Multiple USCEs is important for diversifying your clinical experience and expanding your clinical knowledge. For foreign-trained medical graduates, more than one USCE helps you stand out on your residency applications by deepening your familiarity with the U.S. healthcare system. However, multiple clinical experiences are not always the most accessible option for students and graduates. This is especially true for those traveling from outside of the U.S. As part of our continuing mission to make medical education more accessible, we have introduced a new feature to help you find multiple U.S. clinical experiences. The feature is called Bundles, and they can be found through the blue filter at the top of the program search page as shown below.
What are Bundles?
Bundles are themed clinical experience packages. When booking, you have the option to book two or three programs together. In turn, you will save on each program. Better yet, the more programs you book, the more you save.
Different than the Itinerary feature that lets you “link” programs together, bundles are pre-selected programs that fit into a theme. Each theme helps you further your clinical experience in a certain specialty or serves a certain purpose. Are you looking for more telehealth experience? Consider the Virtual Bundle. Want to earn more letters of recommendation on hospital letterhead? Book programs in the Hospital Letterhead Bundle. Or maybe you’re just looking to earn some clinical experience while you take on the Great American Roadtrip? There’s a bundle for that!
What are the benefits?
If you are already planning on doing multiple U.S. clinical experiences, bundles offer you the immediate opportunity to save on two or three of those programs. If you were not planning on doing multiple clinical experiences, bundles offer multiple other benefits beyond the savings.
Earn multiple LoRs
AMO clinical experiences provide you with a merit-based letter of recommendation. Not only are LoRs necessary for your residency application, but it also matters who is writing your letters of recommendation. Doing multiple U.S. clinical experiences is a great opportunity to earn multiple LoRs from board-certified U.S. physicians in a relatively short period of time.
Diversify your clinical experience
While some themes are focused around a certain specialty, others are focused on certain geographic areas or popular programs. This means that you can use a bundle to explore different fields and narrow down the specialties you apply to during your Match season. Bundles such as the Big Apple Bundle or even The Traveling Lab Rat offer clinical experiences in three different specialties.
But do not underestimate the value a specialty-specific bundle. These are great opportunities to explore a new field of medicine.
With 11 bundle themes, there’s a bundle opportunity for everyone. Find yours here.
