General Surgery Electives

[chdz05]

Hello,

I'm from a Quebec University and I'm thinking of applying for a gen surg elective out of province (most probably in the west).

 

Do you have any good comments or good recommandations? Right now I'm considering U of Alberta, U of Calgary, USask and even Ottawa. If anyone has any feedback please let me know!

 

Thank you!

[sleeping_sickness]

I did an elective at U of C and didn't love it. I've heard really good things about electives at U of A. 

If you want to do an elective out west though, I'd suggest doing it at a program that you'd be interested in attending. That way they'll know you a little and you can ask for a reference letter. If you have no intention of moving to Saskatoon, don't do an elective. The longer the elective (>2wks typically) the better feel you'll get for the program. You might think that you'd really be willing to go anywhere for residency (and that may very well be the case), but when it comes down it, there really are places where you fit it better and that's worth a lot. 

[Milk Carton Mugshot]

I did an elective at U of C and didn't love it. I've heard really good things about electives at U of A. 

If you want to do an elective out west though, I'd suggest doing it at a program that you'd be interested in attending. That way they'll know you a little and you can ask for a reference letter. If you have no intention of moving to Saskatoon, don't do an elective. The longer the elective (>2wks typically) the better feel you'll get for the program. You might think that you'd really be willing to go anywhere for residency (and that may very well be the case), but when it comes down it, there really are places where you fit it better and that's worth a lot. 

 

Mostly just to echo the above:

I did an elective at Calgary and didn't enjoy it. I ended up ranking them quite low.

I've similarly heard great things about general surgery electives at the U of A. I did a Vascular Surgery elective there and enjoyed it. U of A seemed to impress a large number of applicants on the gen surg carms tour this year.

I spent some time at USask as well. Definitely a solid program, especially if you are looking for high (and early) operative volume. Research is a weakness, and it has more of a community vibe than the larger programs that you mentioned.

[chromeboker]

The one unmatched Ottawa Gen Surg spot this year is a little unsettling

[chdz05]

I did an elective at U of C and didn't love it. I've heard really good things about electives at U of A. 

If you want to do an elective out west though, I'd suggest doing it at a program that you'd be interested in attending. That way they'll know you a little and you can ask for a reference letter. If you have no intention of moving to Saskatoon, don't do an elective. The longer the elective (>2wks typically) the better feel you'll get for the program. You might think that you'd really be willing to go anywhere for residency (and that may very well be the case), but when it comes down it, there really are places where you fit it better and that's worth a lot. 

Did you do it at FootHills? I was considering doing Trauma surgery. What did you not like about it?

 

Mostly just to echo the above:

I did an elective at Calgary and didn't enjoy it. I ended up ranking them quite low.

I've similarly heard great things about general surgery electives at the U of A. I did a Vascular Surgery elective there and enjoyed it. U of A seemed to impress a large number of applicants on the gen surg carms tour this year.

I spent some time at USask as well. Definitely a solid program, especially if you are looking for high (and early) operative volume. Research is a weakness, and it has more of a community vibe than the larger programs that you mentioned.

Same for you what did you not like about Calgary? Did you end up matching where you wanted?

 

Thank you all for the replies!

I heard great comments about UBC from a McGill student but paying 250$ for an english test is less than appealing haha

[sleeping_sickness]

I was at foothills. 

Honestly, it's tough to put my finger on exactly what I didn't like about. It's really a feeling that I got from the residents/staff and I have to say that Calgary is really not a pedestrian friendly city. Going there for an elective was very isolating. That being said, I know other people who did surgical rotations in calgary and loved it. It's really all about the fit. Some places just don't feel right. 

 

There were a few people doing trauma electives while I was there. Trauma is hit or miss since you can't predict when/if it will happen. It sounded to me like they were rounding at 7am, which is really late in comparison to other surgical rotations, and there wasn't all that much going on during the month I was there (that being said, I wasn't doing trauma). 

 

Either way, the hospitals are beautiful there and they have way more resources than what we have in Quebec (at least on the English side, I don't know anything about the French side). 

 

If you want to do a trauma rotation, I've heard that Sunnybrook in Toronto has a very busy trauma service. 

 

With regards to the English test, I think that some schools require an English proficiency test once you've been accepted to their residency program if you haven't trained at an english speaking school. This may or may not be listed on the carms program descriptions. 

[chdz05]

Thank you !