With schedules and activities tailored to your individual passions, Phase 3 allows you to continue building your unique career as a leader in medicine. You’ll complete various advanced clinical rotations, dive deeply into the foundational, clinical, social and systems sciences relevant to your chosen field, and complete a capstone course. The remaining 10 months are entirely elective and provide time to conduct research, study for USMLE exams and prepare for residency.
Total Phase 3 length: 16 months
Hello, my name is Sigrid Barklund. Here are some pictures from a typical day on an elective rotation (in this case, rheumatology). Before you follow me around the hospital for the day, let me introduce myself. I’m originally from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and went to St. Kate’s for my undergraduate degree, where I majored in chemistry and philosophy. I didn’t go to medical school right away. I earned a master’s in chemistry from Caltech, then taught high school for a year before matriculating at WashU. After graduation, I’m moving to Denver for my residency in dermatology at the University of Colorado. 
8:15 am: Today I’m on the rheumatology consult service, and the fellow has just assigned me my first patient of the day. Before I go see the patient in person, I spend some time reading their chart on the computer to familiarize myself with their medical history and hospital course up to this point. 
8:46 am: Once I’m done reading about my patient, it’s time to take my own history and do a physical exam. Occasionally a patient won’t be in their room when you stop by. Here I am checking the patient log to see where my patient is. (Often they’re off the floor getting a procedure or an imaging study done.) 
10:13 am: After seeing my patient and writing my note, I present the patient to the rheumatology fellow, Dr. Dany Thekkemuriyil, and we discuss the plan that we’ll present later that day on rounds with the attending physician. 
11:00 am: One of the best parts of the elective part of the curriculum at Wash U is the opportunity to be a mentor for preclinical students. Today I’m doing a hospital session with one of my preclinical phase mentees, Alex Wessel. I find a patient in the hospital (in this case, we’re in the emergency department), and Alex practices taking a history and doing a physical exam. After he’s done seeing the patient, I spend some time answering any questions he has and doing some teaching about the patient’s case. Here, I’m teaching Alex how to read his patient’s chest X-ray. 
12:23 pm: Lunch! Elective rotations are typically more relaxed, so you often have time to meet up with friends for lunch. You don’t have to go far to find good food on campus. Today I’m eating some delicious Indian food from Shell Café, near the admissions office. Miranda Colletta (future otolaryngologist, on the left) and Miriam Steinberg (future pediatrician, on the right) have been some of my best friends since the beginning. Medical school can be very demanding, so make sure you surround yourself with good people! 
3:12 pm: On the rheumatology consult service, most attending physicians choose to round in the afternoon, leaving the morning free for the residents and medical students on the service to see new consults and check on old patients. Here, I’m presenting my patient from this morning to the attending physician, Dr. Christine Pham. Dr. Alex Dretler, one of the residents on the service, is also paying close attention. 
5:25 pm: Finally done with rounds for the day (which is why I look so happy)! Depending on how busy the service is, rounds can be quick or can take several hours. After seeing all the new consults and old patients, we’re ready to call it a day. I’m sure Dr. Brian Pierce, a resident, and Dr. Thekkemuriyil, the rheumatology fellow, share my enthusiasm at the prospect of getting out of the hospital soon!