length of IM electives

[yellow]

Hi there,

 

I'm trying to plan out my visiting electives and I'm wondering if anyone can offer any pearls about how long visiting electives should be?

 

Should the elective be longer, if I'm really interested in that location?

 

And should I be trying to get a reference letter from the visiting elective preceptor?

 

Thanks!

[0nsp]

I'm not to familiar with IM, but the same principles apply to most electives: 2-3 weeks is plenty of time to get to know people, to have people know yuo, and to get to know the program. And you should ALWAYS be looking for reference letters, especially if it's a location you want to be at. Hope this helps.

[blinknoodle]

Some programs tell you how long the elective has to be. At UBC, they told me they wanted at least 3 weeks, preferably 4 weeks for an IM elective.

[Kirsteen]

Should the elective be longer, if I'm really interested in that location?

Hi there,

 

An elective can be longer, if you're interested in a certain location, but there can be two drawbacks to that: 1) if they don't end up liking you, then you've blown a whole lot of time in one place; 2) if you spend, say, 4 or more weeks at one location then you lose the chance of greater diversification, i.e., 2 x 2 weeks at two different locations. The latter is especially important if you're hoping to match to a very competitive residency.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[0nsp]

Hey Kirsteen, I Pm'ed you a few days ago. Could you have a look please. Thanks!