Preparing for Clerkship

[steve1234]

Hey guys,

I'm an M2 at UT and feel incredibly guilty for enjoying my time so far in med school ( had so much fun with my fam and friends these 2 years)- basically I have been just passing exams, haven't done any shadowing, missed out on great preclerkship electives that I should have taken out time for!

 

I'm not gunning for anything competitive, but due to personal circumstances I do need my residency to be ideally in the GTA. I love Family Med and would love to be matched in Toronto.

 

I want to make up for the experiences I may have lost out on - because I do want to enjoy and do well in clerkship. Advice from any others out there on how I can make up for lost time in shadowing?

 

I will have 1 month in the summer off - should I just schedule my own electives or does UT offer preclerkship electives in the summer for med students?

 

What are some important specialties to shadow before clerkship - since I dont have much time, i'd prefer to focus on major skills needed during the little time I have shadowing.

[Andie]

I wouldn't worry about not having shadowed much... tons of people are in the same boat. It will be fine. As a shadow, you can't really do much.... it will be easier to learn I think when we are clerks and can actually be more involved.

 

If you are thinking family I'd try and set up time with your ASCM tutors who were family docs and your FMLE preceptor.

 

I haven't done too much shadowing, but I did an emerg shift with my ASCM tutor and it was awesome. Maybe it's because he teaches clinical skills and knows what stage we're at and what we need to work on. But also, we saw like 30-40 patients, so the breadth of cases was astounding.

[futureGP]

that awkward moment when someone else from ur class recog u on pm101

[rogerroger]

Hey guys,

I'm an M2 at UT and feel incredibly guilty for enjoying my time so far in med school ( had so much fun with my fam and friends these 2 years)- basically I have been just passing exams, haven't done any shadowing, missed out on great preclerkship electives that I should have taken out time for!

 

 

You did exactly what you should have done. I shadowed and did all this extra stuff in pre-clerkship. It was one giant waste of time. The stuff I thought I would like in pre-clerkship turned out to be some of the last things I would ever want to do after spending time actually doing it in clerkship.

 

With maybe derm and optho as exceptions all other competitive specialties are still wide open without doing specialty specific extracurriculars during pre-clerkship.

 

I'm not gunning for anything competitive, but due to personal circumstances I do need my residency to be ideally in the GTA. I love Family Med and would love to be matched in Toronto.

 

You can match into FM without doing anything extra ever. If you act normal and work hard on your core rotations and get 3 decent references you will match to family, and probably UofT. Toss in a few family electives in Toronto and your odds are hugely in your favour.

 

Honestly, gun for the speciality next on your list after family. It is better to have some extracurricular stuff that leaves doors open to you. You would not be the first person to do their family med rotation and suddenly want to change your career path. Better to have doors open then closed. Family will always be there as an option for you.

 

I want to make up for the experiences I may have lost out on - because I do want to enjoy and do well in clerkship. Advice from any others out there on how I can make up for lost time in shadowing?

 

I will have 1 month in the summer off - should I just schedule my own electives or does UT offer preclerkship electives in the summer for med students?

 

You didn't miss a thing. I'm envious of your decision to enjoy and live life. Not to be a downer, but clerkship mostly blows. You won't live life like you are now for years to come. Enjoy it. Savour it.

 

This summer go travel someplace that takes a month to fully appreciate. You won't get many of these chances again for a while.

 

 

What are some important specialties to shadow before clerkship - since I dont have much time, i'd prefer to focus on major skills needed during the little time I have shadowing.

 

Just don't shadow this summer. Don't do it. Your main job in the first month or three of clerkship is to hit the ground running and decide between surgical or non-surgical. Then choose two or three things you can see yourself doing and just give'r and go for it. Do some research, do interest groups, contact some residents and staff and network etc.

[steve1234]

hey guys, thanks so much for the words of encouragement! I really do feel at ease and will continue to chill this summer! Lol. Good luck all!

[futureGP]

i'm pretty much in ur situation so i appreciate the comments lol

 

im aiming for uoft family too, maybe i'll see u then