Advice for choosing electives?

[CluelessMS2]

Hi everyone,
So I am an MS2 interested in going into surgery. My school has asked us to start thinking about what elective rotations to take next year (we are allowed two 4-week electives and a 2-week elective). I am having a hard time narrowing down what to choose. I am currently interested in cardiothoracic surgery or maybe ortho, but I don't have a ton of experience in different specialties, so I want to keep an open mind as I go through and choose what I like the best. Would it be bad to explore 3 different surgical specialties next year, and would that leave me enough time 4th year to establish a strong application that shows my dedication to my desired specialty? Should I save the CT surg elective for 4th year and do an elective during M3 that is a specialty of my hospital (ie. burn surgery)? What should I be thinking about for the two week elective? I am pretty clueless as my school is not great at guiding us as to what electives to consider. I appreciate any advice or suggestions in advance. Thank you.

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[doc05]

What specialty do you plan on applying to? CT and ortho are very different fields, and each are highly competitive matches for ms4's. If you interested in either of these new, you need to get involved now.

I wouldn't recommend rotating on burn surgery unless you're planning an application to gen surg and even then there are other rotations that will be more worthwhile.

 

[CluelessMS2]

What specialty do you plan on applying to? CT and ortho are very different fields, and each are highly competitive matches for ms4's. If you interested in either of these new, you need to get involved now.

I wouldn't recommend rotating on burn surgery unless you're planning an application to gen surg and even then there are other rotations that will be more worthwhile.

Thank you for the reply! I really like the anatomy of the thorax and I like the idea of the procedures I would be doing as a CT surgeon, but as I have not rotated through any specialties yet, I am not sure how I can go about deciding which one I like the best. As an MS4 I figure I would most likely be applying to both CT and gen surg programs (to go CT via the fellowship route as a backup plan since I-6 CT spots are few in number) if I end up indeed liking the specialty. Of course I will have to see after step 1 what will remain on the table for me, but I anticipate doing well as I am at the top of my class and have been working hard to prepare for the test all year. Thank you for your advice, it is much appreciated!

 

[ConfusedChemist]

Thank you for the reply! I really like the anatomy of the thorax and I like the idea of the procedures I would be doing as a CT surgeon, but as I have not rotated through any specialties yet, I am not sure how I can go about deciding which one I like the best. As an MS4 I figure I would most likely be applying to both CT and gen surg programs (to go CT via the fellowship route as a backup plan since I-6 CT spots are few in number) if I end up indeed liking the specialty. Of course I will have to see after step 1 what will remain on the table for me, but I anticipate doing well as I am at the top of my class and have been working hard to prepare for the test all year. Thank you for your advice, it is much appreciated!

You need to spend as much time as you can shadowing both specialties then-CT and ortho are just totally different environments and spending even a few days in each should make it pretty clear to you

 

[CluelessMS2]

You need to spend as much time as you can shadowing both specialties then-CT and ortho are just totally different environments and spending even a few days in each should make it pretty clear to you

Thanks for the advice, I will try to set up some shadowing, I was kind of thinking the same thing.

 

[heraclez]

I think it may be even more important to shadow or do electives in residency programs you may be interested in. This is a double-edged sword, as most likely, these rotations will be TOUGH. But if you come out of it with a love for that particular type of surgery AND you can handle the residency program's hours, etc. then you've basically ruled in what you like! If you hate it, then that's good too!

I've seen too many of my classmates due an elective with a private preceptor or non-residency program in a surgical subspecialty (particularly Ortho), claim to love it, and then attempt an audition rotation 4th year, and subsequently HATE the hours and lifestyle of residency life for 5-7 years (5 years Ortho, Gen Surg, etc. and 7 years for Neurosurg, plastics).

If you essentially start doing semi-audition rotations during third year, you're getting a head start, you're experiencing the REAL experience of residency life, and the best part is, most places don't expect much from you as a green, newbie third year. So you can get away with a bit more.

 

[CluelessMS2]

Awesome that's exactly what I'm ending up doing, thanks for the advice!