My school is considering delaying the end of 2nd year and altering the start date of the 3rd year. If you could have delayed starting rotations by a few months (August or September instead of July) to have more time to study for boards, would you have done so? If not, what specific concerns would you have regarding the loss of those 1-2 months? If yes, what benefits do you see coming from it? I’ve considered the pros/cons on both sides, but would really appreciate some experienced, mature input on the topic.
Yes, yes yes!! I think 1 month would have been great. There was pressure to get Level 1 done before starting rotations and I wished I could have delayed it even 1 week. You spend so much time finishing year 2, doing finals and OSCE’s, that there is inadequate time to focus on boards and 4 uncommitted weeks to put into it would have made a huge difference. A lot of other schools either finish earlier or start rotations later in order to give students a month to prep for boards, and I think that is the bigggest thing our school could do to help.
Regarding impact…hmm, you might have to give up 1 month of electives. That would be unfortunate, but in my opinion, worth it.
Kate
My clinicals don’t start until August. We have to take the COMLEX by June 30th though (I took it Jun 17). Not sure when your classes end. Our final exams were done by around May 10th, but then for the next 3-4 weeks we had odds and ends we had to complete (final CSA exam (3 patient interviews / SOAP notes), BLS and ACLS certification, mandatory meetings for 3rd year prep, and 1 or more practice COMSAEs (school policy - had to get at least 450 to take the COMLEX). During that time I was madly trying to complete the DIT video series as well.
I decided to take the USMLE in July after moving so I would have less pressure (theoretically) and I could deal with a few family matters that came up after I took the COMLEX.
I think August is a good start date because you can get your tests done, move (if you need to), and have a bit of time to decompress depending on how you schedule your tests.
I think 2 months (ie. Sept start) would be too long. Trying to keep up the studying is very hard the longer you have to do it.
Obviously I don’t have any real experience with this, but it seems to me that if you have 2 boards to take ( USMLE and COMLEX) having more time to study can only work in your favor.