Do you recommend an away?

[SandP]

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[clayito]

Hi all. 258 Step. Average on rotations. No research..yet. Hopefully will contact some PIs soon. Also have a home department. Is an away necessary?

My opinion: not only is an away not necessary, I would not recommend it in your situation.

Great step score, a big plus there. Average on rotations is okay (but not ideal) with your step score. No research is a red flag. If you have a home department, your priority should be getting a publication or two or three under your belt. Lots of your fellow applicants will have your step score (or close to it) with honors in rotations and multiple first author publications.

Establishing good relationships with people in your home department (often by doing research projects with them) is critical because those are the people who will write strong letters of recommendation and call programs on your behalf. Grow deep roots at home.

Step scores are important, but you need to work on other areas. Away rotations are hit and miss; sometimes they help and sometimes they don’t. Not high yield for you. Again, focus on establishing a good home base, including research in the field.

I wish you the best. With that step score, you have lots of potential!

 

[spartan25]

Any further recommendations on aways? Maybe some generalizations as to which people benefit more from aways and which people should steer clear.

 

[increscence]

Aways are primarily for auditioning at a specific program you realllllly like and/or getting an additional LOR if your program can't supply one.

Strong application? Don't waste your time.

Meh application, or coming from an institution without its own ophtho program? Consider.

Aways take a lot of time and money and effort for little payoff. Plus, because of the timing, you're usually doing aways after SF Match opens and after programs have already started screening applications, so scoring an interview through an away along is a long shot. It's also not very likely that you'll get an LOR through your away.

 

[martianmonster]

I think aways may be good for a specific program but won't globally help your application. I think they may have the biggest impact at smaller and/or less competitive programs.

Regardless of how impactful they may be on helping you in the match, they can be 1) a great learning tool and 2) a great excuse to see a different city/part of the country