During stage three and stage four of NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s MD curriculum, you complete 20 weeks of elective courses in designated elective blocks. Elective courses are two- and four-week educational experiences that provide opportunities to explore a range of medical specialties. At least eight weeks of your elective time is spent in an elective course outside of your intended area of specialization.

Scheduling Your Electives

To enroll in elective courses, you participate in a lottery twice a year using SOLARIS (Kerberos ID and password required for login).

Elective courses are assigned based on randomly generated student lottery numbers, roster rank, and available seats. Elective lotteries are conducted in multiple rounds until all available elective courses are closed. Learn more about the process in our elective lottery student guide and our manage electives guide.

Elective Course Dates

During the elective lottery, you rank the available elective date blocks based on personal preference. After the lottery closes, you have up until 60 days before the elective start date to drop, add, or modify your elective assignments.

Additional Elective Information

Within the 10-week surgery block of your core clerkships, you have 4 weeks of elective time. This elective time will include a required two-week surgical-related elective (SRE) and a two-week unrestricted elective. For the SRE, you will choose from approximately ten offerings (Kerberos ID and password required). For the unrestricted elective, you can choose any departmental offering even if it’s related to the same topic as your SRE. For example, you can choose a two-week SRE in anesthesia and then register for another two-week anesthesia elective during your unrestricted block. 

A two-week elective is different than a four-week elective. You could register for a two-week elective and at a later date register for the same departmental offering but as a four-week experience—example: a two-week anesthesia elective during your clerkship year and a four-week anesthesia elective during your post-clerkship year(s).

Please note that SOLARIS will not allow you to register for the same two-week (or the same four-week) elective in the same academic year. However, to explore the same subject area within the same academic year, you could register for a two-week elective and then a two-week​​​​​​​ preceptorship in the same field during the same academic year (this also applies for a four-week experience).