Elective W/o Letter

[Mithcah]

Just had a question re: electives post-CaRMS:

 

If you do a post-CaRMS deadline elective (i.e. after reference letter submission deadline), will the schools know not to expect a letter from it?

 

i.e. let's say I did an elective at a school but it was post-CaRMS. Later, as part of the strategy to apply broadly, I apply to that school even though I received no letter from them due to the elective being post-CaRMS. Will this hurt my chance at matching to that school? If so, is it better to just not do an elective at all at that school?

 

I do know I should prioritize schools so that I can get letters from my top choice schools safely in time, but I was just wondering about the inevitable post-CaRMS electives for the purpose of broad application.

 

Thanks much in advance!

 

 

[Fresh fry]

Post CaRMS electives can be broken down into 2 categories:

1) Post letter submisison deadline (end nov) but pre rank order deadline (March)

2) Post rank order deadline

 

Type 1 are still useful. Even though you can't get a letter from them to use for applying for an interview, you can still do good on the elective and this will help you get ranked by that school. Some people even set up their electives like this so that they are fresh in the minds of the interviewers. The downside is you may not get an interview at that school you are doing an elective at. Depends on the program, but if they see (and you mention it in your application) that you have an upcoming elective at their site they may give you an interview. 

 

Type 2 are just for funsies and for your own learning, since rank order is done they can't help or hurt you. Many people I know just take this time off to study for LMCC if they have space in their schedules. 

 

Just an aside, not sure what your thoughts on the situation are, but you don't need a letter from every elective that you do. If you can get one than power to you but most programs only want 3 letters and since you may have already done an elective at the site you are applying to, using a letter from someone at their site may not be necessary since they already know you. There is debate to how to game this but you generally want to use your strongest letters from the biggest names in the field and you want to use them to maximum effect. Just don't want you going in thinking you have to get, and use, a letter from every site you do an elective at. 

 

GL

[Hooles]

I'm not sure what program you are applying to, and if it would vary depending on the school and the program.  But I applied for electives in several provinces, since I had no idea where I wanted to go.  It just so happened that the school that wound up being my first choice was an elective that I started after the CaRMS deadline had passed.  I expected them to be sensible, and realize that I couldn't possibly have submitted a letter from someplace I haven't been yet.  I also expected them to understand that students don't always get to decide what order their electives are in, depending on availability.  

 

Needless to say, I applied only to psych programs, and I was matched to my first choice school despite not having a letter from anyone there.    However, as the person above noted, I think I was pretty fresh in their minds, as I was there just about two months before interviews.  So it definitely isn't the end of the world not to have a letter from somewhere, I would say!