Clerkship

[Guest Spicy Aam]

Hi guys,

 

I'm sorry if I sound naive, but I'm wondering how clerkship works. Do you have the option of travelling to other areas? If so, is that encouraged? As I understand, the residency decision is made halfway through clerkship at the U of C. So should one organize their clerkship rounds in such a way that they are clerks in their most preferred residency area first, so as to obtain the appropriate reference letters in time for the carms match?

 

Also, other than the elective after first year, are there any other electives scheduled? Can any moderators elaborate on where they went for electives?

 

Thanks for any insight!!

 

Spicy

[Guest phantom8]

1. You have the option of traveling in clerkship during your electives (in which you have 10 weeks' worth). For your mandatory rotations, doing them in other cities is discouraged (unless there are extenuating circumstances).

 

2. Yes, most people organize their clerkship rotations so that their preferred choices will be done before the CaRMS application. Ditto with doing their electives in their preferred areas.

 

3. Between the summer elective and the start of clerkship, there are no more electives. There is a course during second year (called Applied Evidence Based Medicine) in which you can gain some more clinical experience (40 hours worth x 2 if you wish).

 

4. For the summer elective, you can go anywhere. I did mine in rural Alberta, but you can go elsewhere in Canada, down to the States, or basically anywhere in the world.

[Guest Spicy Aam]

Hi Phantom8,

 

Thanks for the clarification. When you started at the medical school, did you already know what area of medicine you wished to focus on? If not, do you feel prepared now to make your cARMS decision? Would you have done anything differently? I'd love to hear from other moderators or present/past medical students as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Spicy

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Spicy,

 

Will you be attending Calgary, late-summer? Do you have some other choices to consider?

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Spicy Aam]

Hi Kirsteen,

 

Please check the forum titled "Housing". I answered your question there, on May 27th. Not much has changed since then.

 

Spicy

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Spicy,

 

Sorry, but for some reason I didn't see that post back then.

 

So how did the cards end up falling for you? Which schools' acceptances do you now have to consider for September?

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen