Audition rotations

[axm028400]

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Just curious if anyone can give me any idea how necessary audition rotations are if you want to match somewhere, as it would be really difficult for me to be apart from my husband and child (one year old) for an entire month, much less 2 or 3. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. There are a lot of programs that I am relatively competitive at, and would be an average applicant. Are second looks just as helpful?
Thanks!

 

[md2010sgu]

Just curious if anyone can give me any idea how necessary audition rotations are if you want to match somewhere, as it would be really difficult for me to be apart from my husband and child (one year old) for an entire month, much less 2 or 3. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. There are a lot of programs that I am relatively competitive at, and would be an average applicant. Are second looks just as helpful?
Thanks!

I'm just an MS4, but I did two away rotations for anesthesia, and believe me it helps BIG TIME for residency match. Why? Because you really get to know the people there, they can vouch for you, they see how you perform, and that gives you a HUGE advantage over other applicants with similar board scores, etc...

I'm sure it will be real hard to be away from family, but overall it might be worth it.

 

[gutonc]

Just curious if anyone can give me any idea how necessary audition rotations are if you want to match somewhere, as it would be really difficult for me to be apart from my husband and child (one year old) for an entire month, much less 2 or 3. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. There are a lot of programs that I am relatively competitive at, and would be an average applicant. Are second looks just as helpful?
Thanks!

Impossible to say without knowing what you're going for and what your background is. If you're a Carib grad going for a relatively competitive specialty like Gas (as md2010sgu is) then yes, you should probably do an away or 3. If you're a US grad going for IM, Peds, etc then it's probably a waste of time.

Big picture, the more competitive your specialty and the less competitive your CV, the more important away rotations are.

 

[md2010sgu]

Big picture, the more competitive your specialty and the less competitive your CV, the more important away rotations are.

Yep that pretty much sums it up... aside from being an FMG, I have a pretty impressive CV, but I really wanted to be at these institutions I auditioned at.

 

[dude1344]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but how competitive are spots in away rotations?

 

[MSmentor018]

Just curious if anyone can give me any idea how necessary audition rotations are if you want to match somewhere, as it would be really difficult for me to be apart from my husband and child (one year old) for an entire month, much less 2 or 3. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. There are a lot of programs that I am relatively competitive at, and would be an average applicant. Are second looks just as helpful?
Thanks!

very; look at nrmp stats. it'll tell you what most pds' in each specialty felt was important to them in choosing you for an interview/residency. sure, you can match without it but rotating there could only increase your chances... unless you bomb it, so put on your A game. good luck

 

[rmp]

Carefully decide before signing up to do away rotations!!!!! Nothing is worse than a competitive applicant who shows up and hasn't read a thing on the specialty since their 3rd yr clerkship. I think some applicants spend so much time on applying, securing housing, etc for their aways they forget to prepare so that they appear sharp on rounds, morning report. If you aren't willing to put in the work to be damn near flawless stay at home. Unfortunately every question out of your mouth can be fair game. So the M4 student who ask to scrub out early, text message in sign out, can't present their one patient their following in a clear concise manner, post their note in the chart AFTER the resident has written their am note gets dished by the residents as a slacker and possibly a DNR (do not rank).

So it may sound like a cool idea to do away rotations but before you commit match list suicide take a deep look and confirm that you are willing to commit to DOING THE WORK. If not you run the risk of shooting yourself in the foot and wasting a lot of time, money and hastle.

BTW, this is not a random post, I have seen the above, unfortunately, quite a few times.

Since I'm in the mood to dispense news you can use... For the 2011 applicant class reading this--Please read the website of the programs you are applying to and know at least 3 unique charactericts about that program that motivated you to apply to them. Unless your married with kids, or have serious family constraints, convenient location is not an acceptable response to "why us?"

 

[guv_garfunkel]

Lot's of good information here. I think it's mostly true that the weaker your CV the more you need to do away rotations, but it also depends on your specialty choice like said above. For primary care specialties, you don't really need to worry about doing an away rotation, although it will always help your chances if you go to a place and do awesome. Personally, I think away rotations are over rated.You go to a place and your put under a microsope and every little mistake you make is going to be looked down upon, even if it isn't a big deal. If I was in a situation where I knew I had to do an away I would (IMG, weak CV, competitive specialty), but otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Carefully decide before signing up to do away rotations!!!!! Nothing is worse than a competitive applicant who shows up and hasn't read a thing on the specialty since their 3rd yr clerkship. I think some applicants spend so much time on applying, securing housing, etc for their aways they forget to prepare so that they appear sharp on rounds, morning report. If you aren't willing to put in the work to be damn near flawless stay at home. Unfortunately every question out of your mouth can be fair game. So the M4 student who ask to scrub out early, text message in sign out, can't present their one patient their following in a clear concise manner, post their note in the chart AFTER the resident has written their am note gets dished by the residents as a slacker and possibly a DNR (do not rank).

So it may sound like a cool idea to do away rotations but before you commit match list suicide take a deep look and confirm that you are willing to commit to DOING THE WORK. If not you run the risk of shooting yourself in the foot and wasting a lot of time, money and hastle.

BTW, this is not a random post, I have seen the above, unfortunately, quite a few times.

Since I'm in the mood to dispense news you can use... For the 2011 applicant class reading this--Please read the website of the programs you are applying to and know at least 3 unique charactericts about that program that motivated you to apply to them. Unless your married with kids, or have serious family constraints, convenient location is not an acceptable response to "why us?"

I echo this. I think away rotations can only hurt a good candidate. Additionally, I think unless you are a Caribbean student / IMG, and have some red flags or low scores, doing an away rotation can probably hurt you. You're way new to the hospital (but are in an environment where everyone else on your team knows it well), you're in a new city and don't know how to get around, not necessarily used to the culture of the hospital, etc. Apart from derm and ortho, the vast majority of ranked candidates have *not* done away rotations, and selection committees only have ERAS information to make their decisions. If you're willing to live several months on sympathetic overdrive every single day, then maybe go for it.