3rd year DO student needing some advice with where to do my auditions.

[Dr.Bruh]

Context: 3rd DO at midwest school. Average scores (228/560). No red flags, solid ECs with EM leadership and some research.

I've heard of DOs doing their first away at a DO/commumity program as a "warm up" before going into academic places to get experience so they don't look totally clueless. Is this a reasonable idea or should I just try to go to places I truly want to train at and just hope I can shine and not seem behind?

So I have to specific programs I would like to train at and obviously plan on auditioning there (DOs in the program told me if I want to match as a DO I need to audition). But conflicted on where to do my other one. I've done 2 EM rotations but both were at very small ERs. Got to do a ton of procedures and all the charting, but presentation and plan was really disorganized and not emphasized.

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[gro2001]

Context: 3rd DO at midwest school. Average scores (228/560). No red flags, solid ECs with EM leadership and some research.

I've heard of DOs doing their first away at a DO/commumity program as a "warm up" before going into academic places to get experience so they don't look totally clueless. Is this a reasonable idea or should I just try to go to places I truly want to train at and just hope I can shine and not seem behind?

So I have to specific programs I would like to train at and obviously plan on auditioning there (DOs in the program told me if I want to match as a DO I need to audition). But conflicted on where to do my other one. I've done 2 EM rotations but both were at very small ERs. Got to do a ton of procedures and all the charting, but presentation and plan was really disorganized and not emphasized.

Not a DO, but a couple of points I usually make when advising:

1) Having a first rotation somewhere where people might be more generous to you is a good idea. Typically this is your home institution. Then go to your dream program and shine there.

2) Rotating at very different places in terms of type of program (academic/community/county) but also geographically, will both help you figure out and what you like and don't like in a residency program, but will also make you look better. A candidate that has great letters from just small community places is fine, but a candidate that has great letters from a big academic place in the North East AND a small community place in the midwest, AND a county place on the West Coast... now that's a much more appealing candidate. They've proven themselves in a variety of settings and will likely do well wherever.

 

[TTPpentad]

The above poster makes some great points.

When I saw you’d done two EM rotations already, I thought you’d be fine to go straight to auditions, until I saw that presentations and plans were a mess. Those two things can really make or break how attendings view your competency and thus affect your SLOE. I’d do a warmup rotation at a place that will help you hone your presentation skills.

I did 3 EM rotations during 4th year; one as a warmup at a community site associated with a residency program, one at a mixed county/community program, and one at pure academic. It was a great way for me to figure out the type of program I liked and my breadth of choices was noted several times during interviews as a wise decision. I’d highly recommend doing the same thing if you can.

I’m DO in the Midwest too so feel free to PM me with any other questions.

 

[Dr.Bruh]

Not a DO, but a couple of points I usually make when advising:

1) Having a first rotation somewhere where people might be more generous to you is a good idea. Typically this is your home institution. Then go to your dream program and shine there.

2) Rotating at very different places in terms of type of program (academic/community/county) but also geographically, will both help you figure out and what you like and don't like in a residency program, but will also make you look better. A candidate that has great letters from just small community places is fine, but a candidate that has great letters from a big academic place in the North East AND a small community place in the midwest, AND a county place on the West Coast... now that's a much more appealing candidate. They've proven themselves in a variety of settings and will likely do well wherever.

Thank you this is very helpful! My school does have a home program even though its a DO school. I'll look into that.

 

[boolin_1]

The above poster makes some great points.

When I saw you’d done two EM rotations already, I thought you’d be fine to go straight to auditions, until I saw that presentations and plans were a mess. Those two things can really make or break how attendings view your competency and thus affect your SLOE. I’d do a warmup rotation at a place that will help you hone your presentation skills.

I did 3 EM rotations during 4th year; one as a warmup at a community site associated with a residency program, one at a mixed county/community program, and one at pure academic. It was a great way for me to figure out the type of program I liked and my breadth of choices was noted several times during interviews as a wise decision. I’d highly recommend doing the same thing if you can.

I’m DO in the Midwest too so feel free to PM me with any other questions.

can you drop the name of the places where you rotated? I feel like I am super overwhelmed about where to pick. I am also trying to spread out my auditions to as many geographic areas as I can, so that geographic bias can be broken during ERAS submission (also couples matching)