The United States Clinical Experience

So as I mentioned before, electives are the most beneficial type of USCE. I got so many emails regarding USCE so, I decided to write this thing up, and I try my best to include all the places and update this blog post from time to time. I would highly appreciate it if you guys contribute to this list too.

So we usually have electives, externships, and observerships.

• Elective rotations

It’s the hands-on experience only acquired before getting graduated and the best kind of USCE. Because you can get this in a teaching hospital, university hospital, big-name hospital where you can impress your attendings and get IV(Interview) from the same place. You can touch patients, do procedures, have access to the EMR system, or in short, you can do anything a PGY does.

Mind it- the purpose of having some rotation isn’t only having USCE. It is the chance to get some good LORs and making contacts too.

So, having your rotation at some excellent place matters a lot. You will have contacts at some perfect place and LOR written on good letterhead.

Brand name matters; whether it’s fair or not, it’s what it is.

Usually, doctors know each other in all the teaching hospitals. So if you have a LOR or work experience with some doctor, chances are when you apply for residency, those doctors are well aware of your work and the doctor with whom you worked.

Some renowned hospitals like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo ask for USMLE Step 1 and TOEFL scores. The benefit of these hospitals is their world-class experience, brand name, and free of cost rotation. There will be more options to apply if you have Step 1 scores and some people extend their internship to maintain their undergraduate status.

Some hospitals will accept you without Step 1 and TOEFL, but they are expensive but worth it.

Some places which are accepting applications are-

https://themedkid.family.blog/2020/10/01/where-should-we-apply-for-electives/

• Externships

It is the hands-on experience we can acquire after getting graduated. The drawback of this is not many university hospitals offer this rotation, or even community hospitals don’t. That’s why it’s hard to find one.

We usually get this in some private clinics.

Why electives are better than externships-

• We can have an elective rotation in a University Hospital.
• The fee structure is almost the same; then, we should take the value of our investment.
• We get LOR, USCE from a prominent place. The programs where we apply for residency may or may not know those private clinic doctors.

Most programs have criteria of 3 months of USCE and 3 LORs to apply to their program. You can check Frieda for a better idea.

https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/#/

• Observerships

It’s called shadowing, where you can only observe, can’t touch patients, can’t do procedures.

It is the least beneficial experience.

The only good thing about this kind of experience is getting in some university hospitals. So you can make contacts over there.

However, the tricky part of this experience is that you have to pay the same amount of money, and some programs don’t consider this experience as USCE.

I would highly recommend you look at FRIEDA to know the criteria of programs that applicants they accept.

So, at last, in my opinion, if you are qualified, then to go for elective rotations. If not eligible, then choose from the other 02 options.

Role of organizations

There are so many organizations, agencies that claim to get you USCE after taking such a tremendous amount of money. I would say, don’t go for those. They even don’t clarify that where they will rotate you or it’s some private clinic. I am not saying that rotation isn’t worth it; I’m saying the money isn’t worth it.

Best Tip

Whenever you are in the US for taking Step 2 CS or any rotation, go to the nearby clinics to ask for a position for observership. Some clinics will refuse, but some may offer a position to you free of cost. This is the position for which those organizations are taking such a tremendous amount of money. Moreover, trust me, finding observership isn’t difficult if you are in the US.

At last, thank you for reading this far. Kindly share this with your friends, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me. I will respond as soon as I could.