I'm feeling nostalgic, so here's another post:

Peds: Everyone was super nice, 1st rotation. They treated me like the 5-year-old I was with respect to how to function on a rotation. I saw some cool stuff, was taught so many great things, and generally had a blast. Hours were 7a-3p on inpatient, 9-3 on outpatient. I carried one or two patients, wrote a handful of notes, and helped with some admissions. I really didn't do very much.

OBGYN: Shitty. Nobody cared about students beyond berating us for not saying something exactly how the residents/attendings wanted us to say it. I did see a lot of patients and get good at blood draws/IVs, though. Also the whole walking in a room confidently thing was forced upon me for those bedside transvaginal sonograms. Everything I learned on the floors was wrong for the shelf.

Psych: A breath of fresh air. Interesting patients, great team and attendings. Pretty basic 8a-4p days, went to court a few times with patients and attendings to watch how that worked. Lots of time to chat with patients, study psychiatry, and chit-chat. Our unit wasn't very busy while I was there.

Neuro: I came into my own by this time in 3rd year. I'd see 2 patients, write very extensive notes and do very extensive physical exams. No presenting to attending, for some reason, but it was a hoot. 7a-4p days and some clinic time mixed in, too.

Medicine: day started with prerounds at 7am. I'd carry 2-4 patients, preround/present/order/call/consult/do whatever they needed. And, notes. I had very chill teams that taught me things, but also some teams where nobody knew what was going on and I started to get directly involved in helping to make decisions.

Surgery: Fuck surgery, but by this time I was able to start to do things very independently. If I had a prescription pad I'd have been the intern.

All in all, what a year. So many amazing people met, connected with, lost, died... it's a special time for sure. And don't let the overwhelming culture of "Fuck it I gotta study for the shelf, I'm not going into this anyways" ruin your opportunity to see and learn things you'll never see again. After 3rd year, I no longer feel weird telling someone I'm in med school.