Advice needed.

[Suki77]

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I did an away rotation after my application for residency was complete. I scored Honors and received a glowing review. Should I mention this at my residency interviews? The rotation was in my chosen field. My concern is that other residency programs will feel I am not really interested in their programs, because the away rotation is also viewed as an audition rotation.

 

[Shikima]

I'm of the humble nature and would bring it up only if it were appropriate to the topic at hand.

 

[psychattending]

You should not really be concerned about whether they think you are interested or not in their program. The program should be ranking you on how they perceive you will do in their program. If it does come up, I would just explain why you did the away rotation, e.g. "it is in my home town and my parents are pushing me to go there so I wanted to see if I really liked it. However in the end I will be making my decision based on ....." Getting an honors on one rotation will not have a major impact on how you are perceived. I would probably not bring it up unless it fits nicely in the conversation. If it fits in awkwardly it can be seen as a negative.

 

[notdeadyet]

Getting an honors on one rotation will not have a major impact on how you are perceived. I would probably not bring it up unless it fits nicely in the conversation. If it fits in awkwardly it can be seen as a negative.

Agree with this. For most programs, they look at how many honors you received in your third year clerkships, because everyone has finished their third year clerkships, so you can compare apples to apples. Also, many programs provide scales showing how many people honored each clerkship so we get an idea of scale. Also, in fourth year rotations, the threshold for honoring is set pretty low. I would only bring it up if it came up organically ("So... how can you be certain psych is right for you?").

 

[Suki77]

Thank you for your replies.

 

[Suki77]

Thank you for your replies. During my third year rotation I did well, but did not receive Honors in my chosen field. My mom was seriously ill in the hospital, near death, and I was traveling 2 hours each day,each way, to see her. Later, I chose the away rotation to validate my interest and ability in my chosen field .Now I am not sure if it would be appropriate, helpful, or detrimental to mention my Honors away rotation. The above consensus seems to say not to mention it unless it can be brought up in conversation. Given this new information does this still hold?

 

[Shikima]

Yup.

 

[psychattending]

Yes. If they happen to ask you about your clerkship grade, you can then launch into an explanation.