Electives

[Bex x]

Thought I'd ask the combined wisdom of the forum what you thought about electives? I've just finished my second year (and am praying that I passed) and am looking at where to go on elective in my fourth year... not sure whether I'm behind in not knowing where I want to go, or whether I've just got some really organised friends who got themselves sorted early, but I feel like I ought to know by now where I'm going and at the moment just thinking about going halfway round the world on my own terrifies me. It's also possible that waiting for results is too scary for me to contemplate so I'm concentrating on something else scary instead...

I'm a bit concerned about whether or not I'm still up to learning a foreign language - I know it's two years away and I've got plenty of time but my hearing has gone significantly downhill since learning languages in schools (it was nearly perfect back then, now I've got about a 60dB loss, worse at high frequencies) and I'm not sure I've got enough distinction (if that's the right word) to pick up pronunciation in a new language.

I'm hoping to go somewhere I can develop my clinical skills, rather than just a beach elective. I'm a bit concerned that anywhere exciting or with a lot of applicants would be less likely to take me on, on account of my poor hearing and the fact that I haven't traveled much before.

Anyway, this has become the same protracted ramble my posts always turn into. Where did you guys go on electives? How did you even begin thinking about where to go or what you wanted to do?

[M Clayton]

First off, don't worry one bit about not knowing where to go - you do, in fact, just seem to have very organised friends! I didn't have my elective properly organised until about 3 months before I left the UK and most of my mates were in similar positions - those that had it all sorted out early were the minority.

As I mentioned extensively in my blog at the time (here), I went out to Australia to do my elective. It could well have been a beach holiday (the guys from Sheffield out there at the same time as me did all of 3 days in the hospital!) but I didn't want that either. I worked hard doing General Medicine and Emergency Medicine for 8 weeks and then rewarded myself with a 2 week holiday. I had a fantastic time and I feel that my general clinical skills improved dramatically while there.

As to how it came about, I'll be honest and say that I had just 3 criteria in mind;

1) It had to be somewhere with English as the first language since I don't speak any foreign languages nearly well enough to converse abroad (I barely speak English some days!)

2) It had to be somewhere that practiced "Western" Medicine. I figured that I wanted to do something that would benefit me directly and, as worthy as it is, spending 8 weeks trying to work in a country without access to running water or sterile gloves wouldn't be that useful as an F1 (on second thoughts... have you been to Hartlepool hospital? )

3) It had to have relatively nice weather since I was losing my summer holiday in order to go.

As I said, not earth shattering and definitely selfish but it helped me to narrow it down to a few countries and that made the task of choosing a specific elective that bit easier.

Best of luck with it all - if you have any questions, you can pm me and I'll do my best to help!

[Clarkey]

Hey Bex,

I've just finished second year two and will be on my elective this time next year (we start fourth year immediately after finishing third) and i'm having some of the same issues.

I wanted to go to Jamaica, but no-one wants to come with me and although i have family there i want to be able to do my own thing and i can't rely on them. So that may be out. I wanted to go somewhere that speaks spanish as i have been doing spanish in the evenings this year, but my language isn't good enough to get by on.

People in my year have already organised theirs and i really wanted to go with someone else but we will see what happens!

Good luck waiting for your results, i hope they put you out of your misery soon. Mine were nearly a week late and that was enough to drive me mad!

[Renal]

Languages are not a necessity, I know people who went to the deepest darkest places of the world and got by in two ways - English is the language of medicine (well, science) and there were people on hand to translate for them.

I would think about what you want to do; different (name a country I've never heard of), exciting (name a country where you'll be the doctor, 'real' medicine (name a western country (but you might need to know the language for that)) or holiday (name a beach) and go from there. Also consider staying in the UK, a friend of mine did his with Essex Air Ambulance had a fantastic time and got to live with his boyfriend.

[jamiewallis]

This time next year, I too will be on my elective. At the moment I'm thinking of spending 4 weeks in Vancouver (University of BC) and 4 weeks at UCLA. Does anyone have any experience of electives in either the USA or Canada? Are they really competitive to get into? My main concern is that the application system opens really late on and I've heard horror stories about people being offered (or turned down) really late on (one friend last year was offered a place at Harvard only 2 days before the elective was due to start). Should I have a fall back plan?

(Your post has reassured me alot Mark - I felt I was way behind in my elective planning compared to some people!)

[Fried_Rice]

Is it possible to go to two places in one elective?
Because I loved Africa when I went this summer, but I've also *promised* (it deserves stars because I've really, really promised) a friend who lives in Australia that I'd come visit him.

Any thoughts? Is is advisable to just stick with one place or is it possible to squeeze in two?

Cheers.

[Will Watson]

First off, don't worry one bit about not knowing As to how it came about, I'll be honest and say that I had just 3 criteria in mind;

1) It had to be somewhere with English as the first language since I don't speak any foreign languages nearly well enough to converse abroad (I barely speak English some days!)

2) It had to be somewhere that practiced "Western" Medicine. I figured that I wanted to do something that would benefit me directly and, as worthy as it is, spending 8 weeks trying to work in a country without access to running water or sterile gloves wouldn't be that useful as an F1 (on second thoughts... have you been to Hartlepool hospital? )

3) It had to have relatively nice weather since I was losing my summer holiday in order to go.

I think my priorities are fairly similar to Mark's - I neither want a beach elective nor a research elective like a lot of Cambridge people seem to wind up with and I've been considering either the States or Aus. I know quite a few people who've been to the US and done quite funky things out there, for instance one guy had an interest in sports medicine and managed to set himself up with some time at one of their biggest sports medicine centres, even treating Michael Jordan at one stage!

[Will Watson]

Is it possible to go to two places in one elective?
Because I loved Africa when I went this summer, but I've also *promised* (it deserves stars because I've really, really promised) a friend who lives in Australia that I'd come visit him.

Any thoughts? Is is advisable to just stick with one place or is it possible to squeeze in two?

Cheers.

Absolutely. I even remember someone (might have been Joy Abbott?) who went to three countries on hers.

[sparky21]

This time next year, I too will be on my elective. At the moment I'm thinking of spending 4 weeks in Vancouver (University of BC) and 4 weeks at UCLA. Does anyone have any experience of electives in either the USA or Canada? Are they really competitive to get into? My main concern is that the application system opens really late on and I've heard horror stories about people being offered (or turned down) really late on (one friend last year was offered a place at Harvard only 2 days before the elective was due to start). Should I have a fall back plan?

I'm about to go to Toronto for my elective (in ortho). I applied back before Christmas - and found that the easiest way to go about this was to email the Consultant (or equivalent) directly. When I emailed the University directly I got an automated reply saying that they wouldn't be able to respond to my email for more than 2 weeks (which wasn't good when I was just wanting to know details - this happened more than once) - so I skipped this and emailed the consultant I wanted to work with directly. Obviously this paid off and I'm off in a few days... The consultant emailed the university for me and said that he'd accepted me himself.

A few things to note - September is the month that Canadian students do their electives and so you may have to leave a little earlier to complete your elective in August. I was lucky and the doctor i'm with pleaded with the Uni of Toronto to let me stay for September.

I didn't have any problems applying at all - and was accepted as soon as I sent all my details in. I found the visa application was a longer process and the biggest hassle of sorting an elective in Canada. As a British student you should only need a medical to get into Canada.

HTH

[sparky21]

Is it possible to go to two places in one elective?
Because I loved Africa when I went this summer, but I've also *promised* (it deserves stars because I've really, really promised) a friend who lives in Australia that I'd come visit him.

Any thoughts? Is is advisable to just stick with one place or is it possible to squeeze in two?

Cheers.

Depends on the University. At Cardiff only in special circumstances can you go to two centres for your elective (e.g. if one place is only offering you 4 weeks etc). Of course you can take a few weeks to go travelling during the elective period and thats totally up to you...