internal medicine - tiers and how to arrange electives

[starfish]

hi everyone,

i am a 3rd year med student interested in internal medicine...

i am just wondering what internal medicine programs across the country are strong vs poor..., or what are the 1st tier programs, 2nd tier programs, 3rd tier programs...which program do i have to do an elective at in order to be considered?

and if i were to arrange an elective at one of the schools, do i really have a say in where and with whom i'd like to work with? it seems most schools don't give you any choices... and how do you find out with whom you should work with? I tried to find contacts on the websites, but i can only find who the program director is... should I call/e-mail the program director? does it seem too intrusive (many school say DO NOT CONTACT INDIVIDUAL SUPERVISORS)?

and what's the deal with doing elective in 3 different specialties in order to graduate? does doing subspecialty in IM count as a specialty? somehow, i have this belief that doing subspecialty will not help with R1 internal medicine CaRMS?

thanks!!

[frenchfrog]

Sorry, I can't help you with your main question regarding which program is better.
I do know however that doing an IM subspecialty does NOT count towards the three different fields for electives requirement. It has to be three different CaRMS programs (ie. a field that you can enter as an R1).

As well, it may be written "DO NOT CONTACT INDIVIDUAL SUPERVISORS" but what I've learned so far is that even if the rules explain certain things, they aren't what happens in real life. Though I haven't done this myself, the advice to organize the elective you really want seems to be: contact anyone and everyone who will listen to you.

Good luck.

[copacetic]

i was under the impression that Canadian programs (pretty much all being affiliated with universities) were standardized in quality. there are alot of things to consider. patient volume, breadth of experience, faculty, research opportunities, malignancy, etc. i know that doesnt help much, but the question does not carry as much force behind it as it would if the question were asked from someone in the american system, where there are a whole lot more programs, and the quality is more difficulty to regulate.

[Madz25]

I do know however that doing an IM subspecialty does NOT count towards the three different fields for electives requirement. It has to be three different CaRMS programs (ie. a field that you can enter as an R1).

Good luck.

is this true for all med schools? i got the sense at dal that subspecialties in internal could be considered different disciplines.

[007]

Madz - it is school dependent. At dal different IM subspecialties count as different things.

[Madz25]

Madz - it is school dependent. At dal different IM subspecialties count as different things.

Thanks 007!