CV building during MS3

[URHere]

I am returning to third year in a few days and I've been very conflicted over the idea of requesting time off for academic/career-building activities during clerkship time.

Although my school's official policy states that students can request 2 days off per year (which will be granted at the discretion of the clerkship director), I am wary of making waves or seeming as if I am requesting special treatment. While I could easily accept missing a conference or two, I have also worked closely with the deans of my university and I have been a student member of several administrative steering committees during my time in graduate school. I may have the chance to take on a more prominent role working with the university president and state senate in the next few months. Should I choose to take the position, I would need to request time off for senate meetings a few times a year.

My question is - would requests like these make waves with clerkship directors and faculty, which could ultimately impact my third year grades? If so, would the benefits potentially outweigh the risks when it comes to applying for residency and eventual faculty positions?

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[Neuronix]

The most important thing right now is honors. I've never heard of these 2 days off per clerkship block, but I would not do it. I would be 100% committed to clerkships.

 

[gutonc]

You have one job as an M3, kick ass on your clerkships. Asking for time off is a good way to ensure you don't do that. Nothing you can do in those 2 days will make an impact greater than you'll lose by potentially missing out on honors. Residency programs are looking to hire people to be physicians, not administrators. You'll have plenty of time to keep building your CV later.

 

[solitude]

agree with above. As an aside, a lot of people continue to try to work on papers, experiments, tie up loose ends, etc from their PhD. Bad idea. MS3 year is really, really hard. Every spare moment you are not in the hospital, you should either be studying, or recuperating. You'll have plenty of time for the other stuff as an MS4.

 

[JoshSt]

I am returning to third year in a few days and I've been very conflicted over the idea of requesting time off for academic/career-building activities during clerkship time.

Although my school's official policy states that students can request 2 days off per clerkship block (which will be granted at the discretion of the clerkship director), I am wary of making waves or seeming as if I am requesting special treatment. While I could easily accept missing a conference or two, I have also worked closely with the deans of my university and I have been a student member of several administrative steering committees during my time in graduate school. I may have the chance to take on a more prominent role working with the university president and state senate in the next few months. Should I choose to take the position, I would need to request time off for senate meetings a few times a year.

My question is - would requests like these make waves with clerkship directors and faculty, which could ultimately impact my third year grades? If so, would the benefits potentially outweigh the risks when it comes to applying for residency and eventual faculty positions?

I almost took a position like you're speaking of in politics during my time in med school (very very similar actually) but many many people talked me out of it. Unless you aim to do your residency in the state you're living in and also want to be that state's future governor, there's no point in non-research political extracurriculars. The most important thing you can do is secure honors and high shelf scores in you rotations.

If you have some oral/poster research presentations at national conferences, definitely do those. My experience as well as my classmates has been that the clerkship heads are cool with that. Unfortunately though, I'd put a halt to other things that would require you to miss clerkship days. Believe me though, that extra day/days of impressing attendings and getting honors instead of high pass and a 90 on the shelf instead of an 80 will be well worth it to your future.

 

[URHere]

Thanks, all. These were pretty much the answers I was expecting (if not the ones I wanted).

Would you all say that the "don't do it " logic also applies to requesting days off for conference presentations? What about the possibility of switching clerkship days around rather than taking time off?

I apologize if any of these questions seem inane - clerkships are a whole new beast and I'm not quite sure what to expect after the relative freedom and flexibility of graduate school.

 

[QofQuimica]

Agree with the others that your MS3 year is not the time to be "CV-building." Focus on getting good shelf scores and high rotation grades. If you are selected for that administrative position and want to do it, tell them that you will be happy to accept as soon as you've completed your clerkships (i.e., during MS4).

If it's a one-time thing like a conference presentation, that's a little different. In that case, you may be able to move some of your clinical responsibilities around, arrange to be on an easier clerkship during the month your conference is scheduled, etc. But never ask for any time off without also proposing how you plan to make up the missed time. You don't get extra days off as a resident; any day you don't work when you were on the schedule means that someone else is coming in when it was supposed to be their day off, or that you're leaving your team short-handed. The last thing you want is to start getting a reputation now as someone who doesn't pull their weight. Not good for the clerkship grades or future LORs. Not good for positive relations with your colleagues.