Away rotations

[Name of member]

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now that decent amount of vsas are open. Anybody hear back from any places for EM always yet?

 

[resusrookie]

I have applied to several, and have not heard back from any yet.

 

[hoot504]

It's early yet. Give it time

 

[Fox800]

I've applied to about ten places. I've only heard from two.

 

[WalkingCorpse]

I wish they would do away with vsas. It's just another way to suck money out of med students.

 

[Cinclus]

Most of the places I'm interested in applying to don't start accepting apps until May, so I have only submitted 3; haven't heard back from any, but I only started submitting last week.

 

[DarkHorse22]

It's early yet. Give it time

this. still early, they will get back to you. and I agree, just another money making opportunity.

 

[Alejandro]

Heard back from a couple so far.

Also, I feel VSAS does save some money on our end, because applying outside VSAS seems to be a bigger pain and some of the places cost a lot just to apply (not to hold a spot)

 

[wololololololo]

Heard back from a place that opened 4/1. They gave me a week to accept/decline.

 

[resusrookie]

Do they let you know early on if you are denied? Or do they just hold out until there is no time to apply to more? Just wondering if I should have applied to more institutions? I currently have sent out apps to 8. Should I spin up another 5 or so applications?

P.S I have not heard back from any institution yet...

 

[Alejandro]

I feel it depends on your competitiveness for the program to some extent but its hard to predict that. I think it can't hurt to put more in and turn some down after you hear back, as long as you remain professional about it. After I heard back from some, I started to co tact the coordinator and let them know to remove my name from the list, and just be nice about it. Just remember to not leave a negative impression as anything could theoretically affect residency apps.

 

[bonedrone14]

Anyone else still waiting?

 

[BoardingDoc]

I wish they would do away with vsas. It's just another way to suck money out of med students.

I don't think you've thought this through. You want every program out there to just charge its own fees and come up with its own application? I guarantee you that if it was done that way you would A: spend vastly more time on customized applications and B: spend far more money on application fees. I'm sure this point is already readily apparent to everyone who has already applied to positions that are not listed on VSAS.

In this case, the devil you know is a hell of a lot better than the devil you don't.

 

[gutonc]

I don't think you've thought this through. You want every program out there to just charge its own fees and come up with its own application? I guarantee you that if it was done that way you would A: spend vastly more time on customized applications and B: spend far more money on application fees. I'm sure this point is already readily apparent to everyone who has already applied to positions that are not listed on VSAS.

In this case, the devil you know is a hell of a lot better than the devil you don't.

It used to be done that way. It sucked. VSAS may suck but it's better than the alternative.

 

[Alejandro]

Yep. I've applied to both VSAS and non-VSAS programs, VSAS ones takes the cake easily. non-vsas requires way more work, and the fees are usually just to apply, not to hold a spot. Also, you need your school to produce all of the necessary forms, etc for each program. THAT IS, a pain in the rear. You'll have to end up asking for more work from the school to produce your away app for non-vsas programs which ultimately burdens them, and in return, makes your application have a higher likelihood of being delayed.

What would be nice, however unlikely to happen, would be a universal immunization form-just have everyone geta 2-step ppd, and have a benign physical. I bet most of us can go to student health just to get one done for like 30 bux or something. Uploading each institution's immunization form is seriously not sexy. That said, vsas or not, still gotta do them.

I think people are definitely starting to hear back now. Even my friends from other away-friendly specialties (ortho/uro) are starting to hear back too. But again, just depends on when you applied, i feel. If you peruse through SDN, there has been some talk about maintaining some level of conversation with your away programs to make sure that they're aware of you being interested in their program. Can work as a double edged sword tho.

I definitely did that for mine and I'm pretty sure it helped secure my 2 spots. Might be too late to get started but if there are any programs starting in may, might not be bad to let them know what's up.

 

[Fox800]

No love for July so far, this is rough. I've sent out 9 apps for that month, got 2 rejections and 2 "we're full" --> wait list.

Wondering if I need to spin up a few more applications.

 

[alpinism]

No love for July so far, this is rough. I've sent out 9 apps for that month, got 2 rejections and 2 "we're full" --> wait list.

Wondering if I need to spin up a few more applications.

July is rough since most schools have their home students rotating then.

If you're thinking of sending out more apps, I'd do it earlier than later.

(might also be worth it to email program coordinators to ask about availability)

 

[Cinclus]

Got my first offer last week for July. I am very grateful and relieved. Applied about 3 weeks before that, a full month after this place started accepting. I thought I had thrown $15 away by applying to them 1 month late (...but I really wanted to apply to them), and hey. Now that I'm relieved about that, I'm having trouble deciding when to take step 2, since I have no free time until October...I could free up time by declining to do a 3rd EM rotation (a 2nd away) and take it in early September, but I feel like 2 aways has become the standard. Any thoughts on number of aways? Would I be OK with two total, or is 3 preferred? How about 3rd EM rotation/SLOE vs. having a Step 2 CK score 1 month earlier?

 

[hoot504]

Take Step 2 in September (it sounds like you'll have two SLOEs at this point), then do your 2nd away rotation.

I took Step 2 late, and although everything worked out fine, it royally sucked having that test hanging over my head throughout my EM rotations (and interview season)

 

[Cinclus]

Take Step 2 in September (it sounds like you'll have two SLOEs at this point), then do your 2nd away rotation.

I took Step 2 late, and although everything worked out fine, it royally sucked having that test hanging over my head throughout my EM rotations (and interview season)

Do you think not having your score held you back from receiving any interviews? I would be taking CK halfway through October if I rotate in September. So far, I have no away offers for September.

 

[hoot504]

Hard to say, but it's possible. Every year on this board it seems more and more people claim that PDs are hesitant to give out interview invites without Step 2 scores in. I would err on the side of taking it early.

 

[bonedrone14]

I don't wannagive out bad advice to take this for what its worth. I was asking the same question of some 4th years at my school and they said he felt sloe's were more important than an early step 2 in their opinion from experience.

I guess I'll couch that by their specifics:
highish step 1
one was aoa, all of them were like top 50% of the class

I dunno if the rank really matters or not, but the biggest one is we don't have a home em program. So I'm taking ck in late October in order to get all my sloes

Good luck!

 

[arkdoc]

I don't wannagive out bad advice to take this for what its worth. I was asking the same question of some 4th years at my school and they said he felt sloe's were more important than an early step 2 in their opinion from experience.

I guess I'll couch that by their specifics:
highish step 1
one was aoa, all of them were like top 50% of the class

I dunno if the rank really matters or not, but the biggest one is we don't have a home em program. So I'm taking ck in late October in order to get all my sloes

Good luck!

I can give you my specific example. I was number 1 in my class, AOA, high 250's step 1. I didn't take step 2 ck until October. I got several interviews from some prestigious and some other programs. I also missed on quite a lot of programs that I thought I would hear from most likely due to not having my step 2 ck in. If I was advising someone who wanted to maximize the number of interviews they get then I would suggest taking step 2 ck early if you feel you can do well. Either in July or August and use the other months to do aways and home rotation if you have it. I would say if you have a home rotation and good scores then do one away. If you don't on those then I would do two aways. This was just my observation from the last cycle. I ended up where I wanted to be anyways, so it worked out.

 

[Throwaway_account]

My friend and I did the exact same home and away rotations, same grades and applied to mostly the same schools. Same source of SLOE's. The only major difference was I took CK July, he took it in November. He got Step 1 250's and AOA, mine was 240's and no AOA. We got almost the exact same interviews, with him getting maybe 2-3 from places I did not get. We still got all the ones we really wanted anyway and ended up where we wanted to be. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[hoot504]

I think having 2 SLOEs + Step 2 in before October 15 is a safer bet than having 3 SLOEs but no Step 2. Truth is no one can tell you which is better because different programs judge these things differently. Do what you think is best

 

[racerwad]

I think having 2 SLOEs + Step 2 in before October 15 is a safer bet than having 3 SLOEs but no Step 2. Truth is no one can tell you which is better because different programs judge these things differently. Do what you think is best

This is the advice that people should be basing their decisions on. Even if you did really well on step 1, I don't see the benefit of drawing step 2 out. Just get it over with and enjoy your rotations with no more tests as a medical student.

 

[Jlaw]

I've applied to 12 places, rejected from 3 almost immediately since they were full. One was nice enough to wait until 12 hours after I paid $100 for their mandatory background check lol. Accepted to 1 non VSAS program for October. No word from the rest. I really need to get August/Sept rotations scheduled since I don't have any SLOE's. Is it just a matter of time or is it really hard to get into audition slots?

 

[BoardingDoc]

I've applied to 12 places, rejected from 3 almost immediately since they were full. One was nice enough to wait until 12 hours after I paid $100 for their mandatory background check lol. Accepted to 1 non VSAS program for October. No word from the rest. I really need to get August/Sept rotations scheduled since I don't have any SLOE's. Is it just a matter of time or is it really hard to get into audition slots?

You should be fine. I did an August away and I didn't hear back from them until June.

 

[AlmostAnMD]

Been waiting to hear back from Christiana since...march?

The only bad part for me about the waiting is that I'm supposed to schedule my summer courses soon and I can't just assume I'll get the slot I want so I've got to fill it with something else, drop it later, etc...hmmm.....

 

[Fox800]

Been waiting to hear back from Christiana since...march?

The only bad part for me about the waiting is that I'm supposed to schedule my summer courses soon and I can't just assume I'll get the slot I want so I've got to fill it with something else, drop it later, etc...hmmm.....

I've been waiting since December...

For what it's worth, a classmate of mine got a rejection email 3-4 weeks ago so...fingers crossed.