The time has come to decide where the M2s want to do their clinical rotations next year. In light of that little application burning a hole in our inboxes, here is the down and dirty about the three clinical campuses in question: Rome, Savannah, and Albany.
(First years, don’t start worrying about this yet but keep reading to get a taste of these “regional campuses” you’ve probably heard about by now.)
Rome (NW):
Rome’s curriculum is a special one, which I believe most of us find intriguing, but also slightly terrifying. Thinking about being bounced from specialty to specialty every week and having to take all the shelf exams at once can make even the most confident medical student feel unsettled. However, Rome’s longitudinal curriculum seems to boast the best method for retention of clinical knowledge and skills of each specialty.
Switching from Peds to Psych to Neuro etc. forces you to repeatedly retrieve the information you have amassed so that your newfound expertise never gets the chance to degrade completely (as we frustrated medical students know happens at an alarmingly rapid rate). However sometimes constant repetition in a compact period produces the best results, and so Rome has four-week intensive rotations in Surgery and OBGYN, where you can become a suturing master in no time.
As for the shelves deal, well that week will be abysmal no doubt. Our helpful students up in Rome let us know that the best approach to taking the shelves in this manner is to study for this week as if it was for Step 2. They also alluded to the fact that this made studying for Step 2 a bit easier, which is supported by their impressive CK and CS scores as a group. In addition, Rome students’ shelf scores were higher on average to Augusta’s, which is reassuring.
Lastly, the faculty in Rome has come from all over the country and is friendly, knowledgeable and eager to teach bright-eyed students like us. This combined with the impressive hospitals and remote beauty of Rome as a city, it would be a pleasure to spend clinical years at the NW campus.
Savannah (SE):
Savannah’s regional campus trip was optional, which I think says a lot about the immediate appeal of this campus to most of us. Around 80 of us made the trip and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in one of the most beautiful cities in the Southeast. To get down to it, Savannah would be a wonderful place to live, with the beach not far away and the picturesque downtown vibrant with culture awaiting you every weekend.
Students at this campus spend half of their time in Savannah and the other half in Brunswick, which is around half an hour away; however, they establish their residency in Savannah and stay in campus housing in the latter. The SE campus has impressive hospitals with dedicated and especially animated faculty, and it seems like it would be a delight (and quite interesting) to work alongside them the next few years.
I would say the students there were also the most excited and enthusiastic about their campus out of the three. Curriculum-wise, Savannah (and Albany as well) follows the same framework as Augusta, namely 4-6 week rotation blocks for each specialty and a shelf exam at the end of the rotation.
The bottom line is, if you are looking for the classic appeals of a regional campus such as the one-on-one attention with the faculty and more hands-on opportunities in surgeries for example, all while enjoying the coastal air, Savannah might be right for you.
Albany (SW):
Albany’s campus seems to be the one to go to if you are looking to get your hands completely filthy in the surgery rotations. Now this was never explicitly stated, but after having heard about all of the campuses, the SW’s spiel was the most convincing about the chances we would have being first-assist right next to the surgeon and delivering babies left and right. For example, the Dean mentioned that we would have the opportunity to “catch” 20 babies by the end of our OBGYN rotation, whereas in Rome they estimated performing somewhere around 5-8 deliveries. This is one of many times I felt that Albany values giving us the best opportunities to learn on our rotations.
Albany’s hospital also impressed me the most—they boast state-of-the-art technologies housed in a beautiful building with a surprisingly comfortable vibe that I can’t quite explain but I’m sure the patients love. The staff at the hospital also seemed to truly care about the patients and the quality of care given to them, from the clinical standpoint but also from emotional standpoints, which was encouraging to see and hear. And as one of the few major hospitals in the region, Albany takes in every kind of patient from all over the Southwest, providing an excellent learning environment for us burgeoning clinicians.
Albany as a city is not much to rave about, I’ll admit, but as a whole I believe that the clinical experience will be rich enough of an adventure that a hopping nightlife probably won’t even be missed. And as for recreation, I’ll bet the Dean would love to take you fishing sometime ;)
And there you have it! Now obviously, a lot of my ramblings are based on my opinions and the general feel that I got when visiting each respective campus, so please take from them what you will. I would lastly like to reiterate that, as many people have already mentioned to us, wherever we end up doing our 3rd and 4th year rotations, it will be a remarkable learning experience and most likely all that we have ever wished for. So don’t sweat too much over the next few days about your decision and make sure to celebrate Thanksgiving to the fullest! Happy Holidays!
Lahari Shetty is a second-year medical student in Augusta. Her interests include OBGYN (at least currently), reading, and a good conversation over coffee/tea!
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