about clinical electives?

idontknow · 10-31-2007, 11:02 PM

I will be starting medical school(shifa) this december and i was wondering
if you could tell me if it is possible, as a medical student at shifa, for
me to go for a clinical elective to a medical university in USA during the
break i get after completion of the first year.Or is it that the option of
clinical elective would only be open to me after i complete the third year?
Also are there any pre requisites for these electives (i mean USMLE or
something of the sort?).Plus i am a Pakistani National,does that come in the
way of me applying for these clinical electives?I mean are these just for
the US citizens?

MedGrunt · 11-01-2007, 12:47 AM

Welcome to the forum.
There's actually been quite a few threads that have excellent information regarding electives. Make sure to take a look through the forum and also to use the search function at the top of the page to help you find what you're looking for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by idontknow

i am a Pakistani National,does that come in the
way of me applying for these clinical electives?I mean are these just for
the US citizens?

Yes, Pakistani Citizens are all allowed to apply for clinical electives. Read the following thread to learn more about which schools accept international applicants: U.S. medical colleges that accept international students for clinical electives

Quote:

Originally Posted by idontknow

if you could tell me if it is possible, as a medical student at shifa, for
me to go for a clinical elective to a medical university in USA during the
break i get after completion of the first year.Or is it that the option of
clinical elective would only be open to me after i complete the third year?

You'll want to wait until you've actually had some clinical experience at school before applying for clinical electives. Electives are an excellent learning opportunity but you should already know a lot of the basics.

Please read through this thread: How I Obtained Clinical & Research Experience in the US to learn more about the elective process as i'm sure a lot of your questions have already been asked & answered.

MastahRiz · 11-01-2007, 01:42 AM

Usually you can't do a clinical elective until fourth year, or sometimes even until completely of the fourth year.

Research electives on the other hand, are pretty easy to come by as long as you've finished first year.

While some electives do have pre-reqs, there are more than enough that don't, and those are the ones that foreign medical students usually end up going for.

idontknow · 11-01-2007, 02:47 AM

thank you guys. =)
research electives?
can i know more about these?
any unis in the states that offer these and just requires me to have just passed the first year of med school?

MastahRiz · 11-01-2007, 02:54 AM

those links provided above got all the info you'll need on that stuff. It's probably more than you'll even want to know

idontknow · 11-01-2007, 03:10 AM

Thank you once again.

Those links have got more to do with clinical electives.
i want to know more about research electives, since i want to do sth after completion of the first year of med school (if thats possible?).

And im new to this site so im finding it a tad hard to search up stuff.

MedGrunt · 11-03-2007, 01:34 AM

For the most part the process for applying and finding research electives is exactly the same as it is for clinical electives. You just have to research on your own and find a school that is offering the type of elective you want and then follow their application procedure. It's fairly straight forward.