Away rotations- what do they do to your residency chances?

[WestCoastPHDStu]

Hello all,
You'll have to forgive me if this is a dumb question- I couldn't find anything in the archives about this.

I'm a 2nd year PhD student on the West Coast, my boyfriend is an M2 on the East Coast. For a variety of reasons, we've decided it will make the most sense if he tries to Match out here and I stay in this area with him once he gets here. Because both of our situations are relatively inflexible, I'm trying to get as much data about the process as I can so we go in well-informed.

We've discussed the idea of him doing an away rotation at my institution in his 4th year to see if he actually likes the surgical department and would be happy here. He's heard rumors that an away rotation leads to an automatic yes or no in terms of Matching and so that therefore it might be too risky. Is there any truth to this? On the one hand I could see if you alienated a bunch of people in the department, but it seems silly to me that actually trying out a program first is a generally bad idea.

Thanks so much!

Bonus question- would telling someone in an interview that he's connected to the area through a SO be a pro ("you're really likely to come here") or a con ("you're partially moving for your girlfriend and not ENTIRELY because of our awesome awesomeness?")

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[bellakk]

I believe that away rotations will positively affect residency chances, unless you do a terrible job. I remember reading an article on SDN about match (although I could not tell you who wrote it (maybe Jessica Something, MD who writes all the time?) and it basically said that when it comes to offering spots to residents, most placed would rather offer a spot to someone who consistantly did a good job (and not even necessarily a fantastic job) that take a chance on someone they had never worked with before. I believe that trying to do a rotation would be a fantastic idea, but just make sure that since he wants to match there (well, assuming he likes it), he needs to give 150% or more. It might be a good idea for him to do more than one rotation in that area of the country.


As far as your bonus question, I think that depends on how many residency programs are in the area. I'm assuming you're from a larger city where there are many residency programs, so as long as he is well informed about why he has chosen that individual hospital/program, I doubt he would be looked down upon for moving to the west coast for his girlfriend. Whenever he is doing interviews/whatever, he should tell the program that he is moving there for a girlfriend because I think that if the program is trying to decide between him and someone with no connection to the area, he might get priority (this kind of depends soley on the kindheartedness of the committee, so it might not be true for that program)

As long as he focuses his interview/statement/whatever on the program itself and not on his relationship and puts forth a little extra effor during rotations, I doubt he would be punished, and might even be given a higher ranking because of moving there for you.

 

[njbmd]

Hello all,
You'll have to forgive me if this is a dumb question- I couldn't find anything in the archives about this.

I'm a 2nd year PhD student on the West Coast, my boyfriend is an M2 on the East Coast. For a variety of reasons, we've decided it will make the most sense if he tries to Match out here and I stay in this area with him once he gets here. Because both of our situations are relatively inflexible, I'm trying to get as much data about the process as I can so we go in well-informed.

We've discussed the idea of him doing an away rotation at my institution in his 4th year to see if he actually likes the surgical department and would be happy here. He's heard rumors that an away rotation leads to an automatic yes or no in terms of Matching and so that therefore it might be too risky. Is there any truth to this? On the one hand I could see if you alienated a bunch of people in the department, but it seems silly to me that actually trying out a program first is a generally bad idea.

Thanks so much!

Bonus question- would telling someone in an interview that he's connected to the area through a SO be a pro ("you're really likely to come here") or a con ("you're partially moving for your girlfriend and not ENTIRELY because of our awesome awesomeness?")

Lot's of stuff between now and match time for the BF. Things change quite a bit for an MS-2 going to MS-3 and then residency application. The next thing is that if you have the grades and board scores, you don't generally NEED and audition rotation. If you do an audition rotation and happen to get paired with a poor team, you can actually ruin your chances of matching.

Some programs (neurosurgery for example) won't match candidates unless they do an audition rotation. Since there are so few neurosurgery residents, they often want to choose among known entities.

Doing an audition rotation does NOT lead to automatic match unless you would have been a good match in the first place and you do a great job. Again, many people "shoot themselves" because they get off to a poor start and end up not being impressive to the PD and faculty especially if they don't get along with the rest of the residents.

The short answer to your question is that it depends on the program and the candidate (grades, board scores and performance). For some folks, they can enhance chances but for most, they are not generally necessary if you would have been a good match in the first place. They hurt your chances if you get off to a poor start or are not a good fit with the rest of the residents.