any 3rd/4th years out there?

[Guest silver]

just have a question about 4th year electives. i've heard of something called selectives which you complete 4th year as well. what are these and when do they take place? is it optional (i.e. do you chose between doing an elective or selective, or do you have to do both). i know that electives can be done anywhere, but selectives are in bc only. i'm keen on going elsewhere, so i'm trying to figure out if that'll be possible. i know this email is kinda premature for someone who's not even in med1 yet, but i'm just trying to compare schools right now.

[Guest Ian Wong]

In the fall of fourth year before your CaRMS interviews, you have four months which are split into 1 month blocks. Each 1 month block is either an elective (which can be done anywhere in the world), or a selective (which needs to be done in BC). The selective and elective alternate, so if September is an elective for you, then October will be a selective, November an elective, and December a selective.

 

As noted before, in third year, you will complete 12 months of core rotations, including time in: Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Orthopedic Surgery, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, two surgical subspecialties of your choosing (such as ENT, Urology, Cardiac surgery, Neurosurgery, etc), Obstetrics, Gynecology, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, up to four pediatrics subspecialties of your choosing (such as pediatric endocrinology, neonatology, pediatric radiology, etc), Psychiatry, and Internal Medicine.

 

Only after you have finished these rotations do you get to do electives or selectives. I think most med students in my class think having selectives isn't that great, because many would love to go away, but realistically, having to do two selectives in BC isn't bad because if you are trying to match, you need reference letters, and getting BC reference letters is always good. Then, you can go away to other schools to show your face on your electives. If you are trying to match into a UBC residency (and many of our grads do), it is to your advantage to do time in BC, which the selectives force you to do.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3