International Electives in Med School?

[duke101]

So I'll be attending mac med this upcoming year (c2020 yay), and know they offer international electives.. i am really interested in doing this but was wondering how they affect your overall use of elective time. For instance, wouldn't it be a "waste" since you cant really obtain any references or make connections for residency apps?

Just wanted to hear some thoughts about doing international electives in med school, if anyone has done them and if they found them to be a good experience or more of a waste of elective time?

 

Thanks in advance!

[W0lfgang]

I did a 3-week elective overseas and had an amazing experience. It was eye-opening to see the differences and similarities of medicine from somewhere else. I had plenty of elective time left to dedicate to radiology but I wouldn't do more than a month away. It gave me plenty to talk about during my Carms interviews. Connections, depending on how you define them, can be overrated in Carms.

Be sure to look into funding options for global electives. I got $800 bucks for mine.

pm me for details on where I went.

[HalfBaked]

39 minutes ago, W0lfgang said:

I did a 3-week elective overseas and had an amazing experience. It was eye-opening to see the differences and similarities of medicine from somewhere else. I had plenty of elective time left to dedicate to radiology but I wouldn't do more than a month away. It gave me plenty to talk about during my Carms interviews. Connections, depending on how you define them, can be overrated in Carms.

Be sure to look into funding options for global electives. I got $800 bucks for mine.

pm me for details on where I went.

Would you still recommend an elective overseas if you're doing your clerkship in another city from where you hope to do your residency? If I'm aiming for my residency another city than the one where my medschool is, shouldn't I try to have all my electives in that city to increase my chances of landing a residency there? 

[criston]

Have you heard of some students doing multiple international electives?  Considering that Mac doesn't have much vacation time but has the most weeks of electives, I was thinking that by international electives could be like vacation in the sense that I could do some travel at the same time. 

[duke101]

2 hours ago, criston said:

Have you heard of some students doing multiple international electives?  Considering that Mac doesn't have much vacation time but has the most weeks of electives, I was thinking that by international electives could be like vacation in the sense that I could do some travel at the same time. 

Was thinking about this too..

[bearded frog]

You have to account for all your elective weeks, even international. That means that you can still travel on weekends though. I know people who travelled internationally in the first summer elective block, and then used their one week vacation either immediately before or after to travel.

[criston]

16 minutes ago, bearded frog said:

You have to account for all your elective weeks, even international. That means that you can still travel on weekends though. I know people who travelled internationally in the first summer elective block, and then used their one week vacation either immediately before or after to travel.

Thanks! Apart from the very few that the school has a program with, does anyone know whether it is easy to organize international electives (i.e. finding preceptors in other countries)? Is there like a database with international organizations?