Away Rotation - Chances vs Big Name Letters

[TheVagüs]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to see if it makes more sense to pick away rotations based on potential match or for big name letters.

For context, I go to a "lower tier" state school and discovered ortho late (during surgery rotation which ended a couple weeks ago). 250+ step 1. All honors in 3rd year so far. All honors 1st/2nd. Junior AOA. First author published w/ presentations in gen surg, but no ortho research (workin on it!).

I've talked to my home program residents and done a lot of reading through orthogate and sdn, and the advice seems mixed. Should I rotate at big name programs for big name letters or is it better to rotate at smaller programs I feel more likely to match to? Or a mix of both? Our school curriculum runs a bit long (2 years preclinical, 4th year doesn't start until early July) so I'm not sure if I can swing more than 2 aways before everything is due.

Open to suggestions or what's worked for people in the past.

Thanks!

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[ceilingfan019]

Doesn't make sense to go somewhere to rotate just to get a letter from a big name. Either they will not write one for you because they don't know you well enough after 4 weeks of scrubbing with them or they'll write a very generic letter.

Do your research and be very clear about what kind of program you want.

 

[TheVagüs]

Doesn't make sense to go somewhere to rotate just to get a letter from a big name. Either they will not write one for you because they don't know you well enough after 4 weeks of scrubbing with them or they'll write a very generic letter.

Do your research and be very clear about what kind of program you want.

Thanks for the input. One more question. Location is probably more important than anything for my wife and I, so I'm more concerned with that over blue vs white collar, small vs large, fellowship options, etc. Would it hurt me to do 2 aways in one city? It's my hometown, where I went to undergrad, and I have family there.

 

[ceilingfan019]

Thanks for the input. One more question. Location is probably more important than anything for my wife and I, so I'm more concerned with that over blue vs white collar, small vs large, fellowship options, etc. Would it hurt me to do 2 aways in one city? It's my hometown, where I went to undergrad, and I have family there.

Away locations won’t hurt you. Especially if you have a reason like family being in that area.