MD/PhD and rotations abroad

[adesua]

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Do MD/PhD committees generally frown at applicants interested in doing some of their clinical rotations abroad. T'will be the best scenario for me to be able to do some of my rotations in my home country but I'm not sure how schools will take it.

For instance consider the Yale program where a normal MD student could use his/her 5th year to do anything including doing some international clinical electives abroad. If I told the admissions people that I'll like to take advantage of this extra year to do electives at home, will it be construed negatively by people who feel as an MD/PhD applicant I should be using any extra time I have to do more research?

Cheers y'all.

 

[doc05]

it's too early for you to worry about this.

most schools will require that you do core clerkships at the home institution. you will, however, be able to do some amount of clinical electives abroad. each school has different policies about this.

I doubt any school will require you to do more research, especially if you are MD/PhD; you will have already spent several years in the lab, and have multiple publications and a dissertation, by the time you begin your clinical studies.

I wouldn't even ask about this at an interview, because it's not clear what you are asking and it will make you sound uninformed.

 

[GlcNac]

I asked an MD/PhD student about this at one of my interviews, and she said that doing rotations abroad would not be frowned upon for MD/PhD students. In fact, she was planning on doing this herself. Her main point was that since every student (MD or MD/PhD) needs to take certain electives anyway, it doesn't matter whether they are taken in the US or abroad. That is, you don't really lose any time by taking electives out of the country. She did warn, however, that it's probably a good idea to do rotations in the US in areas you are seriously considering for residency.