Just want an honest opinion since im finishing at a US school and starting in July.
I remember when I was an M3, we would often get pushed around by nasty residents/attendings and it would be difficult to stand up for myself as a student since we are evaluated. Is the experience better during PGY1-end?
There's a whole thread about this somewhere in this forum but if you were to ask me to rank the years from M3 through to attendinghood in terms of how much they suck.
M3 - sucks the most. You don't know what you're doing. Nobody respects you. You can't "do" anything. You have to do "everything".
Intern year - Hooray! You're doing something you want to do and you have some ability to "do stuff". Boo - You still don't know what you're doing, nobody respects you here either, the hours suck and now you have some responsibility for what happens to the patients, usually the bad stuff (your attending will take credit for the good stuff).
First year of fellowship - All the suck of being an intern, with the added bonus that everyone (including your attendings) expects you to be an expert on the subject, despite the fact that 24h prior you were a medicine R3 on your endo outpatient rotation, but now you're on the interventional cards service.
First year of attending - Sure, you're making mad cash now, but it's all on you. You're probably in a new system you don't know. Nobody knows you around there and the level of trust on both sides is probably low. About 2 months in, the imposter syndrome hits hard and you wonder why anyone hired you and how soon you're going to get fired.
All the subsequent years of training - This will obviously depend on your specialty, but nothing sucks worse than being an intern or first year fellow.
M4 - Aside from your subI and the anxiety surrounding the Match, this is the best year you're going to have for at least 4, if not 10 more years. Enjoy it.
Attendinghood beyond the 2nd or 3rd year - You've hit your groove. You know your specialty and your practice. Most importantly, you know your limits. This is when everything clicks and you're off to the races.