Determining number of aways

[LatteColoredDO]

Hey everyone! I know applications for VSAS open up soon and I'm planning on applying to both OB/GYN and IM. How many of each would I need when applying for residency? Would it be okay to do two OB/GYN away rotations and one IM? Or does it not matter for these specialities?

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[risus_sardonicus]

What are you board scores? What’s your goal community vs academic? It’s hard to say without knowing more about you as an applicant.

 

[LatteColoredDO]

What are you board scores? What’s your goal community vs academic? It’s hard to say without knowing more about you as an applicant.

I'm not an amazing applicant, Step 1 score on the lower end, COMLEX score 515. Hopefully gonna try to do better on Step 2 and Level 2. I'm fine with either community or academic. I just want to be in a bigger city.

 

[Dr. Death]

I would do at least 4 ob/gyn and 0 IM. IM DGAF about away rotations. With how competitive OB is you are a borderline applicant at risk of not matching. As such your best bet is to do a lot of a away rotations as those are important at former DO programs and lower-tier MD programs

 

[DO2015CA]

Lower USMLE isn’t helpful when that’s the one that’s more important to depict your chances anyways. If you are serious about ob then you need to do the absolute max number you can. Then like said above, do zero IM they don’t care and you can only hurt yourself unless you absolutely blow them away which isn’t likely

 

[AlteredScale]

I would do a few IM aways (1-2) if during your third year you did not rotate at a bigger academic center. I think the letters you can get from these faculty are very benfifical. But as stated above, only do it if you feel confident you can blow them away which is hard to do on a general medicine sub-I. More likely possible on a subspecialty service where you could be 1 on 1.

 

[risus_sardonicus]

I'm not an amazing applicant, Step 1 score on the lower end, COMLEX score 515. Hopefully gonna try to do better on Step 2 and Level 2. I'm fine with either community or academic. I just want to be in a bigger city.

OP considering your situation, I would recommend you pick 1 specialty and go all-in. Academic IM is out of the question given what you’ve said. Decide what you really want to do and just do all your sub-Is in that field.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Just pick a field and go all in. People who try and straddle the fence are the ones who end up hurting themselves in both specialties and either don't match at all, or they match at much lower of a program than they would have otherwise.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Don’t want to confuse you more, but why not just apply FM? It’s the perfect mix of those two fields. If you go IM you’ll never do OBGYN stuff ever again.

 

[DO2015CA]

Don’t want to confuse you more, but why not just apply FM? It’s the perfect mix of those two fields. If you go IM you’ll never do OBGYN stuff ever again.

Because if you go FM you will never do ob gyn again outside residency either unless you want to live really rural

 

[LatteColoredDO]

Because if you go FM you will never do ob gyn again outside residency either unless you want to live really rural

Yeah exactly. I've done two FM rotations and I almost wanted to gauge my eyes out. I didn't have the patience for it.

 

[LatteColoredDO]

Just pick a field and go all in. People who try and straddle the fence are the ones who end up hurting themselves in both specialties and either don't match at all, or they match at much lower of a program than they would have otherwise.

Are you sure applying for a back up specialty doesn't hurt? I just want to match at this point. I'm not shooting for any top tier programs.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Are you sure applying for a back up specialty doesn't hurt? I just want to match at this point. I'm not shooting for any top tier programs.

It depends. If you want to apply to IM as a true back up then do it, but only apply to community places and former AOA. Don’t do any always.

Applying for a back up specialty only doesn’t hurt if you are very competitive for that specialty, ie someone applying a super competitive specialty and throwing out some apps to a much less competitive field. If you’re borderline like you say then I would just pick one and go all in.

 

[LatteColoredDO]

It depends. If you want to apply to IM as a true back up then do it, but only apply to community places and former AOA. Don’t do any always.

Applying for a back up specialty only doesn’t hurt if you are very competitive for that specialty, ie someone applying a super competitive specialty and throwing out some apps to a much less competitive field. If you’re borderline like you say then I would just pick one and go all in.

Okay that makes sense, thanks!

 

[libertyyne]

Because if you go FM you will never do ob gyn again outside residency either unless you want to live really rural

You could always do the OB fellowship after FM and then you have similar privileges everywhere.

 

[hallowmann]

Because if you go FM you will never do ob gyn again outside residency either unless you want to live really rural

Or you could be faculty in a FM program that does OB in a regular sized city. What you're talking about is highly dependent on region, type of position, etc. and not "really rural" vs. urban. I know plenty of people doing OB is cities, but they are all a part of a residency program.

 

[DO2015CA]

You could always do the OB fellowship after FM and then you have similar privileges everywhere.

That was not my experience when I contemplated the FM OB route. I can across one hospital that was hiring that allowed a FM with OB certification. The rest explicitly said OB only

Or you could be faculty in a FM program that does OB in a regular sized city. What you're talking about is highly dependent on region, type of position, etc. and not "really rural" vs. urban. I know plenty of people doing OB is cities, but they are all a part of a residency program.

yes that’s the kicker. You have to be a part of the academic scene. That’s not everyone’s bag. Admittedly my only experience is with my own city which has about 2-3 FM programs in it but it’s the residents that do all the delivering not the attendings

 

[Dr G Oogle]

I think the “very rural” applies to procedural obstetrics i.e. cesareans, operative vaginal delivery. Any FM can do prenatal care but if you want to do full spectrum OB it’s either rural FM or OB; even the rural FM can be an issue unless you are truly the only game in town or have a very good relationship with local OB.
If you set your sites on lower and mid tier community OB programs and cast a wide net you probably have a reasonable shot at matching.

you can do full spectrum non-surgical women’s health via IM and FM with a much easier residency if that’s your main motivation for obgyn