How late is too late for an away/audition rotation?

[pamplemousse2014]

An away rotation at a school very high on my list has just opened up in January; of course ideally, I would rotate earlier, but no openings. With the following considerations in mind:
- I've heard that rotating there is extremely important to the program
-It's high on my list
-It's not a big travel or expense burden
-they have a fellowship in a field I'll likely pursue later
-I only have one away rotation scheduled, and that is for November (which is also late, I know); thus I'd consider it a good educational opportunity regardless.

Should I accept this rotation, or would it potentially hurt me more than help?

Thanks for the feedback.

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[j4pac]

Why not? If you like the program, go for it. The program will still be interviewing and ranking applicants at that time. Not to mention that even if you don't get invited for an interview early...you have a good chance of getting one while rotating through if they like you.

 

[RM38]

If the place is really high on your list and you are willing to bring your A game the whole month then it would be worth it. If they haven't offered you an interview though don't waste your time going there and change rotations as many places are done interviewing in January, and if they just give you a courtesy interview at the end of the cycle your chances of matching will be low as they weren't that interested to start with. If you do rotate there make sure and contact the coordinator early and let them know that you will be there in January so that this would be factored into to their interview selections and then you wouldn't have to worry about having to beg for an interview. It is true though that if you rotate through and are lazy or have a bad attitude you will hurt yourself, but if you work hard and let it be known your want to be at that program and they like to take rotators then you could go along way in helping yourself. Especially if they have a fellowship in a field that you want to go into that could wind up be much more important than you think. PM&R Pain and Sports programs for the most part are pretty competitive as there aren't a ton of program and lots of people apply. Often these programs tend to take their own people if they are good applicants, which would leave you at a huge advantage when applying for fellowship. At least that seemed to be the case that a lot of other applicants have mentioned about their home programs on the interview trail for Pain this year.