4 versus 2 week electives

[ellorie]

I am trying to plan where I want to go in the fall and I ran into this issue - one of the programs that I want to see only offers 4 week electives.

 

If I do a 4 week elective there and everything else is 2 weeks, or 4 weeks there and 4 weeks somewhere else, but 2 weeks in other places, how much will it make me look less interested in other programs?

 

If it helps, the program in question is McGill psychiatry - I'd really like to see it to get an idea of how much of a barrier the lack-of-fluent-french issue would be (and they have some pretty awesome electives), but there are other programs that I am currently more interested in.

 

[bloh]

I am trying to plan where I want to go in the fall and I ran into this issue - one of the programs that I want to see only offers 4 week electives.

 

If I do a 4 week elective there and everything else is 2 weeks, or 4 weeks there and 4 weeks somewhere else, but 2 weeks in other places, how much will it make me look less interested in other programs?

 

If it helps, the program in question is McGill psychiatry - I'd really like to see it to get an idea of how much of a barrier the lack-of-fluent-french issue would be (and they have some pretty awesome electives), but there are other programs that I am currently more interested in.

 

 

Programs will know that mcgill psych only offers 4 week electives so they will know that the only reason you probably did 4 weeks is because of that logistical barrier.

 

Having said that, do electives in places where you would LIKE to go.

[Renin]

There are other places you can test out your Francophone knowledge - I hear Ottawa has a pretty big French population... they may not lock you in for 4 weeks.

 

That being said, you'd probably get a better idea of your language skills over 4 wks.

[ellorie]

I actually don't know French - I was hoping to see how difficult it is to be around the hospitals and working with patients without it. If I went to McGill, I would learn, obviously, but that would take time.

 

I have lived in Montreal before and it can be rough, but I don't know what it would be like there as a resident.

[JJ1985]

To be a resident in McGill I'd consider it essential to have a minimum french knowledge. While our notes and patient presentations are in English, about 60% of our patients are francophone. You'd be missing out on a lot of cases (and in psych its not like the manic patients will slow down for you to better understand). If you have other schools you are more interested in, you should do electives there.

 

Prioritize the places you would like to do residency at. It always looks good when you've rotated with them.

[doctorme]

Very true^

 

This has been posted on their psychiatry carms info page. I wonder how many residents enter the program with minimum french.

 

"An attraction of the McGill program is its location in a cosmopolitan French milieu. The language of instruction for all educational sessions is English but in the clinical setting, the patient population includes many French-speaking patients. Applicants to our program are not required to have French proficiency but should anticipate developing basic interviewing skills in French. This will be facilitated by attending a Medical French course at the Faculty of Medicine at McGill offered on Saturdays, as well as individual tutors that can be hired at reasonable cost. Our program has residents from across Canada, from the US as well as other international countries that have made this transition successfully; please contact our program office if you wish to be in contact with a resident who has had to develop French language skills during their residency."