Correlation between aways and matching

[maniacmed]

Random shower thought that may or may not have been covered in the past but I was wondering if there's any data on the percent of people that match (or at least highly rank) at programs where they rotated. From personal experience I did an away at a program and absolutely loved it and it will likely be my number 1. However I've heard from multiple people who interviewed but didn't rotate at the same program and the consensus is that it sucks. I couldn't believe it. On the flip side I interviewed at a place where a friend rotated. He loves it and told me it would be his top choice however I didn't think it was all that great. I know there's alot of factors involved including personal fit and style of training but anecdotally it seems like a majority of the people I know tend to want to match at places they rotated. Its just so hard to accurately judge a place based off one interview day +/- random input from the internet or friends that I feel like there has to be a high percentage. Curious on yalls input/experiences.

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[Psai]

Well if you liked it, why do you care what other people say? You have to do what you think fits you.

 

[maniacmed]

Well if you liked it, why do you care what other people say? You have to do what you think fits you.

I may have misrepresented what I was trying to say...I could give 2 sh-ts what other people think. It has zero impact on where I match and I am (somewhat selfishly) pleased they didn't like it, just increases my chances of matching. I was more curious on what peoples thoughts were on the impact of the away rotation and if people tend to match (aka like aka rank highly) places they rotated at as well as if there was data to support this observation.

 

[cbrons]

So basically the question is "what is the likelihood of matching at a program you did an away rotation at?"

??

 

[Psai]

I don't know about data but an away is like a month long interview. If you look better on paper than in person, it's better not to do one. If you're a great person to work with, you are more likely to get an interview and more likely to match because they already know that they want you. It's difficult to quantify.

 

[DarkHorse22]

for an N=1, I rotated at my top choice and subsequently matched there. As said above, if you work hard and make a good impression over a month, I think you are much more likely to match. devil you know vs. devil you dont know kinda situation.

 

[red10]

I think it's pretty obvious that if you rotate and are well liked there's a good chance they'll want to keep you. If you rotate and no one likes you, you can be sure not to match. If you're somewhere in the middle, well then each program will have to decide do they wanna get the person who looks great on paper and risk it, or do they want the person who they know was kinda meh. Hard to judge if you land in the middle.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I think it's pretty obvious that if you rotate and are well liked there's a good chance they'll want to keep you. If you rotate and no one likes you, you can be sure not to match. If you're somewhere in the middle, well then each program will have to decide do they wanna get the person who looks great on paper and risk it, or do they want the person who they know was kinda meh. Hard to judge if you land in the middle.

and the converse is true -- if you rotated somewhere you get to know the people and have a much greater understanding of the personalities and how the ER works. if you know nobody and didn't rotate somewhere, then you have 4 hours to try to figure it out during an interview. which one do you think a candidate is more likely to get warm and fuzzy from and thus more likely to rank higher

 

[BoardingDoc]

I think it's pretty obvious that if you rotate and are well liked there's a good chance they'll want to keep you. If you rotate and no one likes you, you can be sure not to match. If you're somewhere in the middle, well then each program will have to decide do they wanna get the person who looks great on paper and risk it, or do they want the person who they know was kinda meh. Hard to judge if you land in the middle.

The only part I'd comment on about this is the middle of the road people. If you do great, I think you have a decent chance of matching. If you were bad, you're obviously screwed. If you're somewhere in the middle, I'd argue that you're still screwed. The argument being that if you're on an audition rotation, you're ostensibly showing your absolute best effort. If your best effort is mediocrity, we don't want you.

 

[Cinclus]

How about students who rotate well and get great letters but underperform on the "official" interview? SO MANY VARIABLES.

 

[Cinematographer]

How about students who rotate well and get great letters but underperform on the "official" interview? SO MANY VARIABLES.

Yeah, I personally don't think that there is much objective data that could be used to answer the OP's poorly worded question.

However, from conversations I had with residents during my away electives, I can offer this much insight:

• A High Pass at a place you would like to match into is not necessarily a death sentence. You can still match at a program at which you did not get honors (assuming the rest of your application is pretty good).
• Some programs don't even offer "automatic" interview invitations to their visiting medical students
• To some programs, your boards/AOA status/clerkship grades and ties to the community are far more important that having rotated with them for four weeks

Best of luck.