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The Summer Before First Year! (Med 0!)


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Why would this be 'conflicting'? Really, just chill and enjoy your last full summer off.

 

Some people told me that I should get as much exposure/shadow as I can so when I start school, I can start working towards what I'm interested in. They mentioned they wish they had more time to think about what they wanted to do. Or to brush up on sciences (I've been out of school for a bit). Other people tell me to relax and enjoy summer.

 

Thanks. I'll definitely take that into consideration.

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Some people told me that I should get as much exposure/shadow as I can so when I start school, I can start working towards what I'm interested in. They mentioned they wish they had more time to think about what they wanted to do. Or to brush up on sciences (I've been out of school for a bit). Other people tell me to relax and enjoy summer.

 

Thanks. I'll definitely take that into consideration.

Ha, no, don't bother with that stuff. Arranging shadowing opportunities is much easier and more useful once you start school.

 

Do what you want with the summer, just don't do anything because you think it'll give you a leg up for the start of medical school. I had a job I liked that paid well, so I worked. Don't regret that choice at all. Relaxing and doing nothing at all is a great option.

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Something that may be helpful, is to read the student handbook for your school, or other policy related documentation. Learn about how your curriculum operates, how frequently you're tested, what opportunities you have etc. It would only take a few hours, while sipping on beers on the deck, but may be helpful to give you a layout of how your particular medical school operates.    It can help ease your mind and make you feel like you prepared yourself. Orientation can be a lot of useless information and a blurr, so this could potentially help.

Don't study though, unless you know for sure you have a sufficiently weak area. Never took anatomy before? Watch some youtube videos while drinking a beer.   No idea what a t-cell is? Watch some immuno videos on youtube.  You get the idea. Don't study persae, but it would be helpful to at least get a relaxed introduction to some topics you may never have covered - but majority of your classmates may have(science v.s. nonscience).    Non-science students tend to have to work a bit harder to build foundations in topics, while they generally catch up and even out with their peers (or often exceed them too!), it can definitely be a bit stressful in the beginning with learning curve.

Medicine is very much so a language as it is a science, so being exposed to some terminology in a relaxed setting can only help.  "Hyper-trophy"  "Achlasia"   "dysphagia" etc all were jibberish to me when i first began. 

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I'm a silly rabbit and am registered for a course this summer. It's a topic that is of great interest to me and I couldn't pass it up. Combine that with moving back to Canada later this summer and I might be regretting my decision in a couple of months.  :huh:

 

 

aside - my favourite medical jargon word is dysdiadochokinesia. Try to say that 3 times fast....

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I'm a silly rabbit and am registered for a course this summer. It's a topic that is of great interest to me and I couldn't pass it up. Combine that with moving back to Canada later this summer and I might be regretting my decision in a couple of months.  :huh:

 

 

aside - my favourite medical jargon word is dysdiadochokinesia. Try to say that 3 times fast....

DDK.. i feel like theirs an inappropriate joke somewhere in there. 

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Relax and have lots of fun. It'll probably be your last summer with low baggage.

 

Now, like another poster said, it's different if in 4 years the only specialty you'll apply, without backup, is derm...

What does this mean? You should back up for something like derm...

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Takes a special kind of person to sign up for the Suicide Squad :P

 

So I know somebody who did just this, and they failed, but luckily in second round scrambled for a non competitive lab specialty in a less desired school. The stress of interviewing for this non competitive spot at this non competitive school, which year after year doesn't fill in first round, probably put that person pretty close to PEA. 

 

btw my favourite word in medicine is now "discharged". "DNR" comes a close second.

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I think it means if you're derm-gunning without a back-up, gun and gun hard :P

Girl at UBC who matched to UBC derm this year, applied to Derm and a few other specialities if i recall right, she only did 1 derm elective(at UBC) and decided essentially then in 4th year to apply Derm.  I believe she also said that she applied to multiple specialties in BC, because she didn't want to leave BC due to her family. (this is what i vaguely remember from her brief talk at a CaRMS night). 

 

Go figure ha.

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Girl at UBC who matched to UBC derm this year, applied to Derm and a few other specialities if i recall right, she only did 1 derm elective(at UBC) and decided essentially then in 4th year to apply Derm.  I believe she also said that she applied to multiple specialties in BC, because she didn't want to leave BC due to her family. (this is what i vaguely remember from her brief talk at a CaRMS night). 

 

Go figure ha.

 

Home field advantage? I wonder if UBC derm is known to prefer their own students. This is definitely an exception to the general trend.

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Home field advantage? I wonder if UBC derm is known to prefer their own students. This is definitely an exception to the general trend.

No idea, doubt it though - there was a women in 2010 who matched UBC derm from Ottawa...but was later had to be let go because UBC failed to be able to accomodate her disability(forget her name, but it was all over the news...she later ended up in alberta a few years later for PHPM because they had their act together and put the $$ forward to accomodate). 

 

I think it's just one of those things where "fit" matters more than anything, and sheer luck. I know someone who as gunning hard for derm but wasn't successful - they had loads of research, electives etc. But i guess they just didn't "click" ? Who knows.

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Girl at UBC who matched to UBC derm this year, applied to Derm and a few other specialities if i recall right, she only did 1 derm elective(at UBC) and decided essentially then in 4th year to apply Derm.  I believe she also said that she applied to multiple specialties in BC, because she didn't want to leave BC due to her family. (this is what i vaguely remember from her brief talk at a CaRMS night). 

 

Go figure ha.

 

 

Not directed at you at all - I agree that there are rare cases, but Med 0's to Med 1/2  have to remember, and for good reason, that the majority of people who match to competitive programs do not usually follow this route. 

 

It's this kind of observational selection/confirmation bias that I see residents or even program directors talk about "that one girl/guy" who against all odds, end up to a competitive program. It kinda plants false hope...

 

Sure if you want to throw your hat in the ring and have nothing to lose, your odds are pretty good.  But remember that if you're going close to all-in/all-in, you better try to optimize yourself as much as possible - that means doing (some) things that are tried and true, and then it comes to the margins...like personality fit, interactions, etc...things that you may not have as much control. 

There are unfortunately no guarantees, so if you're going to go hard, like Ralk said, better go as hard as you can and question yourself every step of the way if it's worth it. 

 

Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.  

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A

 

Not directed at you at all - I agree that there are rare cases, but Med 0's to Med 1/2  have to remember, and for good reason, that the majority of people who match to competitive programs do not usually follow this route. 

 

It's this kind of observational selection/confirmation bias that I see residents or even program directors talk about "that one girl/guy" who against all odds, end up to a competitive program. It kinda plants false hope...

 

Sure if you want to throw your hat in the ring and have nothing to lose, your odds are pretty good.  But remember that if you're going close to all-in/all-in, you better try to optimize yourself as much as possible - that means doing (some) things that are tried and true, and then it comes to the margins...like personality fit, interactions, etc...things that you may not have as much control. 

There are unfortunately no guarantees, so if you're going to go hard, like Ralk said, better go as hard as you can and question yourself every step of the way if it's worth it. 

 

Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.  

Agree 100%, just thought i'd provide that as an exception to the rule kind of thing. That even if you gun hard, there's always going to be that person who comes from left field and snipes a spot here and there.

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No idea, doubt it though - there was a women in 2010 who matched UBC derm from Ottawa...but was later had to be let go because UBC failed to be able to accomodate her disability(forget her name, but it was all over the news...she later ended up in alberta a few years later for PHPM because they had their act together and put the $$ forward to accomodate). 

 

I think it's just one of those things where "fit" matters more than anything, and sheer luck. I know someone who as gunning hard for derm but wasn't successful - they had loads of research, electives etc. But i guess they just didn't "click" ? Who knows.

 

Not so exceptional. There are other such examples in other competitive fields. I have seen gunners to competitive fields end up in family medicine and outliers who only did one elective secure the residency. In the end, in the eyes of the interviewers, you need to be a good fit, and often, there is already a short list of favoured interviewees (who are not necessarily the gunners).  Yes, luck too plays a role!

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Not so exceptional. There are other such examples in other competitive fields. I have seen gunners to competitive fields end up in family medicine and outliers who only did one elective secure the residency. In the end, in the eyes of the interviewers, you need to be a good fit, and often, there is already a short list of favoured interviewees (who are not necessarily the gunners). Yes, luck too plays a role!

Yep, goes to show that it can be a crap shoot even at that stage :) but of course, if you know in advance you want something then it can only help to gun for it. But it you find out late, you're not necessarily out of the game if your a good fit.

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don't worry about gunning and shadowing at this point. asides from being an annoying pre-med, you really can't offer much. maybe you can get involved in some research. however, you'll have plenty of time and the amount of research done isn't all that important really. 

 

I didn't bother shadowing until second year or so and even then it was mostly just to figure out what sort of medicine I would be interested in. many of those times I was just standing around watching for hours. 

 

Getting a leg up and gunning for things is questionable and probably adds to a lot of unneeded stress. You need to perform on your electives and do well in your clerkship years. That along with your social skills will play a huge role in your match. 

 

just relax, travel, do nothing...

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