away elective for anesthesia in CA?

[spacemanspiff]

Hey guys,

I'm currently a 3rd year at a school in the southeast and I'm trying to move back to Cali for residency. I want to do some away rotations in my 4th year in CA to better my chances.

What types of electives should someone like me who is interested in anesthesia pick? I'm assuming anesthesiology related right?

Does anyone know of some good programs to do away rotations at? I'm looking to be in the LA area where I'm from. I'm willing to go to San Diego or SF also. Thanks!

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[WhoopDeeDoo]

If you are interested in anesthesia, you should do away electives in anesthesia (general, peds, OB, pain, etc) or ICU (especially if anesthesia faculty attend in the units). You can usually go to the course catalog for a school's 4th year electives and look under the department of anesthesia for their offerings.

I believe that San Diego doesn't really encourage you to do an away as a way to increase your chances of matching there.

UCSF has a special month long advanced anesthesia rotation specifically for visiting students. I did a month there and you can PM me for details.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I am a student at UCSD and also did the visiting rotation at UCSF. Feel free to PM me as well.

 

[y2janitor]

anyone do an away elective at UCLA?

 

[scotchnwater]

Anybody who heard/knows differently feel free to respond to this, but I heard on the interview trail that at UCSF they did a good job of insulating you from the selection committee if you do an away rotation there. I.e., it might not really help you get a leg up if the people making the decisions don't even get a chance to know you.

I found my away rotation (not in California) more useful to audition the program rather than vice versa. After a month in the south I realized I would never be comfortable living there and withdrew all my applications from that area. Another classmate had a similar experience with another program in another state. So I guess the point is that the 'audition elective' can be as helpful to your decision making as it is to helping your chances at a program.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Anybody who heard/knows differently feel free to respond to this, but I heard on the interview trail that at UCSF they did a good job of insulating you from the selection committee if you do an away rotation there. I.e., it might not really help you get a leg up if the people making the decisions don't even get a chance to know you.

That was my experience. They tell you this when you show up.

It is still an excellent way to see UCSF and decide if it's really the right choice for you. For me it was not, and I don't know if an interview day alone would have given me this perspective.

 

[WhoopDeeDoo]

That was my experience. They tell you this when you show up.

It is still an excellent way to see UCSF and decide if it's really the right choice for you. For me it was not, and I don't know if an interview day alone would have given me this perspective.

I second this. I actually went into my away rotation knowing that I didn't REALLY want to go to UCSF, but I thought it would be a good learning month and a good way to see if I would like San Francisco and UCSF.

Call me crazy but I did not like San Francisco and I KNEW after 1 week that UCSF was not a good fit for me. I canceled my interview there. Nonetheless, it was a good learning experience and it's a pretty well organized visiting rotation.

 

[xjohns1]

i'm a ca-2 at ucsf and am happy to give a resident's perspective on the visiting student rotation here. pm me if you'd like.

 

[A-non-y-mous]

Anyone do an AI at Stanford?