away rotation necessary?

[hopefulent]

Is it essential to do an away rotation? By the #s, I am an OK applicant: 250 step 1, mostly H's in clerkships, attend a school with a well-known ENT program, have 2 ENT publications. I do not have a specific program or geographic area in mind for residency. Med school is and undergrad was in the northeast.
2 concerns:
1. It appears that some programs may take mostly/only students who rotated there (http://otolaryngologyresidencyapplicants.yuku.com/reply/11269/Best-Place-for-an-Away#reply-11269). Can an applicant effectively lock oneself out of a program by not rotating there?
2. Would west coast programs look down upon my application since I don't have strong ties out there?

I don't know if either of these merits an away rotation, but wanted to ask the masses. Thanks!

 

[gstrub]

I will give you my opinion, but there are others with more experience.

No, it is not "necessary" by any means to do an away. If you have a well known ENT program, your LORs will likely be coming from big name people, and that helps. Aways can help or hurt...for me I did the aways to gain perspective on what bigger, more academic programs were like. I also got a LOR from a "big name" because I come from a smaller, less well known program, and wanted outside confirmation of my potential. You will by no means lock yourself out by not rotating. You can, however, lock yourself out by rotating there and not impressing everyone.

And as far as regional preference goes, I've heard mixed stories, but I will tell you my take. I am from the southeast, have no ties to the west coast, rotated on the east coast only, got several interviews on the west coast, and matched on the west coast. That being said, the people I know who went out of their way to rotate on the west coast were all getting interviews from out there.
Not sure of any of that helps, but good luck.
-G