externships: are they worth it?

[Nilf]

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Hey everybody,

I am still undecided if I should do an externship. I did a month of surgical path at my school, so I would have basic proficiency in reading slides, but not much beyond that. I am not sure if I could be a star during an externship, so is it really worth it if you won't leave a truly lasting opinion? When programs choose their residents, do they take into account whether or not you did externship there?
My other issue is that it would be a real stretch to do a 4 week long externship. 2 weeks is another option, but is 2 weeks long enough to show them that you will make a good resident???

 

[Doctor B.]

Doing an externship is not necessary to match into a program but it may be desirable. An externship can help you rule in or rule out a program. If you have a certain program that you are really interested in, it can be helpful to rotate there to see if you'll really like it or not.

I did not do an externship but i did an away rotation in radiology at the institution of my top choice for path residency. That way, i could visit the program a few times but not do more path (i'd already done enough path and i wanted to do some other cool rotations before my life became only pathology).

Only one person (of 9) in the last two classes at our program did an externship here so it is certainly not a requirement to match.

Finally, if you decide to do an externship, do 4 weeks. That will give you the best look at the program and the best chance to make an impression.