an elective block for a single
block (e.g. for a personal wedding). The fourth year schedule is very flexible,
however, we cannot just allow students to take the required courses whenever
they want, because sites are at a premium for the clinical experiences and
we have to spread the group out evenly. We are requiring everyone to do either
Critical Care or Emergency Medicine in the first half of the year and the
other rotation in the second half as parameters for the lottery. Anatomic
radiology and the Sub-I should be split by half year as much as possible.
After the lottery you will have the opportunity to make switches and if you
can construct your schedule so that all requirements are in one half of the
year, that is fine.
How do I arrange electives?
There are three types of electives:
- on our website, just register
- at another LCME-approved school: go to their
site and register as directed with them and also in the Office of
the Registrar here.
- as a tailor made: either here or at another school.
Please get a departmental faculty sponsor, complete the appropriate
Registrar
form and return to Sherlyn Humphrey. If this is an International
Elective, you
must
seek approval and advice from Dr. Andy Jagoda
If you need a Dean’s
letter of good standing. Please see Lee Dasu. The Office of the
Registrar has the authority from the Dean to issue
these letters. Please do not contact Dr. Davis directly. How do I decide on electives?
There are several reasons why students choose one elective or another,
please consider these reasons:
- To develop strengths in an area of
weakness
- To explore career options
- To experience something new and
interesting
- To be able to relate with an admired role model
and mentor whom you admire
- To facilitate getting a residency: “will
look good on the transcript,” or “will
be able to get a great letter of recommendation”
- Will help me in my
residency and give me confidence to be an intern
We hope you will
favor the more educationally-intentioned reasons but there
are some practical issues that we fully appreciate that
you may need to consider (such as needing several Ortho sub-I’s
if you are going into Ortho to demonstrate interest and proficiency) I am worried about my application to residency, what is the scoop?
We will have a separate class meeting in late May/early June to talk
about the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE). We will talk about
the timelines, support for your application, career advising, letters of
recommendation, etc. For now, the best strategy is to immerse yourself
in your last module and enjoy! If you have any unfinished business such
as a manuscript in preparation, it is a good time to finalize so that it
can be in a substantive form for applications.
From the Class of 2003, the most important question seems to be: How do
I make an appointment to see one of the Deans?
We all consider the most fun part of our jobs meeting with you and
talking about your futures. However, it is only one of the many things that
we do. If you contact our assistants (see below), you will be able to get
an appointment within 2 weeks but you MUST plan ahead. It is best for you
to contact Mita, Michelle, Carmen, or Grace directly as if you contact us
and we put you in the schedule, we may make a mistake and have two students
at once, not knowing that the slot was already filled!
Please know that our assistants are instructed to do everything they can
to get you in the schedule so if they tell you it is not possible, it is
not possible unless it is an emergency. It is unlikely that if you contact
us a day or two before that you will be able to see us. Of course, we are
always available for emergencies by canceling another student (but we really
reserve that for emergencies as it could be your appointment that was planned
for a week and a half that gets canceled!) We are all very responsive by
e-mail but that is most appropriate for a quick question. We are unable to
give advice via e-mail. We are happy to meet with groups of students as well
so if there are several of you who want to come in for general advice related
to a particular specialty, we can do that as well as individual meetings.
Here are the contact numbers for our assistants:
All students will be meeting individually with Mita Sen-roy from June-August
for the formatting of the MSPE. That meeting will follow submission
of your information that we will requested related to school activities
and community
service and should precede a meeting with Dr. Rose which will occur
from late July through early September which will have more of an
advising focus
and review of the MSPE contents. There will be a sign up process for
these two appointments.
All students who have participated in research during medical school will
meet with Grace Oluoch in July after completing a Research Template for the
MSPE. This will be followed by an appointment in July/August with Dr. Zier
to discuss your research entries and any other issues pertaining to your
research work including how to present the material in your application process.
Are there any other things I should worry about now?
You should address any “red flags” in your record. If you failed
a shelf exam or had any difficulty, you should make plans to fix that as
soon as possible after the third year clerkships. If you do not like a line
in your narrative paragraph from the clerkship, you should discuss that with
the clerkship director. You should make plans to rectify any holds in the
Office of the Registar: housing, academic, financial, etc. as your documents
for residency planning will be held until these are addressed. If you have
any unfinished business (research study, manuscript, community project) try
to finish it as it always looks good to finish something you started and
to have a product. If any questions about your research, contact Grace Oluoch
to make an appointment with Dr. Zier to discuss.
Try to relax and enjoy the moment. This is a very exciting time. We are
here to support you and we have every expectation that you will have spectacular
success!
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