Med Student Electives

[moinmoin]

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So I am planning my 4th year this week and was curious about electives to take. There are some I am interested in taking for certain but was wondering if any of the residents/current 4th years have additional advice. For example, which med school clerkships did you find helpful for residency in derm (if any)? I'd also like to hear thoughts about helpful clerkships for intern year...

Thanks!

 

[asmallchild]

So I am planning my 4th year this week and was curious about electives to take. There are some I am interested in taking for certain but was wondering if any of the residents/current 4th years have additional advice. For example, which med school clerkships did you find helpful for residency in derm (if any)? I'd also like to hear thoughts about helpful clerkships for intern year...

Thanks!

In no particular order,

1. derm elective at home
2. derm elective away
3. dermpath elective (especially for those with no prior experience, it helps to just get the lingo or a general pattern on how to scan slides prior to the start of residency)
4. derm research elective
5. infectious disease elective
6. rheumatology elective
7. allergy elective (limited use)
8. ICU elective (more for intern year)
9. radiology elective (ditto)
10. cardiology elective (again for internship)

 

[swman]

So I am planning my 4th year this week and was curious about electives to take. There are some I am interested in taking for certain but was wondering if any of the residents/current 4th years have additional advice. For example, which med school clerkships did you find helpful for residency in derm (if any)? I'd also like to hear thoughts about helpful clerkships for intern year...

Thanks!

There is also this..

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/1510/originals/year_4_curriculum/armstrong.html

 

[N-Surge]

I'd add Occupational Medicine as another option to consider. Could potentially be useful.

What I did;

1. 2 week Derm at home program
2. 4 week Derm away
3. 4 week Derm away
4. 7 weeks independent research
5. 4 week Path
6. Had another 8 weeks of requirements left in there...
7. 4 week Plastics, almost 100% outpatient elective procedures clinic w/ OR
8. Had another 4 weeks of requirements left at the end!

For PGY1 electives;
Asked for Peds Derm, Rheum, and ID.
Was given Peds Derm, ID, and Hem/Onc, with the last two being my last two rotations before I start Derm! 🙂

 

[moinmoin]

Thanks, guys. Good stuff.

 

[annieh123]

I'm still in my fourth year, so obviously I don't know if this strategy is a good one, but...

I have gotten a ton of advice to get exposure to the things I'm not going to get to do ever again. Presumably, you will be spending the rest of your career studying derm-related things, so use your fourth year to learn as much other stuff as possible! Personally, I took...

Derm at home
Derm away
Anesthesia
Orthopedics
Psychiatry
Cardiology
OB
Geriatrics
Anatomy

I've also had interviewers compliment me on the variety of my schedule!

...Just my $0.02 🙂