Choosing away rotations

[Dr. Anonymouss]

How does one go about choosing away rotations for their specialty? I mean to say how do you know which programs are a reach, target, or undershoot? I am interested in either orthopaedics or anesthesiology.

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[SpoiledMilk]

What I got from my student affairs office is just apply to programs you are interested in regardless.

Anesthesiology does not require doing aways (correct me if I'm wrong) and you might hurt your chances at residency at that program if you were to leave a poor impression.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

What I got from my student affairs office is just apply to programs you are interested in regardless.

Anesthesiology does not require doing aways (correct me if I'm wrong) and you might hurt your chances at residency at that program if you were to leave a poor impression.

Okay thanks, I didn't realize people don't do aways for anesthesiology. I was mostly interested in figuring out how people decided on away rotations because it wouldn't make sense doing all your aways at umich/harvard caliber programs. Is this not a concern people have?

 

[JJMrK]

I can’t comment on anesthesiology.

In orthopaedics, the away rotation is an important part of your “application” to the programs where you complete them. So commonly, students complete away rotations at places they are interested in going for residency. If I were picking rotations, I’d do them at the 2 or 3 programs where I most wanted to match, not based on any arbitrary category assignment.

You can also ask your letter writers and mentors for suggestions on programs where they have connections. It will be up to you if these are places you want to go, but this can be very helpful.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

The LOR(s) that you want to get from aways as well as getting a feel for whether the program is one that you want to train at during residency are what I focus on when doing aways. The caliber of the program is of less concern.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

@JJMrK @DV-T Okay thank you both for those answers. I will choose programs I am most interested in training at rather than trying to categorize competitiveness of those programs.

 

[Maximus2020]

Aways are a tough question and vary by specialty. I think they are not helpful for any of the ROAD specialties, including anesthesiology.

I like to refer to them as Audition rotations as you are, in effect, auditioning for a spot. Completely agree with the other posters on surgery where Audition rotations make a difference as it's a lot of hands-on auditioning that cannot easily be captured in a standard interview.

Problem is they can make or break you. Kind of like buying a stock and hoping it goes your way (no whammies plz). Could have a bad preceptor, mean co-students at the institution, etc. Or the opposite. If I was a slam dunk draft-me-in-round-1-please applicant, then I would personally avoid Audition electives. If I felt like my suturing skills were cool whip Dorito amazing, I'd consider doing the elective.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Aways are a tough question and vary by specialty. I think they are not helpful for any of the ROAD specialties, including anesthesiology.

I like to refer to them as Audition rotations as you are, in effect, auditioning for a spot. Completely agree with the other posters on surgery where Audition rotations make a difference as it's a lot of hands-on auditioning that cannot easily be captured in a standard interview.

Problem is they can make or break you. Kind of like buying a stock and hoping it goes your way (no whammies plz). Could have a bad preceptor, mean co-students at the institution, etc. Or the opposite. If I was a slam dunk draft-me-in-round-1-please applicant, then I would personally avoid Audition electives. If I felt like my suturing skills were cool whip Dorito amazing, I'd consider doing the elective.

I come from a lower tier MD school with little research. I have 1 pub to my name, 2 in the pipeline, and hoping to have 5 by the time I apply. So basically I am saying that my application won't be a rockstar, but one thing I have always had going for me is that I am personable and like-able, so I think these auditions will be my time to shine to show the program that I am a down to earth guy that they could work with for the next 5-ish years. I also won't have any of my electives until after I finish all of my clinical rotations including general surgery, so I hope to be well rounded and prepared when I do these auditions. I'll heed your words about the auditions being a make or break and will make sure to leave a good impression. Thanks!