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Rads programs that "require" an on-site elective


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I've heard that some rads programs only interview (or strongly prefer) applicants who have done a rads elective at their institution. Namely, U of A, UBC, U of O, and Western were mentioned. I'm sure their reputations for this is exaggerated, but maybe there is some truth here?

 

Since a CV with too many rads electives looks bad and programs across Canada are largely equal in quality, I'd rather do them at schools who care that I was there.

 

So, does this kind of discrimination exist? If so, which schools are known for it? Would folks in the know please shed some light on this?

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BTW isn't this "elective diversification" crap just stupid? The existence of the match REQUIRES students to be gung-ho about the field that they are applying to, otherwise they risk going unmatched and having to settle for something they didn't want. Don't schools realize this? This kind of crap will just result in making school match lists look bad.

 

I disagree.

If all schools employed the same strategy, then we wouldn't need to worry about our competition from "X" medical school who was able to do far more electives in a given specialty.

 

Put it this way --- if it was uniform across the board, and all program directors knew that students in canada were not allowed to do more than "X" weeks in a given specialty, then the number of electives would become a non-factor in the matching process. Students could find more creative ways to demonstrate interest in a specialty (i.e. research, interest groups, conferences, networking with programs outside of electives...)

 

As a side note, I think that "diversification" is EXTREMELY important. Are you going to tell me that someone who is gunning for rads could not stand to benefit from electives in Ortho, IM, etc.... You will have 5 years to learn your specialty. You don't NEED to spend 4 months kissing butt in clerkship.

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  • 1 month later...
I've heard that some rads programs only interview (or strongly prefer) applicants who have done a rads elective at their institution. Namely, U of A, UBC, U of O, and Western were mentioned. I'm sure their reputations for this is exaggerated, but maybe there is some truth here?

 

Since a CV with too many rads electives looks bad and programs across Canada are largely equal in quality, I'd rather do them at schools who care that I was there.

 

So, does this kind of discrimination exist? If so, which schools are known for it? Would folks in the know please shed some light on this?

 

I would disagree for most of the schools listed considering I matched into one of those programs without doing an elective there.

 

Although I feel UWO is notorious for not interviewing without doing an on-site elective. I haven't met anyone that has interviewed there without an on-site elective.

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The bias kind of makes sense though - as a perspective employer I would be more likely to hire someone that did a small internship at my office first so I could "try them out" for a couple of weeks over someone I have never had that exposure for. The trouble as others have pointed out is you cannot do an elective everywhere in four months.

 

I am at Western and I do find the diversity requirement a bit silly as well. We have a complete one year clerkship before we get to start our electives - so basically we have already gone through a round of diversity etc. There is a certain point in time when we have decided what we what to do and diversity is just not important to us. Most of us try to line up our diversity elective time with related disciplines just so we can continue to somehow advance towards our real goal.

 

Then when we get into our end program with have to do another round of diversity training in PGY-1 :)

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Dal too, from what I've heard.

 

BTW isn't this "elective diversification" crap just stupid? The existence of the match REQUIRES students to be gung-ho about the field that they are applying to, otherwise they risk going unmatched and having to settle for something they didn't want. Don't schools realize this? This kind of crap will just result in making school match lists look bad.

 

Dal Radiology does not care if you do an elective at their school. 100% guaranteed.

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  • 6 months later...
As electives are also offered to medical students pursuing other fields who wish to learn about radiology, if interviews were limited to only those who had completed on-site electives, the pool could become untenably small :)

 

Sure, makes sense!

 

Still working on the electives front - looks like I may be going coast to coast here!

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In general, for all programs, not just rads...you will always stand a better chance if you have done an elective at the program you are applying to, whether this is openly printed on paper or not. That is, provided the residents and staff you worked with during your elective liked you . That's just life. People have to spend the next 5 years with you, so they're more likely to pick someone they feel will fit in. It is harder to assess fit based on a paper application and an interview. (now if they don't like you, then you are pretty much screwed, they'll take a chance with an unknown over someone they know won't fit in)

I would strongly suggest doing electives at the programs you are particularly interested in.

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In general, for all programs, not just rads...you will always stand a better chance if you have done an elective at the program you are applying to, whether this is openly printed on paper or not. That is, provided the residents and staff you worked with during your elective liked you . That's just life. People have to spend the next 5 years with you, so they're more likely to pick someone they feel will fit in. It is harder to assess fit based on a paper application and an interview. (now if they don't like you, then you are pretty much screwed, they'll take a chance with an unknown over someone they know won't fit in)

I would strongly suggest doing electives at the programs you are particularly interested in.

 

If they will let you :) I am still trying to hear back from TO on that score.

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