I'm trying to organise my elective. For those non-medics in the house, an elective is a period of study for medical students where you are strongly encouraged to go abroad for 8 weeks and experience healthcare in another country.
Now here comes the sticky part; I have never travelled alone, or in fact really ever. And therefore I'm nervous and scared.
I know where I want to go, but I have absolutely no idea how to go about it and what I need to do. I also need to summon some money from somewhere to get a passport.
So this is where you come in, if you feel helpful. Somehow I need to find in the region of £4000 before next summer to afford to go away, but I also need advice.
Has any medical student out there ever used an organised elective company such as Work the World, Medics Away or Adventure Alternative? Basically, I'm a tad nervous giving all my hard earned bottom wiping money to a random company based on no review, and was wondering if anyone knows of anyone who has used them in the past.
Please send kind thoughts my way, as my nerves are vanishing rapidly.
PS: if you are a company and would like to sponsor my elective, either personally or through advertising on the blog, please drop me an email on bloodystudents@hotmail.co.uk and I'm thanking you all in advance...
6 comments:
Don't you have any friends who you would like to go with? Hahah, you should have got a passport before they tripled the price... silly ID card scheme and all that.
Depending on what you want to do there are loads of grants available.
We're not encouraged to use a company as they are quite expensive and you can usually sort things out cheaper yourself.
Whoa! I've just been thinking about electives too - mine are a while away though. And I wanna go to America, but they'll probably reject me cos I'm too dumb/not American/a suspected terrorist. Ah well.
Will be watching this post to see what advice comes your way though!
P.S. DMS is ALIVE? NO.
yep angry still about- but was out of the loop for a while due to the dreaded exams, and true idiot stylee I've forgotton my blogger password.
Try finding grants - they don't have to be from a medical based charity/foundation - sadly not being UK based anymore I can't help you with where to find them, but I'm sure google will be useful. Also maybe see if the EU has any mobility type grants that may help - its a long shot and I don't think Erasmus will be the one for you but maybe they may have something else. However you will probably need to start applying now for some things.
Umm about going away alone, its hard for the first couple of weeks til you find your feet and then its great. Trust me know - I went to Finland for a year's exchange and loved it so much I returned after finishing my degree and have lived here ever since :) - Just be open minded, do stuff you wouldn't normally do and have fun - try not to think of home too much especially as you won't be away for that long, in my experience those who embrace where they are and don't pine for home usually have the best times! :) Good luck x
Hello!
Work the world have loads of case studies on their website from previous students. It's really easy to book and absolutely no hassle at all to arrange an elective.
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