Summer Medical Electives??

del85

Hi all

So I'm about to go on my summer holidays before final med, and it seems that the trend for many of my classmates is to do a medical elective during the break. I'd love to do one myself, but fortunately I have to spend the summer working to get some cash together for final year.


Basically I'm wondering if not doing an elective over the summer will put me at a disadvantage later on when i'm applying for a training place? Is it important enough that I should try and arrange something even at this late stage?

Cheers guys, would appreciate any feedback!

AndrewJD

Just since no one else has responded, it was my impression that it's a small (but still considered) point in your favour for training schemes if you've been persuing a specialty from an early stage. A neurosurgeon said that to get into neurosurgery these days some kind of interest in medical school demonstrated by an elective was a great asset. Not great evidence for you but something.

del85

I'll take that on board AndrewJD, thanks for the reply

tiredcity

It's obviously a bit different for the North Americans/US-heading Irish who really do require multiple electives to get matches but I did a short GP elective last summer between 3rd&4th year and a second month-long one as a self-selected student placement in final year. I wouldn't say it's a make or break thing but it probably helps in the ol' interviews alright to have a bit extra to natter about if you have something already in mind. Depending on which college you're in you may still have the opportunity (RCSI have the aforementioned SSCA for 4 weeks) and there's always the summer after finishing. If you need to earn money you need to earn money, that's a perfectly legitimate reason not to pursue one this year so I wouldn't worry unduly.