Choosing Electives recommendation

[eluch15]

My program allows two clinical electives and I am not sure which ones I should choose since I am interested in 4 different electives. My question is should you pick something you might never have the chance to see again and have genuine interest in or something that will be more helpful in job searching and future practice? One option is pediatric endocrinology which I think is very interesting and will have more variety in cases, but is very specialized, thus it might not be helpful for my future job searching. On the other hand, I can choose general endocrinology, but I am afraid that I will get bored seeing mostly diabetes and thyroid cases. However, doing this rotation would help me in most future jobs since diabetes is such a common issue. Plus, a professor said that it is easier to find a job in endo compared to most other specialties. Another professor said I should only choose pediatric endocrinology as an elective unless I know 100% that I want to specialize in pediatric endocrinology. Any advice?

[UGoLong]

Interesting question. Your clinical rotations are unique in terms of lifetime opportunity. Some rotations you will end up liking and some you won't. No matter: learning what you like is the goal! My take is to explore what you can, perhaps like so:

- If there is an area of medicine you think that you might be interested in working, then consider a rotation there.

 -If there is an area of medicine you are sure that you want to work in, consider an extra rotation in that field (but at a different site).

-If there is a treatment setting you haven't been exposed to (remote, rural, suburban, urban. Single provider, multiple provider. Research hospital, training hospital, Level 3 hospital, etc), consider that, regardless of area of medicine.

-If there is another part of the country you'd like to explore, consider that.

It is less likely that you will end of in a rotation that combines all of your wants -- location, size of practice, etc -- so try to explore these settings during your rotations, even if they are in the "wrong" area of medicine for you.

Good luck!