on "double-booking" electives: is it acceptable?

[obscured by clouds]

hi gang,

well, i'm at the point where it's time to start thinking about (and booking) my electives for next year.

i've heard about the practice of "double booking" electives. it seems like a dodgy practice to me.

are people really doing this?

is it a good strategy if i've got my eye on a couple specialties, but am not sure yet which way i'd like to go?

the way i see it, i could double book an elective (i.e. one in neurology and one in neurosurgery) so that once i've completed my core rotations (i.e. internal medicine and surgery) i might have a better idea of what type of work i enjoy.

so, if i decided i hated surgery after my core rotation, i wouldn't be stuck doing a neurosurgery elective-- i'd have the neurology as a "back-up".

 

sounds good in practice, but it also sounds a bit irresponsible.

-potentially taking away the spot from another student

-duping the faculty/departments

-going through all the paperwork/fees for nothing

-maybe it might even bite me later if i applied to a school where i double booked and cancelled at the last minute?

 

am i overthinking this? should i just go ahead and do it?

can anyone shed some light on this?

thanks

[ELA]

hi gang,

well, i'm at the point where it's time to start thinking about (and booking) my electives for next year.

i've heard about the practice of "double booking" electives. it seems like a dodgy practice to me.

are people really doing this?

is it a good strategy if i've got my eye on a couple specialties, but am not sure yet which way i'd like to go?

the way i see it, i could double book an elective (i.e. one in neurology and one in neurosurgery) so that once i've completed my core rotations (i.e. internal medicine and surgery) i might have a better idea of what type of work i enjoy.

so, if i decided i hated surgery after my core rotation, i wouldn't be stuck doing a neurosurgery elective-- i'd have the neurology as a "back-up".

 

sounds good in practice, but it also sounds a bit irresponsible.

-potentially taking away the spot from another student

-duping the faculty/departments

-going through all the paperwork/fees for nothing

-maybe it might even bite me later if i applied to a school where i double booked and cancelled at the last minute?

 

am i overthinking this? should i just go ahead and do it?

can anyone shed some light on this?

thanks

 

 

If you're thinking about double booking electives at a different medschool from your own you have to remember that often you need to pay a NON-REFUNDABLE fee to that school for their help in setting it up. If you decide to cancel the elective last minute you're out your deposit. so if you've got the money, by all means.

 

if however you double book electives at your own medschool there should be no fee and thus no monetary penalty for canceling last minute.

 

whether its ethically alright, i think its fine so long as you cancel within a reasonable amount of time and not the week before.

[flying kumquat]

I have mixed feelings on this. Even if you do end up cancelling a month or two in advance, you're still potentially keeping another student out of that elective spot due to the need to apply 6+ months in advance for some electives. Also, as mentioned above, this can really cost you if you're applying to other schools (especially Toronto).

 

That being said, I would back up for other reasons. Some schools (*ahem* Dal, UBC) seemed to pose problems for my classmates this year, myself included. I had to scramble for a last minute elective at my home school after I was informed 4 weeks before my elective start date that they didn't have a spot for me (after months of my application being "processed"). But that's obviously a different situation than you.

[blinknoodle]

I think it is common practice to double book your electives with your home school. At UWO, we have an elective lottery. I kept my UWO elective until I had confirmation from my away electives. Some schools, ie UBC, take a long time to confirm electives and you may end up with nothing at the last minute.

 

If you are unsure which specialty, you can always ask the school to switch the elective instead of resorting to concurrent booking with the intention of cancelling.

[Satsuma]

I think it is hard to double book at places other than your home school since you always need to book through the electives office at the other school (as opposed to individual departments like at your home school) so they would know that you were double booking and probably not let you.

 

With 2 different specialties you could double book at different schools...but then you may end up without an elective at a school that is important to you once you figure out which specialty you want.

 

You probably have a gutt feeling about what you want more. So maybe go with that and book your most important elective time with that specialty in mind. If after you do your core you change ur mind and you like some other specialty enough to make it worth the hassle of changing your electives...then you can scramble and figure out how to change you electives then.

[HappyEnough]

Its also wise to know the policy of the place you are planning to double book. If you do cancel an elective after your application has been accepted/approved through NOSMs Elective Program, they will have a negative feedback comment added to your final Medical Students Performance Record. Some other programs have a similar policy.