They mentioned the rotation sites and talked about flexibility, but I'm still not certain about which rotations are core rotations, how long different rotations are, and where electives fit into all of this. If you scheduled everything perfectly what would be the earliest time you could do an elective? Is scheduling determined by lotto?
Also, on the issue of MS3/4 grading...it seems like a large majority of the grading comes from resident evaluations. Obviously this will depend somewhat on the resident, but on average are these evaluations pretty strict or do most people do fairly well on them? Reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to figure out how important shelf exams are at Sinai for getting Honors/High Pass. In other words, for most people is it the shelf exams or the resident evaluations that make them "end up" in Honors/High Pass/Pass? I'm assuming virtually nobody fails.
Thanks and likewise Happy Mother's Day
They mentioned the rotation sites and talked about flexibility, but I'm still not certain about which rotations are core rotations, how long different rotations are, and where electives fit into all of this. If you scheduled everything perfectly what would be the earliest time you could do an elective? Is scheduling determined by lotto?
Also, on the issue of MS3/4 grading...it seems like a large majority of the grading comes from resident evaluations. Obviously this will depend somewhat on the resident, but on average are these evaluations pretty strict or do most people do fairly well on them? Reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to figure out how important shelf exams are at Sinai for getting Honors/High Pass. In other words, for most people is it the shelf exams or the resident evaluations that make them "end up" in Honors/High Pass/Pass? I'm assuming virtually nobody fails.
Thanks and likewise Happy Mother's Day
Grading first - yes a large part of the grade is determined by evals from attendings/residents. Most (emphasis on most) residents and attendings are not strict about evaluations. However, every student has stories about how they did not mesh well with a certain resident or attending which in the end can impact their grade. Sadly, this is a problem with 3rd year in general at pretty much every school (except for the ones with no grades, which are becoming less and less). The shelf tries and adds more objectivity to the grading system, but shelf tests do not always test the most relevant information. For classmates of mine who did not honor a given rotation, I would say half of them attribute it to an evaluation and the other half attribute it to the shelf. It's very specific to that rotation and to the residents or attendings who are grading you. Ultimately, the students who are able to manage their time most efficiently to study for the shelf and the students who are able to be the best team players will be the ones who receive honors. I don't know if this completely addresses your concerns. By the way, this is for 3rd year grading. 4th year grades do not really count (many are just pass fail and for the ones that are not, most people get honors).
Schedules -
Required rotations during third year:
- Surgery (total 8 weeks) - you spend 3 weeks at Mount Sinai doing either colorectal, general, laparoscopic, vascular, or surg onc. You also spend 3 weeks at Elmhurst doing general surgery. The Elmhurst weeks are good for the bread and butter cases and also for trauma cases which you don't get at Mount Sinai. The last two weeks are surgery electives in plastics, ortho, breast, ENT, and many other choices.
- Medicine (total 8 weeks inpatient and 4 weeks outpatient) - you spend 4 weeks at Mount Sinai. There are three services - Berson, which is general medicine, geri, and nephrology; Popper, which is GI and cardiology patients; and Wasserman, which is oncology and HIV patients. You also spend 4 weeks at an affiliate hospital doing general medicine. The 4 weeks of outpatient are broken down as: 1 week palliative care, 1 week Visiting Doctors, and 2 weeks Geri clinic. Palliative care is an important experience for medical students. It gives you a perspective about how to deal with terminally ill patients and how to manage patients with chronic pain. The Visiting Docs program is a unique experience that many other schools don't have. You are teamed up with an attending and you go see patients in their homes. Your first patient might be in a huge 2 million dollar apartment on the east side, and then your next patient can be in a small run down apartment in Harlem. While you generally only deal with simple, general medical problems, it's an interesting experience to diagnose and treat patients with such limited resources at their homes.
- Peds and obgyn are 6 weeks each. They can be done at Mount Sinai or affiliate sites.
- Psych, neuro, and family medicine are 4 weeks each. If you need more elective time during 3rd year, these can be pushed back to 4th year.
- Elective time during 3rd year (1 week anesthesia + 3 weeks elective or 4 weeks elective and do anesthesia during 4th year) - you can do any electives you want or even take a month vacation if you want to. Mount Sinai has a 21 week total elective credit requirements during the 3rd and 4th years, and you are free to space them out any way you want during the two years.
I know 4th year is very far away, but it's important to go to a school that provides a lot of flexibility during 4th year. You want to be able to experience any clinical rotations you want, do away rotations, do as little or as much research you want, have plenty of time to study for step 2 if you need to, and have as much time for interviews. The bare minimum requirements during 4th year at Sinai are 4 weeks of sub I, 4 weeks of ER, 2 weeks of critical care, and 2 weeks of intro to internship. This allows you to pretty much design a 4th year tailored to your needs. Some schools are so strict with 4th year that you have to worry about failing rotations when going on interviews or competing with classmates to do certain rotations at certain times. There's almost none of that at Sinai.
