Elective Questions

[juddson]

Hi,

At this point I am interested in two fields, psych and path. My town has two major teaching hospitals (and medical schools) and I have done both path and psych work (either via elective or core clerkship) at my "home" institution, but not the "away" institution. Whichever field I finally decide upon (ie., psych or path), I will be applying to both my "home" program and the "away" program (in one field only, of course).

My question is this: Can my "away" path elective (which will be general surgical path) be only 2 weeks, or ought my "away" elective be 4 weeks long? I gather that all else being equal, four weeks is always better than two. But what is standard? What is acceptable?

Thanks
Judd

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[DarksideAllstar]

I think overall it depends on what a place will allow (ie 2, 3, or 4 week electives). You should check with individual programs. Two weeks is more than enough time to figure out if a place is a good fit for you and to leave an impression. A few of my friends who applied (and subsequently matched) to neurosurgery scheduled 2 week electives in order to squeeze in more places and it gave them enough time to get noticed by the department and get a feel for how things ran, the personalities, etc.