I delayed my psychiatry rotation until my 4th year so that I could do an away elective earlier. I don't think the lack of a psych grade on my transcript affected my application. I did a 2 week rotation at my home school and then did 2 aways in June and July (my school has no residency program). Unfortunately at the time I didn't know about this forum nor did I know about any of the rankings. Combining that with a lack of residents to speak to, I ended up doing aways at places that were ok, but I would have done it differently had I been better informed.
One piece of advice that I would give if you do plan on doing an away rotation: see if you can be assigned to a specific attending for a significant part of your rotation. On my 2 rotations, I was shuttled around between departments, which allowed me to have a more well rounded experience but also only allowed me to work with specific people for 3-4 days at the most. That is obviously not nearly long enough to elicit a letter or recommendation.
Second, don't believe school webpages when it comes to selecting an away elective. Just because the webpage shows no evidence of an opportunity doesn't mean you can't do it. I remember wanting to do an away at Iowa, but I couldn't find anything on the webpage so I assumed they didn't accept visiting students in the department. I was wrong. Contact the departments if you have questions.
Third, if you are going to do an away rotation it may be wise to do a rotation at home first. I know that I gained alot just from the 2 week rotation that I did first and was able to impress the attendings at my next stop.
Good luck!
