How to score an externship where you have no connections?

[Blunt Dissection]

I was wondering if any senior students/residents/attendings had some advice on how you would go about getting an externship at a place where you don't yet know anyone. I'm interested in doing residency training one day in Florida and wanted to see how I could go arranging an externship at a teaching hospital (i.e UF Gainesville/Jacksonville) for the summer of 2017 for a few weeks after OMS-I. It'd be a great educational opportunity and would be a good chance to network as well. It's a years away, but I figure it's one of those things that would take a long time to set up anyways, so best to get information about it first from anyone that has some experience. I'd appreciate any advice!

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[Petypet]

I was wondering if any senior students/residents/attendings had some advice on how you would go about getting an externship at a place where you don't yet know anyone. I'm interested in doing residency training one day in Florida and wanted to see how I could go arranging an externship at a teaching hospital (i.e UF Gainesville/Jacksonville) for the summer of 2017 for a few weeks after OMS-I. It'd be a great educational opportunity and would be a good chance to network as well. It's a years away, but I figure it's one of those things that would take a long time to set up anyways, so best to get information about it first from anyone that has some experience. I'd appreciate any advice!

Cold call programs and ask in your schools research/clinical department. If its not research though I would suggest you enjoy your last summer off. You will get plenty of clinical time during 3rd and 4th year.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Cold call programs and ask in your schools research/clinical department. If its not research though I would suggest you enjoy your last summer off. You will get plenty of clinical time during 3rd and 4th year.

I thought about taking next summer off, but after having this summer mostly off, I find myself getting bored more often than not. I suppose I'm one of those weirdos that just likes being put to work. I also just love being in Florida so it'd be enjoyable - that and after my externship I could take a few days to get some surfing in before I head back to DCOM.

Should I be concerned at all with an externship ruining my chances at said hospital in the future? I know it's been said that away rotations are more or less your "interview" for residencies at that hospital, but I'm assuming as long as I'm on my best behavior and let the staff know that I'm a post 1st year visiting student that they wouldn't expect me to "know" everything.

 

[coffee-doc]

Florida surfing is garbage. Don't waste your time.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Florida surfing is garbage. Don't waste your time.

Being Californian, I would have to agree hahaha! But I've heard during tropical storms that the Atlantic side can get comparable so I've been itching to to see if this is true

 

[Petypet]

I thought about taking next summer off, but after having this summer mostly off, I find myself getting bored more often than not. I suppose I'm one of those weirdos that just likes being put to work. I also just love being in Florida so it'd be enjoyable - that and after my externship I could take a few days to get some surfing in before I head back to DCOM.

Should I be concerned at all with an externship ruining my chances at said hospital in the future? I know it's been said that away rotations are more or less your "interview" for residencies at that hospital, but I'm assuming as long as I'm on my best behavior and let the staff know that I'm a post 1st year visiting student that they wouldn't expect me to "know" everything.

Externships are not rotations, they are pretty much glorified shadowing and you would have little to no responsibility. The rotations you refer to are your 3rd and 4th rotations. Plus its only july of 2016, I would worry about next summer about March-ish of 2017.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Externships are not rotations, they are pretty much glorified shadowing and you would have little to no responsibility. The rotations you refer to are your 3rd and 4th rotations. Plus its only july of 2016, I would worry about next summer about March-ish of 2017.

Thanks for the insight! I'll start looking around like you suggested to see what programs I'm interested in and would be friendly to the idea. I'll also contact some of the physicians I used to work for back home and see if they have any colleagues in the area.

 

[coffee-doc]

Being Californian, I would have to agree hahaha! But I've heard during tropical storms that the Atlantic side can get comparable so I've been itching to to see if this is true

yeah it can get pretty legendary sometimes. but nothing compared to cali.

also you'll learn that Jacksonville is a Georgian extension/hipster/calf-tattoo **** hole and Gainesville is a farm town. But UF Shands is a great hospital. Definitely plenty to see.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

So I checked out the visiting student page for UF - $800 PER WEEK for an away rotation as a DO student?! That sounds utterly outrageous!

 

[kenjixshadow]

So I checked out the visiting student page for UF - $800 PER WEEK for an away rotation as a DO student?! That sounds utterly outrageous!

Yes, it is. You'll quickly learn that many hospitals are charging DOs a hefty price tag since really, they don't want you to rotate there. I wouldn't waste my time and money on such rotations.

 

[hallowmann]

So I checked out the visiting student page for UF - $800 PER WEEK for an away rotation as a DO student?! That sounds utterly outrageous!

Most places not affiliated with your school will only allow visiting student rotations for 4th year. If you really want to do something after MS1, you need to do one of those summer externships/projects. Below is a link with some programs, but there are a ton and you really just have to search for them.

http://mse.medicine.iu.edu/student-affairs/financial-aid/summer-opportunities.html

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Most places not affiliated with your school will only allow visiting student rotations for 4th year. If you really want to do something after MS1, you need to do one of those summer externships/projects. Below is a link with some programs, but there are a ton and you really just have to search for them.

http://mse.medicine.iu.edu/student-affairs/financial-aid/summer-opportunities.html

Oh this is great - I didn't know schools had things like this to offer. I'll look at some of the institutions that I've worked at back home and see if they have anything similar. Thanks!

 

[AwayFromReality]

So I checked out the visiting student page for UF - $800 PER WEEK for an away rotation as a DO student?! That sounds utterly outrageous!

Its worth mentioning that the $800 per week fee is "for students from Osteopathic schools outside of the state of Florida". Still a hefty price for a majority of DO students but at least NSUCOM and LECOM-B students don't have to pay that much

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Its worth mentioning that the $800 per week fee is "for students from Osteopathic schools outside of the state of Florida". Still a hefty price for a majority of DO students but at least NSUCOM and LECOM-B students don't have to pay that much

I suppose the real question then would be this: if you really wanted to do residency here, is it worth the price to pay? As I'm aware, away students are allowed to do 2 electives at 4 weeks each if granted permission so you could potentially have 8 weeks to make an impression on the departments you're interested in. While an away rotation is great, it of course doesn't guarantee that you'll even get into the residency program there even if you were stellar during your time. Sounds like to me that it's quite a hefty price to pay for a gamble that doesn't have very high odds, but maybe I just don't understand the process enough.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Most places not affiliated with your school will only allow visiting student rotations for 4th year. If you really want to do something after MS1, you need to do one of those summer externships/projects. Below is a link with some programs, but there are a ton and you really just have to search for them.

http://mse.medicine.iu.edu/student-affairs/financial-aid/summer-opportunities.html

Not to mention you probably aren't going to "wow anyone's sox off" making very little impact in a residency invite.

4th year is the time to try and do this. First year is the time to simma donna.

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[hallowmann]

Not to mention you probably aren't going to "wow anyone's sox off" making very little impact in a residency invite.

4th year is the time to try and do this. First year is the time to simma donna.

Sent from my SM-G900V using SDN mobile

Yeah, it should be clear that short of maybe connections and research, these sort of summer projects will have zero impact on your residency app. It's more for you/your own experience than anything else. It might be better to just have fun or do a medical mission for 1-2 wks and use the rest as vacation.

 

[sunealoneal]

I was wondering if any senior students/residents/attendings had some advice on how you would go about getting an externship at a place where you don't yet know anyone. I'm interested in doing residency training one day in Florida and wanted to see how I could go arranging an externship at a teaching hospital (i.e UF Gainesville/Jacksonville) for the summer of 2017 for a few weeks after OMS-I. It'd be a great educational opportunity and would be a good chance to network as well. It's a years away, but I figure it's one of those things that would take a long time to set up anyways, so best to get information about it first from anyone that has some experience. I'd appreciate any advice!

Don't bother. If you want to keep busy, spend that summer doing research instead. Glorified shadowing won't help your application. There are many great summer research opportunities that have deadlines in early spring semester. So I would look into those instead.