JohnGrisham Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Stop. Noticed more and more clerks at my school doing OOP electives in the summer before M4, when there are already plenty of pre-CaRMS electives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldpizzahotsriracha Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Disagree. With how competitive CARMS is it's worth doing. Taking it easy on my summer electives allowed me to "chill" a bit and because I went into them with the mindset that I wasn't going to get a strong letter with them being so early, they were great learning experiences. Relax when you match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellothere77 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 What break? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted January 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 11 minutes ago, coldpizzahotsriracha said: Disagree. With how competitive CARMS is it's worth doing. Taking it easy on my summer electives allowed me to "chill" a bit and because I went into them with the mindset that I wasn't going to get a strong letter with them being so early, they were great learning experiences. Relax when you match. Zero sum game. Also, FM, Peds, and IM with all those interviews - congrats! but that is another reason why the match gets more and more competitive...when strong applicants go on 20+ interviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrepid86 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I don't know what this is, but it sounds like a lot of time, expense, and burnout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted January 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 3 minutes ago, Intrepid86 said: I don't know what this is, but it sounds like a lot of time, expense, and burnout. Essentially, most schools have breaks between year 3 and 4. Some students are now using those summer breaks to do even more electives OOP before the real elective blocks you get credit for are scheduled. Expensive yes, time consuming yes, and too over the top. You don't get credit for these electives either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radsinthefuture Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Going to take the other viewpoint on this. Relax. I did no summer electives and have ended up with 14 interview offers across 2 moderately competitive fields. Many of my friends are in similar boats. I probably won't attend all my interviews either. The time off in summer let me have fun and perform better as there was little to no burnout from clerkship. At the end of clerkship I needed some down time, as do many people. In retrospect if I did some electives in summer I probably would have gotten a few more invites I suppose. If medicine is your entire life or you are going for something super competitive go ahead but otherwise I don't necessarily think it is needed. Tldr Will undoubtedly help but doesn't seem its needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlkhhylyiluh6 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 let people do whatever they want man. You do you ,no need to judge what others are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakeshake Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 23 minutes ago, Radsinthefuture said: Going to take the other viewpoint on this. Relax. I did no summer electives and have ended up with 14 interview offers across 2 moderately competitive fields. Many of my friends are in similar boats. I probably won't attend all my interviews either. The time off in summer let me have fun and perform better as there was little to no burnout from clerkship. At the end of clerkship I needed some down time, as do many people. In retrospect if I did some electives in summer I probably would have gotten a few more invites I suppose. If medicine is your entire life or you are going for something super competitive go ahead but otherwise I don't necessarily think it is needed. Tldr Will undoubtedly help but doesn't seem its needed. Second this but will add a nuance: reflect and try and have some insight into how you've performed during clerkship/medical school/research etc. If spending *part* of your summer doing an extra elective, creating a connection with a school you want to match, means you'll catch up in skills you've (or your preceptors) identified as lagging a bit it, it could be an opportunity to improve. Extra electives for the sake of electives are probably not worthwhile, especially if you risk burning out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroD Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 It should be emphasized that it is a zero sum game. Those who take advantage of it in the first few years will benefit, until it becomes the norm, and then it becomes the new "normal"...sucks for future students. Mac recently declined some of my elective because apparently I reached whatever the internal limit is. Can't say I'm sad about it haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 5 hours ago, JohnGrisham said: Stop. Noticed more and more clerks at my school doing OOP electives in the summer before M4, when there are already plenty of pre-CaRMS electives. You have a summer before M4? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlkhhylyiluh6 Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 7 minutes ago, ploughboy said: You have a summer before M4? we get two weeks off between end of last 3rd year rotation and 1st 4th year elective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sangria Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 5 hours ago, Intrepid86 said: I don't know what this is, but it sounds like a lot of time, expense, and burnout. My first reaction to that was "that sounds like med school". In particular, the entire elective year. 1 hour ago, PhD2MD said: Those who take advantage of it in the first few years will benefit, until it becomes the norm, and then it becomes the new "normal"...sucks for future students. Agreed. I don't blame those who opt for a "Block zero" elective. The game is getting harder to play, and we all want to maximize our chances. Some people have a lower threshold for risk than others. Other people are trying to juggle a few carms specialties and want another elective to fully complete their story. They may want the momentum they build with a throwaway elective to start. It doesn't mean it's wrong. It can work very well for some people. I'm a bit of a lazy bum so I'll take my vacation, but to each their own. This is a problem because of the way electives are actually implemented and used to evaluate candidates in the carms selection process. It's a bigger problem now because of the supply/demand imbalance of residency spots. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to why the AFMC portal exists. Or any of the arcane rules and confusing timelines put forth by each of the different schools. If you want an elective in a specialty you are gunning for or at a specific location so as to show your "willingness to move", and you are 10 seconds late on hitting the submit button on portal, what are you going to do? You take matters into your own hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 5 hours ago, beeboop said: we get two weeks off between end of last 3rd year rotation and 1st 4th year elective. Ah, got it. I was picturing an actual summer. I think we got two weeks, and I think I spent most of it sleeping. Can't imagine doing yet-another-elective in that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted January 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 24 minutes ago, ploughboy said: Ah, got it. I was picturing an actual summer. I think we got two weeks, and I think I spent most of it sleeping. Can't imagine doing yet-another-elective in that time. Some schools have longer and ive heard people doing 3-4 weeks of summer electives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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