Monday, October 22, 2007

Electives Disaster

So,
I got an email last week about an elective I applied for at U of T. It seems that my first choice has been turned down. That started a whole cascade into a panic attack for me and now I constantly have this sea of "what if's" in my head about having my other 2 choices turned down. U of T has a bit of a different system from other schools. Basically, if you know someone in the department you want to do an elective in, you can circumvent the system and arrange electives privately with that person. This means that you basically jump the que ahead of people like me who don't know anyone at U of T. This means that even if I got my application in in plenty of time, I could possibly not get an elective because other people have connections. This is stressing me out. I wish I'd known about his earlier and could have canvassed everyone I know in Toronto to see if they knew an emerg doc at Sunnybrook or North York General. As it is, I'm at the mercy of the electives coordinator. Sigh.

And, I was stupid and lost my copy of my McMaster elective form and am now having a brain meltdown because I'm not sure if I applied for a 3 or a 4 week elective there. It looks bad for me to contact them and ask how long an elective I applied for! But, I need to fill all 10 weeks of electives so might have to pick up an extra 1 week elective at my own school to fill that last 1 week slot. Argh. I wish I'd been more organized when i was filling out all of this paperwork. Unfortunatly, the talk we got that gave us all of these great tips about being organized when applying for electives happened after I'd already applied for all of mine. Bah Humbug!

7 comments:

XE said...

Oh dear! I sure hope it all works out -- that seems like a really unfair system they have going on at U of T though. I hate it when some people get major advantages just because of who they know rather than the work they've done, but I suppose that's life.

Dr. J. said...

Here is a hint.....the greatest 1 week elective available at your particular med school is the one week elective in completion of the Phase IID project. Yes, maybe you're already actually done that project, but really that's besides the point... ;o)
If you are really keen to actually do something for a week a good option is in the emergency eye clinic (aka. how to use a slit lamp 101).
Have fun!

XE said...

P.S. Someone who looks *just* like you walked past me in the library 2 seconds ago, except her hair was lighter than in the pictures you had posted before. You're not at my school for a conference or something are you? If it was you, that would be cool :)

Midwife with a Knife said...

You know, I never learned enough about eyes in medical school. Eyes and neuro.

That does sound like a terrible system!!

David said...

That system does kinda suck. If it is any hope, i had a similar issue last year and on spec emailed the head of the Dept of Anaesthesia at one hospital locally who said he'd be happpy to have me, as they didn't get many applications but wanted to get into electives teaching. i had a great summer with loads of contact with patients and staff, and as much or little skills practices as I wanted. Maybe try just emailing a named person in a department and circumvent the system yourself! :)

Anonymous said...

Ohh that sucks, hope you manage to sort it out. Fingers crossed for you dude...

Calavera said...

Er, how is that fair at all? It's so annoying, but it seems to be the case for a few things here, too... as in, it's all about The People You Know...

I totally understand your panic. I hate it when I don't know what plans for major things are. Personally, I like every last detail seen to - it would totally freak me out to not have something like this totally sorted.

I hope it goes well for you, however, and that you eventually remember what you applied for! If you don't - I would advise you to just forget about your self-respect and pick up the telephone and ask them. Seriously.

I doubt they would even care or remember who you are.