Electives to pursue??

[samsoccer7]

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Hey Guys and Gals,
I just met with our residency coordinator at student affairs, and she told me with a board score of 241 I shouldn't have to do rad electives to "impress" programs, rather I should do electives at some badass places to get rec letters. What do you think? I'm very interested in Northwestern in Chicago, partially b/c of their neurovascular joint department with neuroIR and nsurg, and of course b/c of location, yada yada. It's not considered high powered though, and even though Michigan is my alma mater, I doubt I can match there, but a letter from their chairman or anybody would add to my app, considering I come from a relatively no-name school. What's your input? I need to think about this crap now so I can start getting apps for 4th yr electives. And if I do go to some places out of my league, what places and which PD's should I try to hit up? I'm think UCSF or BWH or something, not sure though.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

you go to michigan and think its a no-name school? wuh?

 

[samsoccer7]

Sorry, Michigan is my undergrad, my med school is the no-namer 🙂

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

i asked this same question about doing ENT externships: here was the reply from someone..i can see his point.

quote:
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Originally posted by nuclearrabbit77
thanks, that was very informative.

in regards to not doing externships at TOP skools, i understand the reasoning...but you could still end up with a good letter of rec from some big-honcho out of it couldn't you?
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Yes but in my opinion that's not why you should do an externship. It might be a bonus, but the main reason should be to highly increase your chances of matching at that program. With the competitiveness of ENT, it's nice to know that you have a program where you are more likely to match, especially if you have gotten feedback about it during or after your externship


__________________
ent_doc
PGY-3 Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

 

[samsoccer7]

I kind of agree with you, but then again a letter from UCSF might get me an interview at, say, Northwestern and other places, while an externship AT Northwestern gets me an interview there. Others, please give me some info!!

 

[Docxter]

samsoccer,

At our program, many of the students who rotate from other institutions will get interviews. We relatively care less about the institution where a student has got their letters from during an away rotation. There are just too many big name people to care about. The content is more important. It may be different at other places.

 

[Hendooneh]

I am at michigan and the advice that I have been given is that in radiology personality is very important since radiologists have to work so closely with you. The people who really know your personality are the ones that spend the most time with you so get letters from people who know you the most not just those who have the biggest names.

 

[samsoccer7]

So I guess the question then is: where can I do an away elective and expect to get to know one or two rads well enough to get a great letter? I have no doubts that my personality is extremely well-suited for schmoozing with these people, unlike many of the people I expect to see on the interview trail. (a 4th yr at my school said she's met some real tools out there).

On another note, I found out today I honored my surgery clerkship with clinical commendation, that should help me out quite a bit.

By the way, Hendo, how do you like it? I would love to come there for an elective, would you recommend it? Are they pretty receptive to away students doing electives?