Doing two away rotations at 1 institution?

[SLM914]

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I have recently begun planning my MS4 year and am considering doing two away rotations (one in surgical oncology or colorectal and one in thoracic) at a single institution. The hospital is far and away my top choice for residency (mostly due to location and reputation since I obviously haven't done any interviews or aways yet). However, I have heard some people say that it is a waste to put all my eggs in one basket as they don't think doing two away's at a single hospital will really be any more helpful than doing just one month on a single service. Alternatively, I have heard from a few people that doing more than one away at a single hospital shows dedication and is likely to be helpful when they rank you.

I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with this and can provide any guidance. Basically, my question is if I have time for 3-4 away's, should I spend 2 of them at my top choice hospital or go to 3-4 different cities to improve my chances at those institutions?

 

[Winged Scapula]

I have recently begun planning my MS4 year and am considering doing two away rotations (one in surgical oncology or colorectal and one in thoracic) at a single institution. The hospital is far and away my top choice for residency (mostly due to location and reputation since I obviously haven't done any interviews or aways yet). However, I have heard some people say that it is a waste to put all my eggs in one basket as they don't think doing two away's at a single hospital will really be any more helpful than doing just one month on a single service. Alternatively, I have heard from a few people that doing more than one away at a single hospital shows dedication and is likely to be helpful when they rank you.

I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with this and can provide any guidance. Basically, my question is if I have time for 3-4 away's, should I spend 2 of them at my top choice hospital or go to 3-4 different cities to improve my chances at those institutions?

Conventional (surgical) wisdom and one I now ascribe to is that prolonged away rotations are tricky.

If you are better in person than on paper, you might have nothing to lose especially if the program is somewhat of a reach for you based on board scores, etc.

The trouble with doing 2 rotations in a row at the same facility is that most of us cannot keep our quirks, annoying behaviors etc. under wraps for that long. Some can't even do it for the length of an interview day. You run the risk of having the faculty/residents find out annoying stuff about you which takes a bit of the sheen off you.

Furthermore, as you mention "putting all your eggs in 1 basket" is usually bad practice.

 

[mimelim]

I have recently begun planning my MS4 year and am considering doing two away rotations (one in surgical oncology or colorectal and one in thoracic) at a single institution. The hospital is far and away my top choice for residency (mostly due to location and reputation since I obviously haven't done any interviews or aways yet). However, I have heard some people say that it is a waste to put all my eggs in one basket as they don't think doing two away's at a single hospital will really be any more helpful than doing just one month on a single service. Alternatively, I have heard from a few people that doing more than one away at a single hospital shows dedication and is likely to be helpful when they rank you.

I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with this and can provide any guidance. Basically, my question is if I have time for 3-4 away's, should I spend 2 of them at my top choice hospital or go to 3-4 different cities to improve my chances at those institutions?

Conventional (surgical) wisdom and one I now ascribe to is that prolonged away rotations are tricky.

If you are better in person than on paper, you might have nothing to lose especially if the program is somewhat of a reach for you based on board scores, etc.

The trouble with doing 2 rotations in a row at the same facility is that most of us cannot keep our quirks, annoying behaviors etc. under wraps for that long. Some can't even do it for the length of an interview day. You run the risk of having the faculty/residents find out annoying stuff about you which takes a bit of the sheen off you.

Furthermore, as you mention "putting all your eggs in 1 basket" is usually bad practice.

I agree with the sentiments and warnings, but disagree overall. I did 2 aways at one of my top choices. One in vascular (what I was applying into) and one in trauma/critical care. For me, I think that it improved my chances of matching there. I did my trauma/critical care away first, I had a relationship with the department from shadowing/research some time previous. I got my feet wet, got to know the hospital, the EMR etc. Then I went on vascular already rev'ed up. Maybe I think differently, but I can't think of any quirks or other things that I actively suppressed. I'm sure that I am well within the normal ranges of personal traits, and clearly you can be hurt by displaying pathological behavior. But, at the end of the day, I think that it was a positive.

Again, a big caveat is that this is a specific situation. Maybe sub-specialty recruiting is different than larger GS programs, maybe I'm different, maybe that particular hospital is different, etc etc. But, overall, I think that it allowed me to leave a better impression than I could have showing up cold on an audition rotation. It is hard for me to imagine anything bad coming out in two months that wouldn't come out in one month.

On the other hand, I've heard of schools telling their students to not to do aways at all because they are afraid that they look better on paper than in person. So, meh.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I would venture that, given what I know about you, you were probably above average.

The average student is probably harmed by away visits.

In the end, it probably doesn't make a significant difference either way, hence the variety of opinions on the subject.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[AdmiralChz]

The average student is probably harmed by away visits.

I'd agree, especially for someone who puts a lot of pressure on themselves. All it takes is one bad interaction with an attending or senior resident (which the student may not even notice) to be written off, and with 2 rotations it gives double the opportunity for that to happen. I'm usually not this negative, but have seen it happen a lot in several different specialties.

 

[mimelim]

I would venture that, given what I know about you, you were probably above average.

The average student is probably harmed by away visits.

In the end, it probably doesn't make a significant difference either way, hence the variety of opinions on the subject.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Maybe doing aways self selects, of our 6 MS4s doing aways with us this year, 5 left favorable impressions, 2 were stellar, (as in bump to the top of the rank list stellar) and 1, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't rank. To me it is a sad reflection of who we are recruiting for medical school that they are at least in some people's minds, better on paper most of the time.

 

[vhawk]

Maybe doing aways self selects, of our 6 MS4s doing aways with us this year, 5 left favorable impressions, 2 were stellar, (as in bump to the top of the rank list stellar) and 1, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't rank. To me it is a sad reflection of who we are recruiting for medical school that they are at least in some people's minds, better on paper most of the time.

I wouldnt go that far. There is a reason that "better keep your mouth shut and let everyone think you a fool than speak and remove all doubt" is a saying. MOST people are better on paper, because you only see the paper once, and you fill in the gaps favorably. In person, you are there to fill in those gaps, over and over and over. Your CV is basically a distillation of the absolute best things you can say about yourself and your qualifications, minus your best knock knock jokes. Your 1 month away rotation is the best you can do for hundreds of hours. Even the Simpsons writers ran out of material eventually.