Core clerkship vs. sub-i's

[lonely_cytochrome]

Is one more important than the other for competitive residencies? Like, are clerkship grades more important than performance on sub-i's or vice-versa?

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[longhaul3]

"Competitive residencies" can mean different things

In the inherently competitive specialties, in which every program is competitive e.g. the surgical subspecialties, sub-i performance is more important. This is mostly because they are small fields and the importance of any one individual to the whole program is high. We want to judge whether you will be a good fit, evaluate your work ethic, etc. And although it probably says something about your academic ability overall, my field is so different from medicine and psychiatry that I don't really care at all how you did in them as long as you passed them like a normal human being. In fact if your psychiatry attending was so impressed that you spent two hours a day on your rotation debriefing on transference and countertransference I'd wonder if you're a good fit for us (not saying you should strive for anything but the best grades).

Almost every field still has competitive programs irrespective of the overall competitiveness of the specialty. In those cases your overall grades probably matter much more, first of all because they are more likely to be the ones that are represented in core rotations in the first place. And then some such specialties don't even really have dedicated sub-i rotations, at least not like the ones we offer.

 

[lonely_cytochrome]

"Competitive residencies" can mean different things

In the inherently competitive specialties, in which every program is competitive e.g. the surgical subspecialties, sub-i performance is more important. This is mostly because they are small fields and the importance of any one individual to the whole program is high. We want to judge whether you will be a good fit, evaluate your work ethic, etc. And although it probably says something about your academic ability overall, my field is so different from medicine and psychiatry that I don't really care at all how you did in them as long as you passed them like a normal human being. In fact if your psychiatry attending was so impressed that you spent two hours a day on your rotation debriefing on transference and countertransference I'd wonder if you're a good fit for us (not saying you should strive for anything but the best grades).

Almost every field still has competitive programs irrespective of the overall competitiveness of the specialty. In those cases your overall grades probably matter much more, first of all because they are more likely to be the ones that are represented in core rotations in the first place. And then some such specialties don't even really have dedicated sub-i rotations, at least not like the ones we offer.

Thank you for such thoughtful reply. I will be going into a surgical specialty - most likely orthopedics, ObGyn, or general. Thank you again!

 

[longhaul3]

Thank you for such thoughtful reply. I will be going into a surgical specialty - most likely orthopedics, ObGyn, or general. Thank you again!

Ortho definitely belongs to the first group

Ob/gyn and gen surg a little bit of both probably; sub-i's exist but people don't tend to do 3-4 including away rotations, and they also have corresponding core clerkships which are important

 

[operaman]

Within ent it all matters but sub-i >>> clerkships.

For us, anything less than honors in your sub-i is a red flag on par with a step failure. In that way, it’s far more important than any other rotation.

Most successful applicants to competitive fields have mostly honors in their clerkships, though no one clerkship is a make or break thing in the way the sub I is. Typically honors in medicine and surgery are weighted more than honors in other clerkships.

But yeah, the sub-I is a do or die kind of grade. I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard of an ent applicant matching with less than an H in their Sub-i.

 

[aldol16]

Sub-I performance is most important but it's a spectrum. That doesn't mean you can just blow off your core clerkships. On the grand scheme, everything matters. But if we're talking only about what matters relatively more, then it's the sub-I performance in the specialty you're going into.

 

[Gilakend]

I guess I would say sub-I grade, but also not really. At most schools, you are essentially guaranteed to get honors on your sub-I if you are interested and normal. So not having honors on it would be very abnormal. So in terms of grades, I guess I would say sub-I grade is more important, but I would be more worried about my core clerkship grades because they are much harder to honor (at least at my school).

I also think it matters if you mean performance or grade. Performance, sub I for sure. For grades both are important.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

If a school has aoa, surely core clerkship would be more important because, by not getting honors, one might not be able to get aoa?

 

[Lawpy]

If a school has aoa, surely core clerkship would be more important because, by not getting honors, one might not be able to get aoa?

That really depends on the school

 

[aldol16]

Sub-I grade more important. But clerkship grades also important (just marginally less so).