When to go for Elecitves?

I am doing my internship in india now. the end date is may 5th. so can i apply for electives during the month of may? i'm looking to apply for univ of toronto for may.
i hav already applied for john hopkins in jan-feb, harvad and yale in feb- march. looking to apply for weil cornell, uinv of wisconsin, northwestrn for april.

hi umar...

            i m doing internship tis year in india.... i lik 2 go for electives in march... In northwestern univ they offered me only emergency medicine.......but i want 2 do electives in int.medicine..... should i go for another univ??? or is tat ok for electives??  

Hi umar,

         i'm rohit and currently in the final year(4th year) of my medical school in india... i had been searching for information regarding electives and USCE for over 4-5 months now and just finding your site is like blessing in disguise for me..Seriously, you have done a fabulous job in making this site so easily understandable for people searching for electives in US,especially indians.. I've gone through your site and now i pretty much the timing and the universities to apply in,thanx a lot for that..

    I would be very grateful to you ,if you can state how is it working in such hospitals for a month,especially when it's all new for us...how are the doctors there??  i would want to know this because even though i'm a student of final year, i find myself not upto the mark in clinical experience coz of the casual approach of my college to clinicals( as there is more stress on theory)..will i have a hard time during my electives?? 

   Thanx once again.. :)

yar I am from KMC pesh, its a fabulous site like all the information packed on one site. Grest work Omar bhai

   Yar I am in 3rd year now and am interested in research electives in the summer. I have been trying for JHU but all I am getting is an elective in molecular biology and genetics, that is remotely related with what I am interested in ie internal medicine. Should i go for it?

  1. Can u tell me any other good university that would be offering research elective ?

   2. Can I go for clinical elective in the summer of 4th year like so far I know most of the universities want you to be in your final year.? thnx

can you please tell me whether electives at qatar of weill cornell  and Mc gill university of canada really helpfull?does this experience counts?

hi everyone.

1st of all kudos to all of those who are working and postin on this site.

gr8 work.

i m an intern( tht wud be the final yr in US) in india startd on jan 1 this yr.

1.  i was planning to give step1 in aug sept oct. window, but stil havnt filled the form, was plannin to apply in nxt 15 days or so. but since i wish to do electives also so if i give my step 1 in sept( most probably)  then i am left with 3 months oct nov dec which is the same time the amgs wud apply, stiffer competetion. also i wud want 7-8 mths to prep for step1 and do there is no chance i am going for electives durin the prep peroid. i just wished if u cud pls suggest me that should i delay my step 1 to after my internship. or i shd continue with step1 this sept. extend my internship(i dont know for how long i can do that) send in applications for electives for the last trimester of 2010 and 1st trimester of 2011 and then give my step 2 cs alongwith the elective.

2.  i wanna do electives in internal medicine, and as all of you must have noticed that nearly all the univ. require u 2 complete the clinical training in that speciality b4 you go for elective there. but i have my medicine postin at the end that wud be december. and after that i wont be an intrn but a graduate and wud be eligible only of observership.

ya i can try to talk to my college people and request them, but suppose that is not done( not very co-operative ppl)
 

a. is there any way i can sort this problem

b. we have our clinical postings starting from second year and i have completed 26 wks(as the minimum required by medical council of india) of that posting till now, not includin the 4 wk in dec this yr. so wud this clinical postings, which have ward, opd on different days of a week fulfill clinical training pre-requisite.

good day

Ishaan

hi everyone,

am still in third year so i got still got lot of time but i wanted to clarify some stuff.

1. which one is better, clerkship or electives?? am asking cos all ma seniors are just talkin abt clerkship but when i visited this site i came to know abt electives.

2. is it better that i write step 1 here or in u.s ( via kaplan n stuff )

3. finally, which should come first? step 1 exam or these electives and clerkships??

I have just started my final year in India and want to apply for elective in psych next yr in my internship

1.How much time does it take for an average student to prepare for toefl?I hav to read up my final yr subjects as well as i didnt read up previously.iIs is really that imp??

2.how many months should i do it for considering it is the only thing i want to do.

3.i hav no senior help and also couldnt find threads from ur website bt any experiences in psych elective.

4.Do we have to send the tuition fee for paid elective during our application procedure and if yes,what happens when they reject it like in harvard,etc??

5.we just had a 15 days posting in psychiatry till now and will have only 15 during internship before which i plan to go.Does this goes against their standards of 4 weeks??

hi umar bhai am studyn final year..wanna apply for electives...what to do...

sir i want to go for a surgical branch for residency (preferably neurosurgery). I know thats difficult to get in to. And i am trying to get electives in a surgical branch for the same reason. do a good number a foreign med school students get electives in the US. I have TOEFL 114, no usmle steps taken, nor do i come froma university which is recoznised by any US uni as an affiliate. I am the first person going for an elective from my school. please comment.

thanx

viraat

 i m prashanth from chennai , just going to begin my house surgeon ... best time to apply for electives ... i wanna do int medicine electives by december or so .. but i am finding it very difficult to make myself the final list of 5 to 6 ??? colleges i m going to apply ... how many colleges with zero application fee should i send and how many with apllication fee like 50 to 300$ .... can u please tell me how u went about or some known friend ... i dont have toefl ... so i cant apply for mount sinai ...like thAT IWANT TO EXCLUDE ... i have step 1 score of 97 ... please help me ..

i saw ur website also .and aamc.org . , athen tsdocs .org .. but stilll not able to do it ... wjat is a typical list of colleges that ppl are applying to ... is it : 
harvard , yale , mount sinai , nw , baylor , etc ... do alll apply for the top colleges 

what about  TOEFL   .. are all those ppl who speak of having done or gained an elective  done toefl?

if so ,,, which book or cd is the best .  ,   barrons     kaplan    toefl ibt cd 

Salamz Umar bhai, i am an indian national and have graduated from a russian medical university in yr 2008. Currently i am doing my compulsary rotatory internship in delhi and wud b finishing it by  june end this yr .. i wanted to know wether i am eligible for electivesin the us and if theres still time for me to apply for the same.

will really appreciate ur help

Thanks

Dear Umar bhai,

  I am a US citizen and a 4th year medical student in Lahore Medical and dental college. I want to go for electives in radiology this summer. Please guide me in this regard.

Hi Umar,

 Thanks for all your wonderful information and diligent guidance.

My situation is; I have completed my internship in India and am supposed to be awarded the degree in a convocation on 8th May. I have been approved for an elective in nephrology @ UIC, Chicago and am free to choose suitable dates for myself. I have done 2 electives before in Peds Infectious Diseases @ SUNY and Radiology @ UIC Peoria. I plan to take up Peds ( more probably ) or Internal Medicine for Residency.

Also, I had applied for and have been admitted for a 1.5 year Masters in Biomechaincs @ Stanford, the session for which starts this September. I have only started studying some BRS books about a week back for Step1. I have a few questions here:-

1. Can I start the elective after 8 May? Can I take it up if it starts before 8 May but continues beyond it?
2. How will taking up this Masters program @ Stanford affect my residency? Is it likely to have a positive/ negative effect on my chances of getting into a good program?
3. Assuming I'm taking the Masters, would it be better to do at least Step1 in the time I have before September? Or would it be better to do it later? ( MS is supposed to be intensive and i might not find time to clear all steps in btw)
4. Assuming I'v to take one of the 2 steps in Sept, would it make more sense to take up the elective and do Step1/ 2CK along with it? Or would it be better to shut my room n do self study n give step 1 in this limited time?

 Please feel free to ask for more information if you think you need some to answer any of these. They are questions very important to my career and I'd appreciate if you could please throw some light on the pros and cons of these options.

Awaiting your reply..

 Best Regards

Umar Bhai

  I am a great follower of this site. This is my only source of information on clerkships as I dont have much senior guidance.

I got my toefl score as 110/120 with speaking -26. I want to do electives in psychiatry as this is the only field I wish to pick up.

    1. I am in my earlier half of my final year. We just had a 15 days posting in psychiatry till now and will have only 15 during internship before which i plan to go.Does this goes against their standards of 4 weeks??

2. How many months I should go for?

3. I would be highly obliged if u can share some experiences regarding psych electives. I am planning to apply in northwestern university and NIH.

Hello umar bhai,

I am an indian, studying in china. I am doing my internship now. Bhai i have a small query, Last year i did a clinical elective in the university of louisville. I went there on a J1 visa.They have issued me a visa for 5 years,though my program was for just 1 month.Now my problem is I am planning to apply for another 3 rotations in the comming jan, but in an other university.so, can i apply for other universities on the same visa(cos' in the 'annotation' area of my visa its printed as "University of Louisville")  I would greatly appreciate any advise offered.Thanks a lot.

best regards,

Rusheeth.

hi Umar,

   I am doing internship now,I am Indain.I am planning for clerkship.So what are requirements for it?Is toefl,step 1 required?I have given GRE.Kindly give reply.

 thanks for such an amazing website.. sir i mailed d faculty coordinator of john hopkins orthopaedic department about john hopkins not accepting international students and if i can come do a research elective.. im very interested in orthopaedics.. he was being very nice and  he replied to me saying they do only clinical but not to worry, he will work this around for someone who is interested in orthopaedics.. so m=now the thing is im in my 2nd year 5th sem. so i wont be eligible for the elective?? how should i go about it??

thanks and all the best with ur career

Assalamoalaikum,

You are really doing an admirable job bhai, especially seeing how prompt your replies are despite your busy schedule. I am in the final year of my medical education in Pakistan, about to appear for my final prof exams in a month's time. I had applied for an elective in the US after the prof (in the december bloc - Nov 22 to Dec 17) and thankfully I landed one in Emory- Gastroenterology successfully. However, the only problem is my prof is taking place a little earlier than I had anticipated and now I am genuinely apprehensive that my result might come out right before or during the elective, changing my status as a medical student.(The expected date of result given to me right now is end of November). Under the circumstances would it still be advisable for me to go ahead and spend all that money on the elective and is there any way that this fact might stand out during my residency application and then be counted against me. I am also looking to appear in CS while I am there and in case you advise me to go, would you recommend i give the expected month of graduation as December or November in the IWA application? Please, urgent guidance is required because I need to pay my fee to secure the elective.

hi umar sir..

i ve completed my mbbs in 2009 dec and my internship gets over by the month of January 2010. i am a usmle aspirant but due to some reasons i was not able to apply for the electives and my college doesn't allow me to extend my internship beyond January so i wont be able to go for the electives in this hard run for usmle.. sir is there a way out that i get a residency without doing electives ...like would the courses like MPH in U.S. be of some help...??

or do i have any other option ??

I need your guidance in this matter.Presently I am doing my Internship in India which will end by april' 10. I had applied for electives in weill corell and harvard but got no response from either of them. I have not given my step 1 yet. about to give in mid December. Do I still have any chance of getting an elective considering only 4/5 months left for my internship to get over? if there is still any possibility where should I apply with such minimum time in hand? please help...really need it

I have done my MBBS and FCPS from Pakistan in OBGYN in 1999.I am also MRCOG Part 1 with full GMC (UK)registration.Now I am a US citizen and can't move to UK back or Pak due to my family circumstances.Is there any way I can get a job in USA without USMLE.I have heared that if I do one year under supervision of some doctors group I can get licence for residency in some hospital without USMLE.Is that true ,whatwould you advise in my position?

Regards

Fara

adaab,umar bhai,

u did very fabulous work realy,GOD bless u,

actly bhai,i m indian medical student, doing internship my intrshp will complete in 22nd of maech 2011.

my equery is ..i want 2 do elective in usa but i dont hav so much time as i hv only 3.5 month only for intership

1. shuld i extend my intrnship?

2. is it harmful for ur future to extend ur intrnship?

3..what is d advantage of elective with respct of mle?

plz reply..

i will b very thankful 2 u...

m planning to give my step1 in 2012..coz in r college,interns r given a huge workload.. that they hardly find any time to study n moreover.. its impossible to get transfer into another colllege. i need to know:

1.wen should i start applying to universities?

2.how does toefl improve my chances to get a place for my electives? is it some eligibility criteria for few universities? 

3.how strongly wud u recommend writing toefl for electives or usmle?

Dear Umar bhai,

thanks for all the good advices on your website :)

I got my TOEFL score :104/120

reading:26

listening:26 

speaking:27

writing:25

do you think my score will allow me to apply to good electives?

another question, in my university we are allowed to take 2 months of elective so I dunno whether to go to a university hospital or to NIH, I wanna do internal medicine so what do u think is better for a future residency to go for internal medicine elective at NIH or at a university hospital in the states?

are there good chances that if I go to NIH I might get opportunities for a future research program in internal medicine?

I also want to ask if you know any universities where the rotation is supervised by more than one doctor in order to get more than one recommendation letter a month?!

thanks a lot for your help! I look forward to your reply !

salam

salam umar bahi,thanks for making future of us,umar bhai this is naresh,i m a final year(5th year

) medical student in pakistan,my classes started from april 25th 2011 for final year, i want to do electives in US,so can i apply for electives now,my college give vacations in june,july and dec,so what should i do,can i apply after final year or can i do elective exact after my final year exams,when should i apply what should i do.help me plz,

assalam-u-alaikum,

I want to know that can i apply for electives after graduation....i mean after final year??

AOA.

Can i apply for electives after my graduation???

i am from india and i have not done usmle.

i have heard that until the results of final year mbbs are out,u cannot go for clerkships.

1.i want to know whether i can go for clerkships after my final year exams get over and before the declaration of my results?i want to do clerkship in surgery.

2.will i be eligible for electives also then?

3.what all are the documents that are needed while applying for a clerkship/electives?

4.what is the procedure for taking toefl?

5.i want to do superspecialities in the US after i finish my pg in india.even then recommendations would be necessary,rite?and having a clerkship or elective experience would be a plus point,what do you say?

 I AM PRESENTLY DOING MY INTERNSHIP....CN I APPLY NOW FOR JAN-FEB SLOT OF CLERKSHIP ?? MY INTERNSHIP ENDS ON 26FEB ....I HAVENT GIVEN ANY STEPS ....CN I CLEAR STEP 1 N 2 WITH CLERKSHIP BEFORE I APPLY FOR SEPTEMBER 2013 ? PLZ HELP