The Ultimate Guide to Medical Elective Grants and Bursaries

Daunted by the idea of finding the cash to fund your medical elective? Feel like it’s not worth the bother? People regularly manage to raise thousands towards their medical electives. Get creative with it, and you might even raise the whole cost of your placement.

Fundraising Events

Fundraising events are the surest way to kickstart your medical elective funding. But how do you make one work? Get clever. Bake sales are great — they can (and do) work. But answer this — Which is easier:

• Selling 100 x £1.50 ($3.00) cakes
• Selling 10 x £15.00 ($30.00) dinner party tickets

By all means, run a bake sale — some people want cake! But please also think bigger. Try hosting ticketed events like film nights, open mic nights, fancy dress parties… The wackier and more original the idea, the better. You can also run a paid-entry competition, give something up for a month, or get people to sponsor you to take a baked bean bath.

Grants and Bursaries

Tens of thousands of pounds are in grant and bursary pots all over the UK. They’re just sitting there. And you can use that money to help your medical elective funding efforts. So how do you access it? First, you need to find out which ones you’re eligible for. Then, you start applying for as many medical elective grants as possible. Each has its application criteria, but you can reuse bits of information to save yourself from writing it out repeatedly. If your application is accepted, the funding body might ask something of you — you might have to write an essay about your time overseas, for example. But otherwise, it’s essentially free money towards your trip.

Finding a Sponsor

Why pay for your trip if you can get a company to sponsor you? If you’re up to it, this is a simple way to give your medical elective funding efforts a significant cash injection. Companies want to be seen in a good light. You can offer them the chance to associate their name with something positive. They might want something in return. You might need to mention them in a social media post, take a photo in one of their t-shirts… You get the idea. You don’t even have to ask them for money. Do you need a new suitcase for your trip? See if the local luggage shop will give you one. Are your hiking boots a bit worse for wear? Contact your local outdoor shop to see if there’s anything they can do to help.

Online Fundraising Profiles

You’ve seen them before — the GoFundMe, JustGiving and EasyFundraising pages. Now it’s your turn. First, choose a platform. They’re all basically the same, but it’s worth reading about terms and conditions, percentages, and so on. Then, you need to get to work writing your page. Some questions to answer —

• What’s your aim?
• Who are you (inject personality)?
• How much do you want to raise?
• Where will the money go?
• Why are you doing this in the first place?

Whatever you write, keep it brief and to the point. Here’s a secret — this is a numbers game. The more people you tell about your fundraising, the more money you will make. So, the most important thing you can do is get your message out to as many people as possible.

Affordable Medical Electives Abroad

Our overseas medical electives start at £1290. If you secure your spot 12 months before you want to travel, you could pay off the balance of your programme fees in instalments of about £30 a week. Sacrifice a few luxuries here and there, and you’ll hit your target without thinking about it. Travel with us, and you’ll get:

• A medical elective tailored to your clinical interests
• Comprehensive pre-departure preparation
• Dedicated (24/7) in-country support team
• Private, catered accommodation

Placement Comparison and Potential Funding

Based on the clinical experiences and destinations available, here is a breakdown of what you can expect:

Clinical Experience in Low-Resource Settings

You can choose the departments where you want to gain clinical experience. These include surgery, A&E, paediatrics, oncology, internal medicine, and a broad selection of other departments. You'll see unfamiliar conditions like tropical infectious diseases and snake bites, and learn how a lack of resources and sociocultural issues affect care delivery. In our partner hospitals, you’ll see how cultural factors affect practices and treatments for the most economically disadvantaged patients. In some of our elective destinations, you can see the role of traditional medicine in a developing healthcare system. You'll benefit from the strong relationships we have with local staff in our partner hospitals. These relationships allow us to offer quality and flexibility of choice in a way no one else can.