Scheduling electives for IM residency

[ckom5987]

I'm a M-4 who matched into IM and have to submit my electives request this week.

Is there any method to when you schedule electives for residency? i.e. if you're interested in Pulm or Cards should you do those as an intern or as an 2nd/3rd year when you're more experienced and definitive on what you want to do?

Thoughts?

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[Redpancreas]

I'm a M-4 who matched into IM and have to submit my electives request this week.

Is there any method to when you schedule electives for residency? i.e. if you're interested in Pulm or Cards should you do those as an intern or as an 2nd/3rd year when you're more experienced and definitive on what you want to do?

Thoughts?

Good question. I think taking it after a few floor months but not in your second year.

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

At my program you basically got floor time on most of the inpatient subspecialty services at some point or another. I generally tried to use electives to "round out" my IM education on services which we didn't have as much exposure to, such as rheum. If you're potentially interested in a specific subspecialty already, getting some exposure to the corresponding outpatient clinic would also be worthwhile, especially if it's something like medical oncology where most of the specialty is in the outpatient world.

In terms of timing, I agree that if it's something you think you might want to go into and are thinking of getting an elective from, doing it after you have a little bit of experience on the wards might serve you better. Doing it in 3rd year is way too late though unless you're planning on a gap year. You'll basically need to get your LORs in for fellowship by the end of your second year.

 

[gutonc]

I'm a M-4 who matched into IM and have to submit my electives request this week.

Is there any method to when you schedule electives for residency? i.e. if you're interested in Pulm or Cards should you do those as an intern or as an 2nd/3rd year when you're more experienced and definitive on what you want to do?

Thoughts?

Schedule the stuff you're interested in and will need fellowship LORs for late intern/early 2nd year.