Core clerkship vs elective dilemma

[I can has gas]

Hi guys, long time lurker but only registered today in hopes that you can help me solve a dilemma. I am at the end of my MS3 year and definitely going into anesthesia. I am slated to take a pain elective in July at my home institution in hopes of getting a strong LOR from a faculty member. Because we start 3rd year pretty late, I also had to bump my psych core clerkship into February of 4th year in order to do my anesthesia AI at the end of my MS3 year. I now have psychiatry (Feb-March) and neuro core clerkships (Oct-Nov this year) both in my 4th year, and so when my Dean's Letter is sent out on Nov 1st, both of these grades will be missing. I don't know how much emphasis PDs place on completeness of the core clerkships by the time the Dean's Letter is released but my home institution only requires core clerkships to be completed before graduation. I was wondering if anyone who has been in this predicament (or even better any PDs) could guide me as to which is the better option: do my pain elective as it is more relevant to anesthesia and put off psych into next February or give up pain and take psych in July so I'll have that grade in by interview time.

I know alot of programs give out interview invites even before the Dean's Letter comes out so I question whether or not its completeness is that important, but I do want to match at a fairly selective program (Not elite but top tier) so I do not want any unnecessary 'red flags'
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.

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[vector2]

If it was something like surgery or medicine I'd say do the core. However, I doubt most PDs are going to care that you're missing psych and neuro, but I say that assuming that the rest of your clerkship grades, your dean's letter narratives, and your step 1 are all strong. If so, go ahead and get the pain guy's letter.


edit: as soon as I typed this I recall someone saying during the last cycle that their apps were getting held up because they had an incomplete in a clerkship....I would double check with your PD and your registrar to see how this is going to show up on your transcript/ in ERAS

 

[I can has gas]

Thanks for your response. I pm'ed a PD who reiterated that neuro and psych arent all that important. I will double check with my MSPE-writer and hopefully he will explain why I delayed my core.

 

[ASA6]

I did psych earlier, but I did neuro in february of my 4th year, and a lot of people at my school did psych in their 4th year as well, sometimes as late as dec/january/feb. no one ever had a problem, as far as I know.