Away Rotation Geography

[AA|FCB|DOC]

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Hi all,

I had a general question about away rotations. I am a California resident, but I am currently going to school in the east coast and will be doing my home ophthalmology rotation in the east coast. However, I was thinking of doing 2-3 aways in the California to try and increase my chances of getting an interview at California programs. I highly prefer to return to California, but I also know how hard it can be to match in general and even harder in California. I have heard some things that programs in other parts of the country will not consider me as much if I did all my aways in California. Is this something many have heard or know to be true? I definitely want my highest chances to match in CA, but I do not want to do it at the expense of not matching at all elsewhere.

Thanks for any input or advice.

 

[Bronze Medal]

I think doing all of your away rotations in CA sends the message that you want to be in CA. This might make it harder at interviews to convince non-CA programs that you are truly interested in matching at their program. If you end up ranked to match at a CA program this won't be a problem. However, if you fall past those programs on your rank list you may hamstring yourself. Just my opinion.

 

[AA|FCB|DOC]

yea this is sort of my worry. One thing I heard though is programs do not even know where you did your away unless you got a letter, but I am not sure if this is true. I will be getting a letter from my home school in the east coast, and so I thought if combined with two other letters from california programs, that should hopefully not damage my chances at other programs as much. I also think if I do a third away rotation it will be in September so it might be too late to get a letter from that non-CA program as well.

 

[cooksgenes]

I think doing all of your away rotations in CA sends the message that you want to be in CA. This might make it harder at interviews to convince non-CA programs that you are truly interested in matching at their program. If you end up ranked to match at a CA program this won't be a problem. However, if you fall past those programs on your rank list you may hamstring yourself. Just my opinion.

I agreed with this wholeheartedly. Programs do pay attention on where you do your aways (based on the discussion I had with my home PD and my own experience this cycle)

 

[DrZeke]

Maybe 1 rotation in California. Is the rest of your application strong? That's really the question. Because then aways can just hurt you if you have a monster app. If you are California resident and you have all the right stuff and you just do one away or even just write a letter saying - hey im really interested in being closer to home and they already like your app, they will interview you. If you are below average or have red flags or deficits, that's where things become tough.

 

[cooksgenes]

I agreed with Dr. Zeke. Doing 2 CA rotations like you plan in the other thread is already overkill. Again, these CA programs don't care if you do rotations with them when it comes to interview invitation. A letter of intent + something in your app that tells them you're from CA might be more helpful!