Fourth year electives?

[medulla]

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A few questions if anyone can help an overwhelmed 3rd year trying to plan her 4th year... 🙂

1. How many audition electives should I do and what is the last month they should be done by?
2. Should the auditions be in General Inpatient Peds or subspecialties or both?
3. When is the ideal time to do a Peds Sub-I--I pretty much have any choice at my school.
4. What should my first 4th year rotation be? At an audition, in my Sub-I, or something else to warm me up?

Finally, can people tell me where they had good fourth year experiences, if they were able to get LORs, and if there are certain programs that give extra high preference to applicants who have rotated there? 😕

Thank in advance for any help!

 

[jerseygirl22]

a lot of people are going to give you a lot of different advice regarding the questions you asked. My thoughts are below:

(1) Away Sub-I/electives: I say do them if you are PARTICULARLY interested in being in a specific place that is ranked very highly (ie CHOP, Boston Children's, Columbia, UCSF, etc). Most of these programs will grant you a "courtesy" interview at the very least and you will get to see what it is like to be at these types of programs. Also, it gives you the advantage of getting to know the PD if you are a schoomzer. But know that you do NOT have to do an away rotation at a place to get the interview and it will not be held against you if you haven't done an away rotation.

(2) Other 4th year electives: try to do a pediatric emergency medicine rotation at a Level 1 trauma center. You will see like 70-85% primary care or acute pediatrics and get do some procedures! so you see a wide range of cases and also you will see what "buys" an admission and what gets sent home.

(3) I would also say make sure you are ready to shine for your home Peds Sub-I so read up and wait until July or August do it...but don't do it too late in the fall...otherwise you rush to get the LOR's in...doable but not optimal.

(4) As for whether you should do an official Sub-I or an away elective in a subspeciality...well this depends on how strong you think you are as a candidate and overall how strong you will be as an acting intern. I would do an elective to take some of the pressure off and read up on that specialty and the faculty members at the institution to which you are going. Low stress, peak performance, and you get to explore the institution and get to know the faculty members. Do it during September or October! November at the latest but know that many programs are interviewing by then so it's kind of late but NOT too late as many programs invite through December.

That is my two cents. Hope that helps.