Away elective questions

[eliteeli]

Hello all,
Sorry for spamming the message board, but I don't know where else to turn (I did try too search through old threads with limited success). I would greatly appreciate advice on any (or all) of these questions.

I have several questions about away electives:

1) My school is on a kind of off-primetime schedule where we start 4th year in April. Is now too early to start reaching out to programs about away electives for next year during the time period of next Apr-May-June-July-August (preferably the earlier part of that time frame)?

2) My school is in NYC, should I specifically try to do aways in other parts of the country (not the northeast)? Meaning, should I intentionally try and do them on the west coast and midwest or something. I am fully open to moving anywhere int he country for residency, do I need to demonstrate this by doing aways far from NY?

3) Is it true that I should not do away electives in other NYC institutions? (I really want to do an away at MSK).

4) I have also heard (from an ENT resident, not plastics) not to do aways at programs you really want to go to because it is easier to screw up than to make a great impression over the course of a month. Do you think this is accurate?

Not about aways: 5) Is it appropriate to reach out to other schools regarding doing research there even though I am not a student? My home institution doesn't have much going on in the way of plastics research.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Valadi]

1, no it's not especially since you're on an off schedule. 2) go where you reasonably would like to wind up. there is no point doing cali aways if you definitely would not want to be there. if you stick to one region, however, other institutions will know you are likely not interested in migrating. 3) don't know much about NYC program feelings toward each other, but I don't think it should be an issue.. especially if you want to stay there. MSK doesn't have a residency, so I would not go there except as a visiting away for fun or letters. 4) sounds like bad advice unless you truly are atriocious in person and really feel the need to hide this as long as you can. going places definitely increases your chance of winding up there, not the opposite. 5) totally. have someone from your institution try to make a connection, if you can. or meet up with people at the ASPS medical student day this fall

 

[Slack3r]

Re: #4 Last year, seems like a good portion of applicants ended up at places they rotated. That can be a huge advantage, especially when a lot of programs have only 1-2 spots. Just be prepared to work hard and be likeable, and you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[eliteeli]

Thank you both so much! I am prepared to work hard, and am a generally likable person by nature, so I will try to rotate where I want to go then!

Based on preliminary discussions with my med school advisor, I am strongly considering taking a research year. Although, she admittedly has very little experience with plastics applicants. Do you guys think this would be a necessary step in getting in?

 

[Valadi]

If you don't have a PRS program at your school, and you haven't otherwise found time to get to know some people who would vouch for you in the PRS field, then yes, I would advise a research year. Go some place with well-known faculty.

 

[eliteeli]

If you don't have a PRS program at your school, and you haven't otherwise found time to get to know some people who would vouch for you in the PRS field, then yes, I would advise a research year. Go some place with well-known faculty.

Thank you. Is there a skew toward basic science vs clinical research one way or the other? I am quite interested in both.
As a medical student with limited exposure, how exactly would I know if a school's faculty are well-known? Based on some googling, I see that NYU seems to have a lot of plastics research going on, would that be a reasonable place to try and start?

 

[Valadi]

Thank you. Is there a skew toward basic science vs clinical research one way or the other? I am quite interested in both.
As a medical student with limited exposure, how exactly would I know if a school's faculty are well-known? Based on some googling, I see that NYU seems to have a lot of plastics research going on, would that be a reasonable place to try and start?

#1. Doesn't really matter.
#2. There's a thread on here about well known faculty. Even though it's pretty old you can probably find it. Or just look for the people on prsjournal.com

NYU is a fantastic program and would be a great place to do your time.