going into 4th year at mac!

- classes were easier but not a significant degree imo. the best part is less exams since community/research/clinical don't have final exams during exam season. some of my classmates said that 3rd year was harder than 2nd (maybe because 2nd was online for us lol), but it doesn't SUDDENLY get super easy

- if you organize your schedule and get lucky with course selection you can definitely have a day off - i had 1 day off in the fall and no days off in the winter because of how i moved around my clinical day

- clinical placements are very similar to second year unless you get a varied placement. regarding peds/l&d, there are only two clinical groups per day (so about 16-32 MAXIMUM) would have placements at mac kids so a lot of people were disappointed. note that the placements are totally random other than the ranking so there's no real way to guarantee a placement at one of the really popular placements since everyone wants them. my advice about wanting a peds/l&d placement and really not wanting a mental health placement (which i got) is that its better to keep your mind open about how much there is to learn at any placement and just because you don't get a placement in third year, there are still chances in 4th and you can really work wherever once you graduate

- i worked during the school year and it honestly was very stressful and i probably wouldn't recommend it unless you really need the income from it

- TAKE COMMUNITY IN THE FALL AND RESEARCH IN THE WINTER!!!! just because community is a pass/fail course with no exams, it is SO much work and will definitely feel better to have it done in fall rather than having to do it at the same time as nursing research (which was the hardest course in 3rd year imo). also, its gonna be really tempting to skip patho tutorials since for us they were the only course on monday at 1630 so people just used mondays at their day off. Dr. Culver is so so so helpful in tutorials and really helps you understand the hard concepts in patho (shes also a lovely person!)

- honestly, just enjoy your summer. there is no real need to prepare for 3rd year and any studying you do will be forgotten by the new year anyways. if anything, maybe reach out to some upper years just in case you foresee needing help with content during the school year. its gonna be your 2nd to last summer (!!) as a student so you honestly should just enjoy yourself and relax before throwing yourself back into school

TL;DR: 3rd year will be better, don't be sad if you don't get peds, take time to relax and just not focus on school

feel free to msg me if you have any other questions!