Shadowing

[marshan]

I know someone who is going for a pretty competitive specialty and is doing all their electives in that area. They said that as a backup, they're going to spend multiple hours shadowing in the second choice, and that this could be used on the application to CaRMs and in their CV to demonstrate significant interest in that area.

 

But, I was also told by other people that shadowing isn't put on your CV and that it's more of a personal thing that helps you figure out what you want to do.

 

Can someone clear this up for me?

[Lactic Folly]

What do they mean by multiple hours of shadowing - 5, 20, 100? Any associated project or research?

 

Normally, shadowing wouldn't be included on one's CV, and as you said, is usually done earlier in medical school to gain exposure to different fields.

 

However, if one changes their mind about their career plans late during clerkship, it may be difficult to get electives set up (which *are* accepted as proof of significant interest in an area), and informal shadowing/projects may be the best way to make contacts and provide evidence of interest that can be described in one's personal statements.

 

I'm not familiar with the strategy described above - it seems that you would almost need more electives in the backup area to convincingly demonstrate interest, given the numerous electives in the other, more competitive field.

[estairella]

I know someone who is going for a pretty competitive specialty and is doing all their electives in that area. They said that as a backup, they're going to spend multiple hours shadowing in the second choice, and that this could be used on the application to CaRMs and in their CV to demonstrate significant interest in that area.

 

But, I was also told by other people that shadowing isn't put on your CV and that it's more of a personal thing that helps you figure out what you want to do.

 

Can someone clear this up for me?

 

I would say your friend is taking a fairly high risk. Only they will know how strong their application is... but it definitely does not sound like something I or most people I know would do.

[crush]

If it was a significant amount of time, at least 2 full-time full weeks (akin to a short elective), I might be inclined to put it on my CaRMS cv. But anything else, and I wouldn't officially put it on. Of course, it could be written about in the personal letter, but they will see that there is nothing of that nature on their application elsewhere.

 

I think it is very risky to do electives in all one area. On one hand, they are pretty screwed for their backup (although they might be able to match to family medicine somewhat easily if they are flexible with location), and on another hand, the competitive specialty might think that they are too one-track-minded (of course there is the option that the specialty might think this student is really dedicated, who knows?). Not something I would do personally (but I was not applying for an ultra-competitive specialty).

[entkeener]

If you really want a competitive specialty, and are willing to go anywhere, go EVERYWHERE you can for an elective in THAT specialty. Do so knowing that you may end up unmatched, and so only do so if you are comfortable with that prospect.

 

3 students from my class went for ENT this year. None of us backed up. None of us applied to another specialty. We all matched in the first round. This was a common theme among those of us that did the complete 'interview circuit.' We all were willing to accept the prospect of going unmatched.

 

If location is really important to you (more so than specialty), then you should definitely back up.

 

Your friend's idea of backing up with 'shadowing' probably won't be helpful, but no harm in trying- perhaps I will be proven wrong.