Recruitment into child and adolescent psychiatry has always been difficult. Medical students must experience an effective introduction to child and adolescent psychiatry and to its emotional and intellectual satisfactions if they are to consider career opportunities in this specialty. However, the contributions of child psychiatry to the medical student curriculum vary considerably across institutions. The establishment of an undergraduate core curriculum in child and adolescent psychiatry, supplemented by proven effective extracurricular activities, will promote greater exposure of the field to medical students and ultimately enhance recruitment.Abstract Teaser