Two or three week electives?

[itimebomb2]

I have heard conflicting reports from residents about the ideal length of an elective in gen surg. What do you guys think?

[NLengr]

In my opinion, reserve three week electives for one or two programs that you are really interested in.

 

Two weeks is sufficient for the rest.

[A-Stark]

All my electives are two weeks except for some that are required to be three, i.e. we have "interdisciplinary" and "community" electives which need to be that length.

[cheech10]

Three weeks if you want to get into that program. Anything less and you will hardly be noticed by the staff.

[leviathan]

Is 4 weeks overkill for IM?

[Lactic Folly]

It depends how badly you want THAT program, versus getting your foot in the door at more locations.

[NLengr]

Is 4 weeks overkill for IM?

 

4 weeks on one service: Probably. I know most of the programs I went to said more than 3 was a waste.

 

But with IM (I'm in a surgical field) you could always do 2 weeks in say CTU and 2 weeks in say GI. That would break it up nicely and give you more exposure to staff and residents.

[bloh]

Also keep in mind that securing electives is a disorganized process, so if you want to have first pick, schedule a year in advance, and overlap your bookings and cancel the ones you don't want later.

 

That's an incredibly irresponsible piece of advice. What do you think would happen if we all overbooked our electives? It's always a few that ruin it for the rest.

[Lactic Folly]

What do you think would happen if we all overbooked our electives?

At over $100 a pop, it'd also mean a lot more income for the schools.