Internation clinical rotation (electives)

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JHyuNi

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I was just wondering if doing one or two electives in Korea is beneficial for matching.
I've read cons and pros. Some says residency commitee does not count that as experience and some says it is beneficial due to experience regarding different culture in medicine. In addition, US medicine uses imaging a lot while other countries do not, so new skills may be acquired. <<< this is what I heard.

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In terms of matching, it probably won't make that much of a difference. But in terms of your outlook in life, it might be beneficial, or it might kindle an interest in a particular aspect of medicine.

Most people who do international clinical electives do it after most of their interviews, so the timeline would inhibit you talking about it during interviews.
 
Was thinking of doing an international elective as well, but from what I know it doesn't do anything to help with matching. I would do it only out of interest rather than to help with matching.
 
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It would be something to talk about during interviews, especially if you had a good experience. Even better if you could tie it into your career goals (ex. global health), but I don't think it would necessarily give you a competitive edge.
 
It can give you an extra topic of conversation on interviews that's medically relevant. It may make uber-competitive residency programs look down on you for not taking a harder or more on-topic rotation. I'd go for it, but stick to 1 or 2 months max and then get back to real life.
 
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