Better academics or connections?

[shikimate]

I am having trouble deciding if I should be doing more observerships. I really want to do as many of them in as many specialties as I can. I had friendly conversation with my preceptors during my observerships and I was able to converse with residents too. I really like it. I felt this would benefit me comes clerkship and CaRMS.

 

However these observerships takes time away from studying and sometimes I feel a bit nervous because there are so many things going on in med school, you have to learn so much and I haven't studied as hard as I did in undergrad.

 

I've gotten some grades back and while I've passed all of them (our school's final grade is P/F only), I am overall below class average (~1 SD below). I really don't want to fall behind academically. I have already cut back on extracurriculars just so I can find more time to study.

 

Does anybody have any advice? I really want to get to know as many docs and make as many connections as possible but should I be more concerned with academics? By the way I am not gunning for a competitive specialty and is mainly interested in IM (geriatrics, med onc, GIM), pathology and family med.

 

I appreciate your time reading this.

[Corie]

Does anybody have any advice? I really want to get to know as many docs and make as many connections as possible but should I be more concerned with academics? By the way I am not gunning for a competitive specialty and is mainly interested in IM (geriatrics, med onc, GIM), pathology and family med.

 

I appreciate your time reading this.

 

Wow, you sound exactly like me minus the pathology. I've decided to do more ECs and shadowing and ease up on my grades. I'd enjoy my time better.

[JB.]

I am no where near your stage of the game, but why not kill two birds with one stone. Would you find it to be helpful to shadow doctors working in the field that you are currently studying i.e. shadowing a cardiologist during the cardio block? Maybe that would help make some of what you are learning more "real". Again, I am not even close to your stage in the game, so if this is completely bogus advice, please disregard.

[Lactic Folly]

How much time are you spending on observerships? ECs?

 

Unless you are overloaded with other things, I don't think observorships should be a significant burden on your schedule. An average session might last 4 hours - one per month and you'll have explored 12 fields in a year.

 

If you have to cut something, I would scale back on any ECs that you are not highly invested in (e.g. signed up because everyone else did). Looking back, many activities in med school functioned more as a social outlet than anything.

[shikimate]

How much time are you spending on observerships? ECs?

 

Unless you are overloaded with other things, I don't think observorships should be a significant burden on your schedule. An average session might last 4 hours - one per month and you'll have explored 12 fields in a year.

 

If you have to cut something, I would scale back on any ECs that you are not highly invested in (e.g. signed up because everyone else did). Looking back, many activities in med school functioned more as a social outlet than anything.

 

Thanks for the advice. I only started doing them in November and only has 3 of them planned for this month, and one of my concerns was that I am not doing enough of them.

 

I've talked to some people and they have done 4, 5 or 6 of them already, and some with impressive descriptions (interventional rad, cardiac surg, etc). I was inclined to ramp up my observership effort to at least 1-2 every week so hopefully 5+ per months to keep pace. However I don't want my academics to suffer because of this, so I am quite indecisive at the moment.

[ellorie]

I've only done two - currently booking my third. I think some people have a lot of connections in London - know a lot of docs, or have docs in the family. Because I've been emailing tons of doctors and generally either the scheduling doesn't work or they never reply.

[Lactic Folly]

I've talked to some people and they have done 4, 5 or 6 of them already, and some with impressive descriptions (interventional rad, cardiac surg, etc). I was inclined to ramp up my observership effort to at least 1-2 every week so hopefully 5+ per months to keep pace. However I don't want my academics to suffer because of this, so I am quite indecisive at the moment.

 

Um, there's really no need to keep pace with others with regards to observerships. The main point of doing these is for your own benefit - so that you can figure out what you are interested in early on. If you already have a good idea of what you want to do, then you don't need to do so many. If you just want to see something cool (but aren't interested in it for a career), you will have opportunities in clerkship as well.

 

Have you considered scheduling more observerships for summer break? I agree that your academics should not suffer because of this. Developing an interest in a field during the summer between first and second year still gives you plenty of time to build a strong application.

[shikimate]

 

Have you considered scheduling more observorships for summer break? I agree that your academics should not suffer because of this. Developing an interest in a field during the summer between first and second year still gives you plenty of time to build a strong application.

 

oh yeah I definitely want to explore SWOMEN during the summer with the rural program, and hopefully get some research done during the rural placement if possible. It's so hard to decide in 1st year what you want to do. Every interest group presents something fascinating about the field.

 

btw it's a bit worrying to see the # of unmatched graduates has been steadily rising http://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2011R1_MatchResults/40_CDN%20Grads%20Match%20Results_en.pdf

 

Will matching be as difficult as getting in, some day? Hopefully not.