| 4th Year: Outside Electives Outside Electives are a great opportunity to see other institutions at which you are interesting in doing your residency. They are also a great opportunity to travel and see parts of the country and the world that you may not be able to see again. Students are allowed to do three outside electives during the fourth year. Almost every fourth year student does one outside elective. You will need to balance your budget with the possible rewards of working at another institution. See your specialty in the next section for more information. Now you’re asking, "How do I start?" There are several resources for information. You can start in the library. There is a section of elective guides to several institutions in the country. Ask the librarian where to find these. Another strategy is to use the big green book (NRMP) to get the phone numbers and addresses of institutions you are interested in. You can request that they send their elective guide along with an application for an outside elective, sometimes referred to as an externship. There is also an ever-increasing multitude of Internet sites, some of which are listed in Appendix A. In addition, if you search for "residency" in your specialty you should come across more. Be cautioned that some programs will not confirm your acceptance until MAY as they need to give their fourth years the opportunity to fill them. So, it’s good to plan early, but you may still spend a lot of time waiting around. Also be prepared to pay application and housing deposits/fees. For more information about fourth year rotations, please check out the BUSM OSA Website, at http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/osa under "4th Year Schedule Info."
Ira Galin ’00 Harvard requires you to fill out a form (downloaded from their website) and pay $60. Please fill out many more options than they allow space for. If you are not placed into a spot, you have to pay another $60, and choose another block. Also, the earliest they accept applications is 3 months before the rotation. They typically notify you about 4-6 weeks before the rotation starts. Have a back up!! Secure a rotation at BMC if the away elective falls through. Finally, my CCU rotation was fun, but slow. The hospital is amazing. Lots of ancillary services (yep, you do not have to draw blood!!). The CCU at the BIDMC is continually changing. Call is q4 and because there is an additional cardiology service, we saw really sick patients or patients post cath. You will continue to follow the patients on the medicine floor. You are also required to dictate your patients. There is an afternoon EKG reading session every day.
Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Demetrios Vavvas ‘99 I have done an outside rotation in ophthalmology. Thus I cannot describe the one at BU. However anyone can do an outside elective in ophthalmology. The Ophthalmology rotation at the MEEI where I did mine is targeted not only to people that would like to go in ophthalmology but also to students who would like to know about the general eye exam. I would highly recommend it. I had a very nice time. The rotation involves a morning lecture and the rotations through the different subspecialties of ophthalmology. There you initially observe, and then with time you might also perform exams. The residents and faculty are superb and are willing to teach. In the afternoons you have lunchtime, then library time and then a 1.5 hr of case discussions that were assigned for that day. By 4:30 PM you are done for the day. A 20 min presentation about a topic of your choice in ophthalmology at the end of the rotation is required. The level of the rotation is towards the education of a general physician about the eye rather than making you an ophthalmologist in 4 weeks. The grades are generously given. The rotation is offered three times a year (September and I think April and January.) They can accommodate 16 people each time, thus it is not difficult to get a position.
Dr. Sarfaty is an excellent resource in finding places to go and for obtaining general knowledge about how to set up a rotation. Also, check the Internet for electives, and the Office of Student Affairs is always sending out emails about different programs. BUSM also gives $400 to any student who does an international elective, provided they turn in a short summary on their experience there. Many students do this and everyone agrees that it is an invaluable experience to do a rotation in a country that does not have the same resources that we do.
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