One week elective?

[quackster]

Is doing a one week elective worth it? I understand the likelihood of getting a letter is less so, but is it worth it even if it means getting some face time with people?

[Ttoronto]

It takes time to settle into a new place in terms of knowing where things are and figuring out the computer system, and that's what the first week is generally for. The second week yours to shine! I think two weeks the perfect length for an elective; long enough to impress but not too long for you to get bored and lose energy.

[rogerroger]

Is doing a one week elective worth it? I understand the likelihood of getting a letter is less so, but is it worth it even if it means getting some face time with people?

 

It is useless. Not enough time to learn much. You also will not get a great reference letter out of it. Therefore the whole point of doing the elective is defeated.

 

The min and probably optimal time is 2 weeks. The max time is 3 weeks. Anything over this and you are limiting your exposure to other valuable electives.

[burrb]

I found two weeks to be pretty useless too. I'm a big advocate of longer electives like 3-4 weeks. It really allows you to go to know people and get a much stronger letter of reference. The downside is you get less # of electives it, but quality over quantity I think (depending on what program you're going for).

 

1 week may be good for like exploring a specialty.

[rogerroger]

Fair enough. One word of caution regarding 3 week electives. A lot of programs base interview offers based on elective distribution. More electives in more locations should translate into more interviews if all other things are equal. The sweet spot is around 2 weeks. 1 week does not count, this time period is too short. If you are on call or something you are really only working a few days... Suboptimal.

[Lactic Folly]

Depends on your purpose for the elective, and on the nature of the elective (observation vs participatory). I did a one week elective just to gain some exposure to a related field of interest, and it was enough to garner an interview from that program.

[MD Consultants CA]

The ONLY time you would do a 1 week elective is when you have worked with the preceptor in some capacity before and you want a STRONGER reference letter:

1. research supervisor who can now comment on your clinical skills

2. core rotation supervisor who can now comment on your progress

3. longitudinal shadowing experience supervisor who can now comment on how you translate bedside teaching to patient care

4. a preceptor who you really liked but didn't get to work with enough to get a letter (eg. you may worked together on 2 emerge shift, 1 week on internal medicine, 2 days in the OR)

etc...

 

Or if you have all your electives booked with one week to spare, you may do an elective for a program you are really interested in but didn't get a chance to rotate through there. It would serve more or less a site visit for you to learn the program and get some face time with committee members. Hopefully they'll offer you can interview seeing how committed you are, but you cannot ask for a reference letter.

 

Whether or not you should do 2 vs 3 week electives depending on your own comfort level: how fast you learn, how much improvement you show in 3 weeks vs 2 (for some people 3rd week is only marginal or no improvement compared to 2nd week), and importantly, how much face time you get with 1-2 specific preceptors that you want a reference letter from.

 

Is doing a one week elective worth it? I understand the likelihood of getting a letter is less so, but is it worth it even if it means getting some face time with people?

[MD Consultants CA]

For situations 3 and 4, it's only if the preceptors know you well and you keep in touch on a regular basis. Make it clear to them you would like a reference letter and proceed depending on how they respond.

 

You could use elective time to explore a specialty but it could be done through shadowing during pre-clerkship or clerkship (evenings, weekends, summers, skipping some classes...). Ideally, elective time should be used to optimize your chances for CaRMs.

 

The ONLY time you would do a 1 week elective is when you have worked with the preceptor in some capacity before and you want a STRONGER reference letter:

1. research supervisor who can now comment on your clinical skills

2. core rotation supervisor who can now comment on your progress

3. longitudinal shadowing experience supervisor who can now comment on how you translate bedside teaching to patient care

4. a preceptor who you really liked but didn't get to work with enough to get a letter (eg. you may worked together on 2 emerge shift, 1 week on internal medicine, 2 days in the OR)

etc...

 

Or if you have all your electives booked with one week to spare, you may do an elective for a program you are really interested in but didn't get a chance to rotate through there. It would serve more or less a site visit for you to learn the program and get some face time with committee members. Hopefully they'll offer you can interview seeing how committed you are, but you cannot ask for a reference letter.

 

Whether or not you should do 2 vs 3 week electives depending on your own comfort level: how fast you learn, how much improvement you show in 3 weeks vs 2 (for some people 3rd week is only marginal or no improvement compared to 2nd week), and importantly, how much face time you get with 1-2 specific preceptors that you want a reference letter from.