observerships

[fabtulika]

hello guys,
i have given my step 1 exam and i am going to start applying for observership.
i had certain queries, please do help out.
1) most of the online observerships have a tuition fee which are fairly costly, is there any way around that?
2) can private medical practitioners provide observerships or it need to be a hospital affiliated with a university? which has better value?
3) If you guys have done observerships and would be kind enough to share the doctors who provided you with them, i will be really grateful.

thanks

[dsrp]

Originally Posted by fabtulika

hello guys,
i have given my step 1 exam and i am going to start applying for observership.
i had certain queries, please do help out.
1) most of the online observerships have a tuition fee which are fairly costly, is there any way around that?
2) can private medical practitioners provide observerships or it need to be a hospital affiliated with a university? which has better value?
3) If you guys have done observerships and would be kind enough to share the doctors who provided you with them, i will be really grateful.

thanks

Hi
1) some observerships are free, others are costly. You need to be persistent till you find the one you are comfortable with.
2) Its always better to rotate in a university hospital because you have the option of interacting with residents there and making contacts who get possibly help you out in the future; also good letters from people in reputed university programs could really help your application for residency.
3) There are several ways to obtain an observership. You can apply for programs online or via paper (like cleveland program). Most people have contacts who are either working in university programs or private clinics. Find out if you know such people; almost everyone has a friend or distant family member practicing in the US and more often than not they would gladly help you out. If you do not have any contacts, you need to start sending e-mails to professors working in university or community programs requesting for observerships. Its a tedious process, but I know several people who did an observership at really good places just by doing this. Look at medical schools in the place you are interested in, go to their websites and start sending requests. Something will eventually click. Good luck