January, May, or September Semester?

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Unlike US medical schools that have only one start date per year in the fall, Caribbean medical schools typically have 2 or 3 start dates. At AUC, students may start medical school in January, May, or, September. I’ve gotten quite a few questions about the difference between start dates and so I’d like to address the answer here in this post. I apologize if it’s a little bit wordy.

September is the standard start date for medical schools in the US, and therefore the most popular start date for schools in the Caribbean as well. There are many different reasons why people may want to start one semester or another, but the desire to finish med school earlier should not be one of them. It’s important to note that while starting in an earlier semester like January or May will let you graduate earlier, it will not let you start residency or your medical career earlier! Typically, students that start med school in January, May, and September of a given year will also all match and start residency together at the same time, because there is only one residency start date each year. The main difference between the different start dates at AUC is the amount of time you have to complete all your graduation requirements before residency starts.

JANUARY 2014 CLASS

For students starting January 2014 semester, you all will finish Basic Sciences at the end of August 2015. You’ll be allowed up to 4 months worth of time (until December 2015) to take the Step 1. You can take it right after you leave the island or take a few months off first before taking it, depending on how ready you feel.

After you take the exam, it takes 3 weeks to get your scores back. A week after you get your scores back, you’ll talk to your clinical advisor on the phone to schedule your rotations. There’s a limited number of spots for students at each rotation site, and so all the rotations are scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis based on availability. Depending on the availability of the specific hospitals you want to rotate at, you can start your rotations within as early as 2 weeks, or as late as a few months. The UK usually has the most rotation spots for students, and so you don’t have to wait too long to start if you want to rotate in the UK.You don’t have to schedule all your rotations at once. If you want, you can schedule a few first, then wait to schedule the rest later, or you can schedule them all at once. You can schedule your rotations back-to-back, or give yourself some breaks in between rotations to vacation, study for Step 2 CS and CK, holiday, etc. You can schedule your rotations and breaks anyway you like, as long as you finish all your rotations (both core and elective) within a max of 7 semesters, with no less than 20.5 weeks of rotations every 2 semesters. For your class, assuming you start rotations January 2016, most of you will probably finish all your rotations within 5 semesters by the end of August 2017 or so, but you must finish all your rotations by April 2018 to fulfill the graduation requirements at AUC in order to start residency July 1, 2018.

As you can see from the schedule, January classes have the most extra time during the clinical years to schedule weeks or months off in between rotations for exam studying or vacation. However, because January classes typically finish 10 months before residency starts, your federal financial aid repayment will start to kick in (after the 6-month grace period) before your residency even begins, and this could be a challenge if you don’t have money. Not to mention, you’ll want to find something to do during those 10 months between finishing rotations and residency. When you interview for residency positions, the program directors may ask you what you have been doing since you finished. You’ll want to have a good answer. Some students use that extra time to do research, work, volunteer, or do externships.

Theoretically, if you start January 2014, finish Basic Sciences by August 2015, take the Step 1 immediately after you leave the island, start your rotations soon afterwards, and schedule all your rotations back-to-back without any time off to study for Step 2 CS and Step 2 CK exams, you may be able to finish all your graduation requirements before June 2017 and make it for the 2017 Match and start residency July 1, 2017. Although this accelerated schedule is theoretically possible, it is difficult to do and I personally don’t know anyone who has done it.

MAY 2014 CLASS

For students starting May 2014 semester, you all will finish Basic Sciences at the end of December 2015. You’ll be allowed up to 4 months worth of time (until April 2016) to take the Step 1. You can take it right after you leave the island or take a few months off first before taking it, depending on how ready you feel.

After you take the exam, it takes 3 weeks to get your scores back. A week after you get your scores back, you’ll talk to your clinical advisor on the phone to schedule your rotations. There’s a limited number of spots for students at each rotation site, and so all the rotations are scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis based on availability. Depending on the availability of the specific hospitals you want to rotate at, you can start your rotations within as early as 2 weeks, or as late as a few months. The UK usually has the most rotation spots for students, and so you don’t have to wait too long to start if you want to rotate in the UK.You don’t have to schedule all your rotations at once. If you want, you can schedule a few first, then wait to schedule the rest later, or you can schedule them all at once. You can schedule your rotations back-to-back, or give yourself some breaks in between rotations to vacation, study for Step 2 CS and CK, holiday, etc. You can schedule your rotations and breaks anyway you like, as long as you finish all your rotations (both core and elective) within a max of 7 semesters, with no less than 20.5 weeks of rotations every 2 semesters. For your class, assuming you start rotations May 2016, most of you will probably finish all your rotations within 5 semesters by the end of December 2017 or so, but you have to finish by June 2018 in order to start residency July 1, 2018.

As you can see from the schedule, May classes have plenty of extra time during the clinical years to schedule weeks or months off in between rotations for exam studying or vacation. Unlike the January class, there won’t be too much extra time either, and so you probably won’t have to worry about your financial aid repayment kicking in before you start residency.

SEPTEMBER 2014 CLASS

For students starting September 2014 semester, you all will finish Basic Sciences at the end of April 2016. You’ll be allowed up to 4 months worth of time (until August 2016) to take the Step 1. You can take it right after you leave the island or take a few months off first before taking it, depending on how ready you feel.

After you take the exam, it takes 3 weeks to get your scores back. A week after you get your scores back, you’ll talk to your clinical advisor on the phone to schedule your rotations. There’s a limited number of spots for students at each rotation site, and so all the rotations are scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis based on availability. Depending on the availability of the specific hospitals you want to rotate at, you can start your rotations within as early as 2 weeks, or as late as a few months. The UK usually has the most rotation spots for students, and so you don’t have to wait too long to start if you want to rotate in the UK.You don’t have to schedule all your rotations at once. If you want, you can schedule a few first, then wait to schedule the rest later, or you can schedule them all at once. You can schedule your rotations back-to-back, or give yourself some breaks in between rotations to vacation, study for Step 2 CS and CK, holiday, etc. You can schedule your rotations and breaks anyway you like, as long as you finish all your rotations (both core and elective) within a max of 7 semesters, with no less than 20.5 weeks of rotations every 2 semesters. For your class, assuming you start rotations September 2016, most of you will probably finish all your rotations within 5 semesters by the end of May 2018 or so, but you have to finish by June 2018 in order to start residency July 1, 2018.

As you can see from the schedule, September classes have the least extra time to schedule breaks between rotations to study for exams and vacation. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to do all your rotations back-to-back. You’ll still be able to schedule weeks here and there between rotations if you want to. Another issue to know if you are starting in September is if you fail a class during Basic Sciences and have to stay an extra semester on the island, your schedule will essentially become the same as students who started the January after you, and therefore you’ll match and start residency the following year (2019).

CONCLUSION

For me, personally, I think the May semester is the best semester to start. It gives you extra time to schedule in breaks during your clinical rotations without being too much extra time with your financial aid repayment kicking in before you even start residency and making money (which is what the January class has to deal with). The May class is also half the size of the September class, if you prefer smaller class sizes. Best of luck everyone!