weekends off at mac?

[Guest uwoheather]

hi,

this may be a stupid question, but do you get weekends off at mac during school, or do you have to work weekends during your clerkship but not in regular units.....etc.

thanks a lot

[Guest macMDstudent]

If you want to go to Mac you have to ask questions and no question is a stupid one; because if you are wondering about something, other people are probably wondering too!

 

Nothing official is ever scheduled on weekends during units 1, 2, 3 and 4. All tutorials run on weekdays, but some groups do get stuck with early morning times (7:30 a.m. - ugh!) or evening times because their tutors are practicing physicians and they don't want to take too much time away from their practice.

 

Once you are a clerk, some rotations demand weekend work and others don't, but that is the same at all med schools I'm sure. When you are in Internal Medicine and Surgery you won't even know your name, let alone what day of the week it is, according to the poor clerks I know now.

 

Horizontal electives are are totally up to you to schedule and are not mandatory at all if you don't want to do any. These are the ones people do for a half day or a full shift per week in ER or whatever. Hospital based horizontal electives are often done on weekends during units 1, 2, 3 and 4, but good luck finding an office based practitioner who wants to see you on Sunday afternoon!

 

Block electives (like the ones we have to do this summer for 8 weeks, and are a large component of clerkship) are supposed to be full time hours equivalent. So you are supposed to be there side by side with your preceptor whatever hours they work, so undoubtedly if you choose OBS/GYN for a block elective you will be awake at some strange hours!

 

Hope that helps. Good luck with your decision!