Diversity in Electives

[Steve-0]

I am fairly confident that I am interested in pursuing a career in one of two specialties (IM or path). When it comes to planning electives, should I plan most/all in these areas seeing as this is what I am interested in or is it looked at favorably to have electives in various areas?

[Melisende]

I would suggest do not diversify your electives. If IM and Path is what you want, then you should focus your electives. I know schools all say that on their website, but the truth of the matter is, programs want to see applicant who are excited and dedicated to their specialty. If you diversify, you run the risk of appearing as an applicant that has not made up your mind or you are using this as a backup. That can be detrimental to your application.

 

I believe diversification of electives will make us better residents and physicians. However, CaRMS is a game and you have to play by their "rules".

[Lactic Folly]

I would say do most of your electives in IM and Path. You can explore different subspecialties within IM and Laboratory Medicine (hemepath, clinical chem, micro, anatomical path, forensics).

 

One would want to diversify more if there was any question of having enough exposure to different fields in order to make an informed decision (unlikely in your case), or if there were areas that you wanted to see but would not have a chance to in the future (although residency does allow for limited electives). One would diversify less if one wished to visit more programs (i.e. do more away electives) in their area of interest.

[crush]

IM is so diverse as it is already - no need to do ENT electives just to show your diversity! I know many IM applicants who only did IM electives. I would "diversify" within this in terms of at least a CTU elective, outpatient elective, hospital consult electives, etc... throw in some path there and it's more diverse than many IM applicants!