Elective Opportunities

Types of electives:
 

A) Official

• Hospital-affiliated electives, must apply through a portal system: 

  • VLSO: USA

  • AFMC: Canada

  • Some American Hospitals have their own portal system (e.g. Cleveland Clinic)

• Cons:

  • Expensive, set dates/weeks, need to wait ~ 6 weeks between submitting application on VLSO and receiving a response if you were accepted

• Note: Canada will only accept Canadian electives if they are Official meaning through the AFMC Portal!! Has no issue with "unofficial" electives in the USA/Ireland though.​

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B) Unofficial

• Organized through personal contacts that you have made

• Can set these up anytime 

• Try to find an elective with a consultant that has hospital affiliations so that the LOR will have this letterhead

• Cons:

  • Due to insurance you may be just observing, but talk with your consultant about what you hope to achieve

 

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How to find an elective?

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• Canadian portal --> AFMC​

• USA portal -->  VSLO

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• 3rd party websites (DISCLAIMER: The information presented here is made available solely for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement):

  • ACE md

  • AmeriClerkships

  • AMOppertunities

  • Chicago Clerkships 

  • List of more on the American Medical Association website

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• UCD Support:

  • Summer Electives Competition

    • North American elective opportunities through our UCD Alumni connections  which are advertised  in November/December each year.

  • UCD School of Medicine is a member of the Universitas 21 Clinical Elective Exchange Programme. The programme entails that:

    • U21 institutions that have a medical degree offer up to 5 short-term Medical Clinical places to U21 students each year, waived from administration fees 

    • Students may also apply for scholarships via this competition

    • Current U21 institutions:

      • Fudan University, Korea University, Lund University, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Tecnologico de Monterrey, University of Auckland, University of Glasgow, University of Hong Kong, University of Queensland 

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• Useful websites with lists of  programs that have offered rotations to IMGs in the past (Note: we have not verified all of the schools listed)

  • https://www.drninalum.com/imgroadmap/programs-that-have-offered-rotations-to-imgs

  • http://electives.us/unilistims.html

  • https://thematchguy.com/blog-img-friendly-surgery-programs/

  • https://thematchguy.com/img-list-internal-medicine/
     

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• Must have malpractice insurance: Check with Medical Protection if they will cover you, if not, you can try Academic Medical Professionals Insurance RRG, as you can get short term protection.

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Receiving LORs

• Be sure that your letter writer can provide you with a "strong" LOR

  • It is good to ask them early in your placement and ask them specifically what you can do to help them write a strong letter (eg. attend certain clinics, present H&Ps, present at journal club, do an audit)

• You should give your letter writer your CV, personal statement, and the UCD "letter for LOR writers" 

  • ​UCD has provided a letter that has all the necessary components for a strong LOR that you can give to your letter writer

• Most residency programs require you to have 1-2 LOR from that specialty you are applying to

• If you are applying to more than one speciality (Eg. Pediatrics and Family Medicine), it is okay to ask your letter writer to slightly tweak  the letter so that it is geared for each speciality

• It takes ERAS ~1 week to upload LORs

  • so be sure to submit the LORs at least 1 week earlier that the actual ERAS application deadline

• If you are having an Irish Consultant write your letters ask them to change the page layout to US size paper (8.5x11)

  • This sounds minor but is very important - ERAS will NOT ACCEPT SIZE A4 LORs!!!​

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