When Should I apply for electives

[Pril]

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In fourth year we can do five months of elective anywhere we choose, so I was wondering how, when, and which programs should I contact? (I am currently in third year and very interested in Radiology)

 

[ktat72]

You can start applying for electives in january and february. Most places will not take applications until April or May. Make sure you have all your cores in or there are some places that will not even consider your application for an out of town elective without the completion. I would first call programs you are really interested in and ask the program coordinators if doing a rotation helps out - even give them your step 1 score as well so they can give you a fair assessment.
Try to do as many electives in radiology as you can, try to squeeze in a couple research elective amongst the clinical ones so you can get a couple LORs to choose from. I know I received a couple interviews because I had done rotations at those places. I also know that there was one place that I worked with two other departments and got a LOR from the place and yet got rejected by the radiology program (a week after my transcript went out before the dean's letter) - also no word from their prelim program either. I think one reason is that I did not make the step 1 cutoff at that program. Email me @ [email protected] for any other questions you might have.