Bringing out the crazy

Bring up the subject of clerkship to a whole bunch of people starting clerkship next year and you open a big can of crazy. Our clerkship schedule has been messed up due to some changes with the timing of CaRMS interviews. This means that we have to come up with a new schedule that accommodates both the upper year students' existing schedule (as no two classes can be on core rotations in our hospital at the same time, it's too small) and the never ending list of opinions my class has about what makes a good and a bad schedule. Someone actually got up in my class during a meeting the other week and suggested that it was "us vs. them" between the students and the administration because one administrator suggested a schedule in which a core block would be split into two chunks by electives. This student accused our clerkship committee representatives of not trying hard enough to shut down all of the administration's proposals because, clearly, in this student's mind they're out to get us for shits and giggles. In my opinion, everyone involved has been doing a great job to give us as many options to choose from as possible and address all of our concerns.

I have seriously never seen people come so close to crying in class as some of the gunners got on the day of our student meeting.

To add to the craziness, I sat down to lunch with a few classmates and one of our esteemed colleagues gave us a lecture for 10 minutes on how she doesn't think that "playing the game" to get a clerkship spot (meaning doing research when you hate research and shmoozing with program directors whose programs you don't want to go to but would consider as a last-chance resort) wasn't being misleading or a bad person, it was just what needs to happen. This individual wants a competitive surgical subspecialty (a very competitive one) and proceeded to tell me that her backup is another very competitive surgical specialty... hello, a backup is supposed to be something easier to get into! Anyways, the two of us who were sitting at the table, including a girl who wants something very competitive herself, were stunned to hear this coming out of one of our classmates mouths. I guess that's what it's like to be type A. The thing is, if you're going into a specialty that wants you to do research that badly, maybe it's because research is highly regarded in that specialty and you'll be expected to do it when you're in your residency and after you've graduated. If you don't like research, maybe the specialty isn't for you! And, maybe if you want something so competitive you shouldn't look down your nose at certain schools' programs (especially if there are only 21 spots in the whole country) - you might end up going there! If you think it's second rate and you would be upset to say you went there, don't apply, I'm sure there are many people who would be very proud to take that spot.

At times like these I'm thankful that I've chosen a specialty that isn't very competitive and I'm able to do the things I want to do with my time. I'm doing research this summer, but for a month in a subject I'm genuinely interested. I hope to shadow at least one doctor and spend a few weeks at an abortion clinic. I'm glad I'm not going to feel like I'm going to be punished for the rest of my life for pursuing things I enjoy.