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Medstudentquest

Medstudentquest

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So I cannot make up my mind as far as what I want to do for specialty. I have made up my mind about specialties i would not go into, but still I have about 3-4 specialties I like. I am trying to set up elective rotations and my question is: should I choose electives in all of the things I interested in? Will that look bad? I like IM for a fellowship in the future, psych., derm and anesthesia. I think I would be fine for these except maybe derm since I know it's so difficult to get into. Should I do an elective in all of these? Should I limit it to two? I would appreciate suggestions on the matter. Thanks!
 
You are not required to do all of your electives in your "chosen" field. Usually one will suffice. Fourth year is the time to explore different areas, often areas that you will never really experience again. I had great experiences in cardiology, ID, and heme-onc, among others, and I am in pathology.

Bear in mind you will have to start applying for residency in september or so of your fourth year, so you want to do the "important" electives (i.e. where grades and potential letters of reference will matter) in those first couple of months. You're kind of all over the place in terms of what you want to do though, so it's hard to go any further than that.
 
yaah said:
You are not required to do all of your electives in your "chosen" field. Usually one will suffice. Fourth year is the time to explore different areas, often areas that you will never really experience again. I had great experiences in cardiology, ID, and heme-onc, among others, and I am in pathology.

Bear in mind you will have to start applying for residency in september or so of your fourth year, so you want to do the "important" electives (i.e. where grades and potential letters of reference will matter) in those first couple of months. You're kind of all over the place in terms of what you want to do though, so it's hard to go any further than that.
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Thanks for your response. If I did electives in say Psychiatry and Anesthesia and did an elective in some medicine specialty, would it look bad? If I end up choosing medicine, will they wonder-why did Medstudentquest not do more elective in medicine for example?
 
Medstudentquest said:
Thanks for your response. If I did electives in say Psychiatry and Anesthesia and did an elective in some medicine specialty, would it look bad? If I end up choosing medicine, will they wonder-why did Medstudentquest not do more elective in medicine for example?
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No, they will think you were trying to evaluate more fields and keep an open mind. They will not care if you did electives in other fields.
 
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