How round is well-rounded?

[sd_westwing]

Hello everybody

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am in my penultimate year of an MD program, currently getting really close to elective-selecting season!

I have a longstanding interest in plastics, and have been actively building a CV with research, etc, for it since first year. I have always had an interest in urology though and recently did some time in it and really enjoyed it. I am wondering if any people might weigh in on the (highly unlikely) possibility of being competitive enough for both for CaRMS.

I will be gunning mainly for plastics and investing the recommended number of electives in it. This still leaves me with some room for other fields, which I was planning on using for complementary electives to plastics.

I'm wondering... if I did all this additional elective time in urology... could I have even a small shot at being taken seriously? (~3-4 elective blocks)

I guess the underlying question is:

how important are the electives you have outside of the key discipline you are gunning for (ie the "complementary" electives)?  Are you shooting yourself in the foot by piling them into a second competitive back up field instead of doing them in diverse disciplines that help you become "more well rounded"

 

 

 

[Bambi]

The simple answer is yes, of course, you will have a shot in urology. Back in the day (I am a surgical resident), for CaRMS, I applied in 3 fields, as they all interested me and I  oued see myself having a future in any of the 3. I was flexible and realistic, in that I did not know what field would choose me. Good luck!

[NLengr]

You'd probably have a shot at the urology programs you rotated through. In those programs, your elective performance will be how they rank you.

You are very unlikely to match or be competative in a place you never visited. 

Don't worry about "well rounded". That's BS the universities force PDs to say. PDs in small competative surgical programs care about how you will work out as a resident in thier program. That means elective performance at their center. They don't care if you have done other electives in peds rheumatology, GI and forensic psych. 

[Edict]

20 hours ago, sd_westwing said:

Hello everybody

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

I am in my penultimate year of an MD program, currently getting really close to elective-selecting season!

I have a longstanding interest in plastics, and have been actively building a CV with research, etc, for it since first year. I have always had an interest in urology though and recently did some time in it and really enjoyed it. I am wondering if any people might weigh in on the (highly unlikely) possibility of being competitive enough for both for CaRMS.

I will be gunning mainly for plastics and investing the recommended number of electives in it. This still leaves me with some room for other fields, which I was planning on using for complementary electives to plastics.

I'm wondering... if I did all this additional elective time in urology... could I have even a small shot at being taken seriously? (~3-4 elective blocks)

I guess the underlying question is:

how important are the electives you have outside of the key discipline you are gunning for (ie the "complementary" electives)?  Are you shooting yourself in the foot by piling them into a second competitive back up field instead of doing them in diverse disciplines that help you become "more well rounded"

 

 

 

I think you will be competitive in urology. Like others have said, programs want good candidates. Electives are only one of the measures they use to judge candidates on. Electives in their specialty demonstrate interest, however, there are other ways to demonstrate interest. Research, interview, networking, interest groups, conferences are all ways to demonstrate interest. All programs are also looking for candidates that will make a good resident. Programs will reject residents who have tons of electives in a specialty, but otherwise wouldn't be a good fit, in favour of someone who would be a good fit but may not have as many electives. 

 

With these small specialties, it often comes down to luck. Get along with one important person on an elective, and you may be in for that program despite not having as strong an app otherwise as someone else. If you like plastics and uro, and you just can't see yourself in other specialties, then apply to both and you can split your electives. 

The key with these complementary electives is you have to find what makes them relevant for that specialty you are applying for. If you explain this well, then the committee will accept it.