help with stanford away application

[doopdidoop]

hey guys,

i'm trying to figure out my schedule and have realized i wanted to apply to do an away at stanford. some background: im coming from a southern state school with lots of family ties to california (grew up there, uncle and aunt live there, family moving back there in 2 years), but i know that's usually not enough to break into the california programs. whether or not it's even advisable for me to do an away at stanford is another question i have that i posed on the clinical rotations forum bc i didnt want to clutter multiple forums with the same question, but if anyone has insight on that i would appreciate it (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=13687065#post13687065). i'm probably not very competitive for matching at stanford, but i just wanted to show california programs im willing to work hard and do an away at my own expense because i really want to be there. step 1 240, H/HP so far on all rotations, several publications including 2 case reports in the works right now, lots of extracurriculars and volunteer work.

mostly i was looking for recommendations on what service to do a rotation on, especially from current peds residents/students at stanford or people with previous experience doing this. im really interested in pediatric cardiology but have had very limited exposure to it....so i was thinking of doing the peds cards clerkship, but am also consider NICU, PICU, peds endo...any other suggestions?

sorry for the long-winded post and thanks everyone!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Stitch]

Search the peds forums because there are a lot of differing opinions on this question. In general I advise people to do a service that has present throughout the hospital so you can meet and interact with as many people as possible. So cards may not be the best idea. Gen peds wards, ID, peds EM tend to give a lot of exposure. YMMV though.

 

[michigangirl]

I recommend any inpatient service, not a consult service. You want the opportunity to round every morning, present one or two patients on rounds-- these opportunies will be best served on a NICU, PICU, general peds rotation, for example. If you know your patients well and shine, are willing to go above and beyond, it makes a huge difference-- I have written many med studs in the PICU letters based on their enthusiasm and knowledge base with only 1-2 weeks of service with them. Back in the day I did an away on a busy peds onc service, so that involved a lot of continuity with inpatients, following patients and rounding each day, which gave me an opportunity to impress my attendings/fellows to get strong letters.

 

[pooh86]

I agree with everyone above. Best rotation would be gen peds floor month - where you're exposed to the most patients, most residents and can attend morning report or lectures where the program director might be around. Peds Cardio has a lot of outpatient and often the inpt cases are complicated with surgical involvement, so I wouldn't recommend Cardio. if sub-I on gen peds is not available, consider which specialty has fellowships and which doesn't. If you end up in a specialty with fellows, you'll have much less time with the attending and often times only present to the fellow.

 

[doopdidoop]

thanks for all the replies! i appreciate it!