Audition Overkill?

[PCOM06]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm finishing my 3rd year and just came off of a month of anesthesia and fell in love with it. I'm trying to set up my 4th year and read through a lot of old posts, but was hoping to directly address 2 issues and would appreciate some advice:

I have 5 months of electives from July through November. For those of you who went through this process, is it more valuable to spend time auditioning to see what programs match my personality/style or is it better to do various rotations like SICU and pulm/cards? Where should the balance be?

Also, what book do you recommend to serve me through my 4th year tour? Is it a better idea to study the principles behind anesthesia (pharm and phys of anes), read a residency book (basics of anes) or use the lange book (clinical anes)?

Thanks to all for your help! For those of us rising 4th years who are trying to sort through things, this forum is great resource and people's input is much appreciated!

 

[VentdependenT]

I'm finishing my 3rd year and just came off of a month of anesthesia and fell in love with it. I'm trying to set up my 4th year and read through a lot of old posts, but was hoping to directly address 2 issues and would appreciate some advice:

I have 5 months of electives from July through November. For those of you who went through this process, is it more valuable to spend time auditioning to see what programs match my personality/style or is it better to do various rotations like SICU and pulm/cards? Where should the balance be?

Also, what book do you recommend to serve me through my 4th year tour? Is it a better idea to study the principles behind anesthesia (pharm and phys of anes), read a residency book (basics of anes) or use the lange book (clinical anes)?

Thanks to all for your help! For those of us rising 4th years who are trying to sort through things, this forum is great resource and people's input is much appreciated!

I personally wouldn't do more than two anesthesia rotations. Keep in mind that you do NOT need to audition at the place you want to match at. I'd take SICU and whatever else ya like outside of that.

Lange book is great but its somewhat chubby. I'd grab the Basics book and the little Current Clinical Stratagies Handbook of Anesthesiology (bout 16 bucks) for in O.R. stuff (quick pharm review, dosages, goals for cardiac/hepatic cases, etc). Duke is a nice adjunct (anesthesiology secrets).

 

[PCOM06]

So do you think the function of the audition is purely for resume (honors and LOR)? (I had considered rotating at the 4 programs I am most highly considering)

Was there any value in you getting to see a program for a month compared to the one interview day, or was the month overkill?

Was there any value in them getting to see you for a month, or was the app and interview day sufficient to convey who you were?

 

[2ndyear]

I'd go off of your preconceived thoughts on matching. First decide basically where you want to be, ie high powered university setting and won't be happy anywhere else, or must be west-east coast, etc. If you absolutely have to be in California then do a rotation there, same goes for NYC, etc. Next decide where your application is strong and weak. Board scores good enough for anywhere? Fine, the rest is easy. Pick a dream spot and go for it. OK/borderline board scores but still think you'll match somewhere? Then maybe do 2 rotations. One more at a 'reach' spot and one more backup. And this is more if you're at the borderline spot on the board scores, if you're near avg then 1 is fine. Get the letter and call it done.

So do you think the function of the audition is purely for resume (honors and LOR)? (I had considered rotating at the 4 programs I am most highly considering) I wouldn't do 4. For one thing you have to be 'on' at all times and 4 months when you're a 4th yr. student is a long time to be at your best the whole time. I think the function of auditions is to differentiate you from the pack. You're going to learn some things about the program as well. Letter is also important.

Was there any value in you getting to see a program for a month compared to the one interview day, or was the month overkill? Probably overkill to be honest. I mean there are great resources online like this so you can get a lot of info as to where you'll fit in. Overall though, most people are happy it seemed.

Was there any value in them getting to see you for a month, or was the app and interview day sufficient to convey who you were? I think this could be key at highly competitive places. That being said, I matched at a place I didn't rotate through. Like I said before, just cover your bases with the audition. If you think you'll match somewhere, and this isn't that hard right now, then use the audition as your shot at your dream program. If you think you might not match, and this means that something hasn't gone well in your past, then use it to match somewhere you'll at least be happy.