Elective at the beginning of the year

[piviti]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I have an elective at the beginning of my 3rd year and I'm trying to pursue something competitive (derm). What should I schedule as my first elective? Should I do something like a research elective or dermatology elective?

Thanks

 

[PharmDtoDO]

Research but something that you can do the research on dermatology related conditions

 

[JJMrK]

Do you have more elective time later in MS3 year? If not, do a derm elective.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Do you have more elective time later in MS3 year? If not, do a derm elective.

Agree. It would be unfortunate to have the field you want to go into be your first clinical experience as a new third year, but you've gotta do it at some point, and if this is your only option there's not much you can do about it.

If you can do a clinical derm elective later, I think a research elective would be a good idea--get's you a mentor within the field, likely would get you exposed to other attendings in the department, and would allow you to start working with a group early on and be able to continue it later in the year on some of your later rotations.

 

[piviti]

Thanks for the replies!

I actually only have 1 elective month during 3rd year, so I guess I'll have to do a clinical rotation.

Also, how do I decide which hospitals to apply to? I'm a DO student, so should I try rotating at hospitals with osteopathic residencies or allopathic residencies (better LORs and research available there I'm assuming)? Our affiliated hospitals don't have a derm program yet so I can't rotate there.

 

[JJMrK]

That's a tough one. Do you not have a derm department at your home institution, or just no residency program? What about other students who have matched this year from your school?

If all those things fail your best bet may be to talk with your dean of student affairs and see what people who have matched derm in the past have done.

The following is JMO (and I don't know much about derm, so take it with a grain of salt):
To me, if you don't have home derm, it would make sense to do something somewhere nearby. You want to establish a mentor who you can meet with a couple times toward the end of MS3/beginning of MS4 about away rotations, letters of rec, etc. Let them know while there that you are interested in derm, interested in research, and interested in their program. Then write up as much as stuff for them as you can handle.

 

[GoSpursGo]

The following is JMO (and I don't know much about derm, so take it with a grain of salt):
To me, if you don't have home derm, it would make sense to do something somewhere nearby. You want to establish a mentor who you can meet with a couple times toward the end of MS3/beginning of MS4 about away rotations, letters of rec, etc. Let them know while there that you are interested in derm, interested in research, and interested in their program. Then write up as much as stuff for them as you can handle.

I agree with this (as well as talking with your dean and finding out what people have done in the past). For uber-competitive fields I feel that once you have the requisite grades and step scores, so much comes down to having a mentor that you can be in contact with constantly and who can really write you a great letter and advocate on your behalf.