Being a student at a Pakistani medical college myself, I know that to practice in America I will need to have a somewhat competitve application after graduation in order to secure a residency spot in the field of my choice. After talking to some professors and figuring out what I needed to make myself a competitive applicant I realized that after USMLE scores the two most important things were hands on clinical experience and participating in research electives, both in American hospitals. So last year I had the chance to visit two US hospitals and participate in a clinical and research elective. The first hospital where I participated was Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. At that time I was interested in Pediatrics so I went to the Hopkins website and began searching for faculty in the different pediatrics departments and wrote down their names. Then in order to contact them I had to search for their e-mail addresses. The e-mail addresses are not always easy to find and Hopkins' site is no exception. In order to find out the e-mails of the people I wanted to work with, I found
this site where I was able to search by doctor name and get a corresponding e-mail address. After finding e-mail addresses of all the people who I would write to regarding the opportunity for a research elective I drafted an e-mail in which I could change the names of the physicians easily and send out to multiple receipients. In the e-mail I was sure to include:
- which year of medical school I was in at the time
- how much previous clinical/research experience I had already obtained at my home school
- the fact that I would be responsible for all costs associated w/ housing, transportation, and registration (if required)
- and that I am very interested in the field in which I am applying and am seriously considering pursuing it as a career choice
All pretty much common sense stuff but from what I've seen, it really does boost your chances in securing a spot. The next thing to do is e-mail as many people in a department or in different departments as you can. You're working on the shotgun approach here---you send out 15-20 e-mails and hopefully will get a response back from about 3-5 of them. Many times doctors are simply too busy to cater to a medical student and therefore the more people you get in touch with, the better your chances are of getting accepted. Once a doctor e-mails you back expressing interest in having you with his or her department it is your duty to foster that line of communication and maintain it until you actually do go for your elective. Doctors are simply too busy to have the time to follow up after your request for an elective so the name of the game here is persistence. Many times requesting to be put in touch with the doctor's secretary can help you out a lot in figuring out what paperwork you need to send and where's the best place to secure housing. Be sure to send in all your paperwork as soon as possible and if you require a visa give yourself at least 90 days before you have to go in order to apply (especially if you are male). If you request Johns Hopkins International Student Center to send you an official letter confirming your elective dates, you can submit that as proof to the US Embassy which will make it much easier for you to obtain a B1/B2 Travel Visa. My experience at Johns Hopkins in the Pediatrics Ophthalmology department was wonderful and I encourage everyone else who is looking for a place to do an elective to apply to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. After you've gotten in touch with the doctor you intend to work with, contact the Office of the Registrar via
their website and request the paperwork you need to complete in order to be a
Visiting Medical Student. Last but not least, keep in close contact w/ the registrar's office, the physician and the US Consulate and if you get your Visa for travel to the US, you should be all set to arrive at Johns Hopkins and partake in some of the most intriguing and ground breaking research happening in the United States.
I apologize if any of this is unclear--I wrote it up in a hurry but please feel free to ask any questions you have! Also others who have already done research/clinical electives elsewhere, please let us know about them and how you were able to get them!
