The Return of the Med Student

Overview: A lot of info follows, some in random order. Please read over and work with Carron on the specific items as the process unfolds. All will become clear with time.

The 3rd year course structure changes frequently, so it is important to learn about any changes new to this year.

– but the basic idea is that the year is composed of three blocks of courses, which in some cases are further subdivided into two sub-blocks. As an MSTP student, you can return on July 1 to start with the regular students.

– or re-enter at a later time at the beginning of a subsequent block or sub-block.

How late can you or should you return? Technically, you can return as late as February or March and still manage to complete the required courses in time to graduate the following May.

BUT,
a) If anything happens to delay you, and such things have happened to several students in recent years, you would not make it in time, and would then need an extra semester to graduate. Such things include – family circumstances (child birth, or illnesses or death of family member); personal circumstances (stress or health-related leave of absence); or academic difficulty (if you need to take Part I and fail, you will need to take to study and re-take it; if you fail a course shelf-exam, the remediation could cost a few months).

b) If the needing of an extra semester caused you to need 5 semesters of tuition to finish, the 5th semester is on you (e.g. return in November, lose several months for some reason, and then not be able to graduate the following May) – the Dean will not pay for it (nor can the MSTP – no funds to do so).

c) Since your Dean’s letter and residency applications are prepared in September of your 4th year, keep in mind that the fewer months of clinical work you do, the less strong the letter will be. Losing a few months is not terribly important – but if you return in January and have a few off-months until you regain momentum, it could be a bit weaker than you would like.

d) You may need more time to figure out what residency you would like to do. If you know, great – but if you have an open mind, then you could wind up unwilling to enter into the match because you are uncertain as to what career path you’d like to do (and hence wind up taking an extra year).

So basically, if you want to do a postdoc instead of a residency, or know what residency you want to do, have good Part I scores, and have confidence about your skills upon returning, you can re-enter on the late side – but other wise should try to come back earlier (Nov. 1st at the latest).

Block 1 (starts around July 1st; There is a one week vacation between Blocks 1 & 2) Block 2 (starts around Nov. 1st; There is a one week vacation between Blocks 2 & 3) Block 3 (starts around March 1st; There is a one week vacation between Christmas and New Year's)

Planning to Re-Enter Med School:
When you begin to think that you would like to re-enter medical school, start by speaking with your advisor and thesis committee about a year in advance (July; and then six months later (January)) to make sure that it's not impossible. Schedule your thesis defense date well in advance to avoid last minute disasters, counting backwards from the thesis submission deadline to give yourself time to get it in without risk (e.g. at least one week between deadline and thesis defense date). See “MSTP Guidelines for Returning in Year 3” for specific details.

Note the following interesting and irritating financial trap: If you defend in a particular semester (fall, spring, or summer), there is a specific deadline associated with that semester by which you must submit your thesis to the Graduate School. If you miss this deadline, you will need to be enrolled for 1 credit hour the following semester to enable you to submit your thesis. The one-credit hour will cost several hundred dollars, and waivers are not given for this (go figure – I don’t know why). Most likely the graduate program will not be willing to pay this for you (they will view it as a failure of yours that they are not responsible for), and the MSTP does not have funds that can be used for this purpose (complicated, but trust me on this). Your advisor may choose to pay this for you – but if they don’t, it will be your responsibility.

From the Graduate School Policy Manual

This is a reminder that the policy outlined below takes effect this semester for doctoral students submitting a dissertation. Students are now required to submit their dissertation within three months of a successful defense. Some examples:

If a student successfully defends in the month of September, they will need to submit the dissertation by the start of December.

If a student successfully defends in November, and wishes to be considered for December graduation, they will still need to submit the dissertation by the December submission deadline.

If a student successfully defends in November, they would still be allowed to register for the following Spring semester, and would become a May degree candidate - but the dissertation would need to be submitted by the start of February.

The Graduate School Policy Manual currently states that a doctoral student 'may register for no more than one additional semester following the successful defense of the dissertation' (in Academic Policies, Policy on Dissertation Defense). This means that a student who defends in September can register and remain on-campus until the following May. This is not an acceptable practice, and many of our peer institutions only allow a two-week period for these revisions. After reviewing this policy the Graduate Council has agreed that the time for 'minor revisions' needs to be reasonable and that two weeks is too short; on the other hand, if a dissertation needs 'major revisions' it probably requires a second defense before it is approved.

The Graduate Council has decided that three months is an acceptable period of time between a successful defense and the deadline to turn in the dissertation. (If a student has to defend a second time, the deadline would be based on the date of the second defense). This way a student who successfully defends in December would still be able to register for the Spring semester, but is expected to hand in his or her dissertation by
February and not during the last week of classes in May. Likewise, a student who defends in September is expected to hand in his or her dissertation by December for December graduation. This student would not be allowed to register for the Spring semester.

The point of this revision is not to punish students, but to encourage timely graduation. Registered degree candidates maintain their student status (with housing and library privileges, visa status, etc.) until their final semester is over, regardless of when they turn in their dissertation during that semester.

Thesis Submission Deadlines for Spring, 2008: Tuesday, May 20th.

You may not enter year 3 of med school until all PhD responsibilities are completed - i.e. your dissertation needs to have been submitted to the Graduate School (we will need confirmation of the acceptance of the thesis by the Graduate School from Monica Gentile by e-mail). You must have completed the graduate school ethics course requirement as well. I will forward the e-mail from the Graduate School to Burke Kincaid, Marilyn London and Mary Jean Allen to get you matriculated administratively for re-enter into medical school. Please do not contact Burke Kincaid, Marilyn London and Mary Jean Allen until you hear back from me. Please make sure you do not have any outstanding financial holds on your account when you graduate, as financial holds prevent the release of official transcripts and diplomas.

You must have passed Step 1 to re-enter (not just to have taken it – you need to have passed it). If you are taking it prior to re-entering, find out the details about how long it will take to get back the results so that you can register on-line to take it early enough that it does not prevent you from entering when you wish to. The Dean’s office will provide two months of stipend support to study for the exam and prepare for re-entry (i.e. May and June). Students wanting additional time should discuss the issue with the Program Director, and should be prepared to go off the clock (i.e. take the extra time without stipend support).

There are several events that take place before July 1, which you will need to participate in even if returning at a later time point:

- The third year clinical orientation will be held during the week of June 30th - July 3rd in (Lecture Hall TBD), including courses on CPR and some other stuff. Please click on link for more details.

- In the year prior to re-entry, you will need to take Introduction to Clinical Medicine II, which meets one Thursday a month throughout the year, or, during the May/June orientation, satisfactorily perform a simulated patient experience (supervised History & Physical). Clinical competency needs to be assured before you can return!

In order to participate in the electronic system, we will need to have an anticipated date of re-entry from you by March 10th. This date must be approved by the program director after consultation with your advisor and thesis committee chair (i.e. don’t wait until March 9th to initiate this process!!!). If you do not meet this deadline, then your schedule will be generated by signing you up for available clinical clerkship slots wherever they are available.

If you want to participate in the electronic sign up, registration starts January 15th and goes through March 10th. If you meet all of the criteria AND you plan to return July-Sept. AND your advisor / thesis committee chair tells the MSTP Director that the timing is realistic, then the Director will authorize Marily London to let you use the electronic registration method. If one or more criteria are un-met, (feel free to discuss with the Director), then you will go for the ad-hoc mechanism instead when you are ready. Before you can go on the system to register, you will first need to be assigned an advisor. Once you are registered, please make sure to check your health science center e-mail address on a regular basis to obtain relevant information on the registration process and for all official medical school information.

After Your Defense: You will need to get "matriculated" (administratively re-enter med school); -- As soon as you receive my e-mail confirmation, please go ahead and contact: Burke Kincaid at x4-7542 to be matriculated, Mary Jean Allen at x4-2340 to inquiry about medical school financial aid information and to submit updated health information and Marilyn London for your class schedules. You will need to get up-to-date on your immunizations/PPD. Please read your emails. Email Moshe Eisenberg if you do not have your username and password for Cbase or cannot access your email for any reason. These things should be arranged at least a month before your intended start date.

Also, notify your Graduate Program Coordinator (well in advance) of the date that you plan to return to medical school so that you can be terminated from your advisor's grant (and officially be terminated from Graduate School). If you are a student at CSHL or BNL, make sure your Graduate Program Coordinator is working with the appropriate parties at CSHL or BNL.

School of Medicine Academic Policy and Procedures
Office of Medical Education

Financial:
In order to continue your stipend, you will need to meet with Carron to fill out your state application form package. Schedule an appointment with her after you meet with Burke and Mary Jean. In order to fill out your state application form package, you will need to bring (see attached list of acceptable documents) one document from “list A” or two documents from “list B” (for example, U.S. passport or driver's license and social security card) If you have an individual fellowship and the fellowship continues beyond the re-entry into the 3rd MD year, and your stipend is currently being paid from this fellowship, the MSTP Office must receive a copy of the NRSA award statement details via e-mail before your re-entry date. Failure to do this, WILL delay your appointment paperwork.

Human Resources requires your forms to be filled out and be in payroll four to six weeks prior to your new appointment date.

PhD students matriculating back into 3rd year medical school in the middle of a semester will only be responsible for payment of the graduate activity fee (not the med school fee). If you return medical school at the beginning of the semester, you will only be responsible for the medical school fees.

If, when you re-enter Med. 3rd Yr., your stipend comes from the Dean’s office (state funds), you will be described as a “GA”, and money will be deducted automatically from your paycheck for Comm Workers of America A/S. These are mandatory union dues which applies to all 3rd & 4th year medical students. If you are paid from an individual NRSA-type fellowship, you’ll be able to avoid this deduction as well as receive a merit bonus of 10% (for as long as the fellowship is active).

Also, during the fall and spring semester, full-time GA students are exempt from social security and medicare fees. During the summer, students pay social security and medicare.

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"Version: April 29, 2008. This version supersedes all previous versions."