Canadian Elective or US observership??

[Razzamataz]

Hi guys,

I am in an european med school. I will be doing a clinical elective this summer in the US. I am in the process of looking for another US elective. However I'm also trying to make a plan B in case I am not successful in obtaining one.
The first option is a clinical elective in Canada. I have been accepted to an elective in Canada and they want me to pay soon in order to hold my spot but it is guaranteed after I pay.
Basically, I'd like to know (if anyone knows!) if it is better to do a Canadian elective seeing as it is a North American elective or would it be better to do my second elective in Ireland and try to do observership in the US (I don't know how hard they are to get??). Obviously my first choice is to get a clinical elective in the US and I have every intention of exhausting that path but I'm wondering which of these should be plan B? I know a lot of Canadian med students over here match with one US and one Canadian elective which is what I would have by then.
Are observerships very hard to get?
(I'm not Canadian btw so I won't be applying to the Canadian match)

Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Observerships are for graduated physicians and are almost worthless in terms of assessing your clinical skills and abilities to function as a resident physician.

In addition, Canadian schools are LCME accredited and should be fine for an elective. You may wish to check on their refund policy in case you get accepted to a US-based elective later and wish to change but there really isn't an issue doing an elective there and it's much preferable over an observership.