by Purav Mody

Electives : An Exhilarating Roller Coaster Ride!! 

Hi Friends!!!

                               This is Purav from GMC, Surat, India. I am presently doing my internship right now. The process of application to electives has been a fascinating journey for me which I would like to share with you. I first heard about electives from a classmate of mine when she went for her electives to Emory in our final semester. Initially I was a bit sceptical about it, but when I heard her experience I made up my mind to apply for electives and that’s where my journey began! At first when I started looking for colleges and about programs I didn’t even know what is visiting student or electives or clerkships or how to go about the application process. But slowly and steadily I mailed as many colleges as I could for information. It was a long tedious and sometimes a frustrating process being rejected for some reason or the other. Back then I did not know about Umar bhai’s wonderful website and when I finally found it on the net my first reaction was of immense surprise. All the information I was gathering about electives was right there and everything was arranged in such a lucid manner! Umar bhai’s website is as how I like to call it is an Encyclopaedia on Electives! That really impressed me and since then I am a regular! Coming back to the original story, the process of finalising colleges was very tough because I had not given my step 1, no TOEFL scores, did not know anyone on the faculty, had an average CV and came from a very ordinary but good government college so the list kept narrowing down. Also my college clerks did not make my task any easy. Getting my application forms signed, getting multiple copies of transcripts all was really tough and anyone who has dealt with Indian bureaucracy has an idea about what I am talking about. In the midst of my application I decided to give my TOEFL mainly because I saw on Umar bhai’s website how important it was! Finally with everything ready, apprehensively  I sent in my applications having no idea what the future had in store for me. I was hoping that I would at least get a single elective and I would be more than happy. Slowly the replies poured in and to my great joy I got accepted in my top 3 choice of colleges (Tufts, Yale, Jefferson) in my lines of interest Gastroenterology, Cardiology and Pulmonary Medicine respectively. Additionally I have also been accepted for Cardiology at Mt Sinai! Never in my wildest dream had I imagined such a scenario! I am truly thankful to everyone who helped me in this journey and Umar in particular! I have no idea what the experiences are going to be like but I am tremendously excited and want to make the most of it. I would like to share some points regarding my application process which are by no means complete. They are strictly personal and I strongly recommend everyone to go through the website for additional information!  

Positive Points

1. Early Application:- I applied relatively early and I strongly advice everyone to do the same e.g. I started gathering information in April and sent Jefferson app by July however  my classmates who sent it in august were denied electives  because till March all medicine electives are full. Just matter of 20 days made all the difference! Also in colleges like NYU you have to send in a request for electives and it has to be done before May 15^th and a friend of mine did it and he has been accepted for pulmonary medicine and cardiology! Even I missed the cut!

2. Documentation:- Documentation should be perfect. E-mail the coordinator if you have any doubts. All my applications were complete and processed on time. Because of incomplete documentation few friends had to send additional documents and delayed their process unnecessarily!

3. Post mailing scenario: - I guess there is a fine line everyone treads after mailing your application. Constant e-mailing and phone calling can annoy the coordinators  and at the same time a subtle reminder can go a long way! For example after sending my application to Tufts I called up the coordinator after a month. On speaking to her she told me my documentation was complete but I was ineligible for 2 out of 3 choices that I had written (I had written Sub Internships!)However she told me if I wanted alternate choices I could mail them to her. I wrote in Gastroenterology because I had not mentioned it previously and I got accepted for it! 

4. Personal Statement: - I think this one document carries a lot of importance. It is the one chance to really impress upon the coordinator with your thoughts and views. I recommend to keep it short (mine was about 450 – 500 words, single page) and keep it honest. Good personal statement can really help to push your case for an elective ahead of others.

5. TOEFL: - I highly recommend giving it if you have time and personally I sent my scores to even those schools who didn’t ask for it. It was a great way to further my application especially with the number of applications increasing every year!  Also the trends that I have been observing are that more and more colleges are making it mandatory. Case in point is SUNY DOWNSTATE and Mt Sinai who initially or say 4 months back did not require TOEFL, but now require it!

6. Malpractice Insurance: - This is particularly a sticky point. Lot of colleges ask for it and the problem is how do you buy it and for how much time, when you have no idea regarding your acceptance in that college. I would suggest e-mailing the coordinator and assure her that once accepted you will buy the necessary coverage and mail it to her. I did this for Jefferson and they obliged!

7. Immunization form: - All colleges usually have the minimum requirement of  titres or history of vaccination for MMR, Varicella (history of past disease is also acknowledged by some colleges) and Hep B . I got my titres done at Metropolis and was lucky to have all of them positive. This made filling of health forms really easy. In case you get negative titres go get vaccinated again and get document of vaccination and send it with your application. It might just work (a friend of mine did it and she did not encounter any problems)

Negative Points 

1.) My colleges are all expensive with high tuition fees but they are all really well known colleges and hopefully the experience will be worth it!

2.)  I have a TOEFL score of 112 which is really good but the problem was that I scored a little low on speaking 24. It did not make a major difference to most of the colleges but I could not apply to NIH where requirement was 26, so I strongly recommend that before giving TOEFL make sure that speaking is good because the rest sections are relatively easy and the minimum score requirement is not very high 

To wrap things up it has been an incredible journey so far and is by no means complete. I would be able to tell you a lot more when I actually attend these rotations. And finally the best advice I can give you is that always be POSITIVE and HOPE for the best! I didn’t come from the best of colleges, did not have a super CV, did not give my step1, my college is not affiliated to any college in the US! But I still managed to get 4 acceptances from really good schools. So go for it my friends and I wish you all the best and May God be with you. As Umar bhai has said it the best 

“Hope is a good thing, probably the best of all the things one could ever come across!!”  

If you have any queries regarding the above write-up/application process/electives  you can post it on the site or mail me at purav.mody@yahoo.com. I would be more than happy to help you to the best of my knowledge. Best of luck!