Away electives not completely related to interested specialty

[783303]

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I'm planning on applying to away electives in CA, which is where I plan to do residency (go to med school out of state). Pursuing IM residency.
I read on the ACP and the forums here that they recommend doing electives in ones that aren't IM-related, for instance, radiology and pathology. I was looking at the Kaisers in CA because they don't charge tuition or processing fees according to VSAS, but they require letter of intent for dermatology, psychiatry etc.
Should I bother applying to those electives? I feel like other applicants who are pursuing derm or psych would be taking those electives.

 

[RadDocGoneBadDoc]

I dont think you can go wrong with electives for IM. Since IM is such a broad field, doing a rad or derm elective should be okay.

 

[Oso]

I think if you're going into IM, dermatology and radiology electives would be helpful. Psych and path a little less so, but doesn't mean they wouldn't be interesting. However, usually people do away electives in their field of choice (aka a program they're interested in matching at) and other electives at their home institution - so I'm not really sure why you want to do an away rotation in those elective fields if you may as well do it at home.

 

[783303]

I think if you're going into IM, dermatology and radiology electives would be helpful. Psych and path a little less so, but doesn't mean they wouldn't be interesting. However, usually people do away electives in their field of choice (aka a program they're interested in matching at) and other electives at their home institution - so I'm not really sure why you want to do an away rotation in those elective fields if you may as well do it at home.

My home institution doesn't offer regular psych or derm electives--choices are a bit limited 🙁