Away electives and matching

[YAGman]

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If I do an away at a program that is located in the same city as my medical school, does this limit my chances of matching elsewhere, outside the city? Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Light]

Random, i don't know if it is true or not...but i was told if you are from the West coast, it's good to do an East coast away rotation in order to "show" residencies that you are interested in leaving the west and willing to travel to another location. While i was told this, i didn't follow through with it due to the immense cost of doing an east coast away...though at virtually every non-west interview i was asked if i would really come out to their program given my history of being on the west. Extrapolating, i would assume this applies to East coast people trying to come to the West coast...i don't know about the mid-West.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

If I do an away at a program that is located in the same city as my medical school, does this limit my chances of matching elsewhere, outside the city? Anyone have any thoughts?

I don't think so. A good example is Wilmer in Baltimore. If you're from U of Maryland and complete the one-month rotation at Wilmer, I don't think this limits you.

I think letters of recommendation and who advocates for you are significantly more important.