I assume from your question, that you feel it is important in the match process for Rad/ONC to do away rotations. Was this your experience?
No one answer fits for everyone, I'm just saying the field gets more competetive every year and just about all the other applicants will have done some. So if you haven't, I think interviewers will ask you why. I do not think that the act of having done many aways is by itself an application strength, but getting strong letters from big names certainly is, and getting your foot in the door with programs you are interested in certainly is too. These are traditionally the big reasons people want to do aways. Also, for people without a home program, aways are all the more important for both of those reasons.
Having said all that, here's what I can say for sure. I only did one away (and a rotation at my home program). I got one letter from a semi-bigwig on my away. I had strong letters from semi-bigwigs at my home program. I matched at a program high on my list which was neither of the above two programs.
Many of the people on the interview trail had done 2-3 aways, others like me only did one.
Do the schools you apply to get to see where you do all of your rotations right off hand. Or, do they have to ask you and you tell them where you are doing away rotations?
Basically, would a school be able to say "hmmmm i can see you are doing 5 rotations in the east coast. So what exactly brings you to Los Angeles here?"
The programs know whatever is on your transcript (typically everything through August) and whatever else you tell them.
The geography question is a valid one and probably merits its own thread too (this thread has long derailed). Your interviewers will definitely ask you about
why their program. If it is a super-strong program in a horrible place (...cough...MDACC...
) they obviously already know why you want to match there. If it is a decent program in a nice location, they may ask you about any ties to the area, anything that would pose a problem (e.g. significant other finding a job), etc. And if geography is otherwise important to you, you can bring it up.
So to answer your question, yes, if you had clearly put eggs in one geographic basket, it may create questions in interviewers' minds about your likelihood of ranking them high. It would be a good idea to have a good answer ready when interviewing in these places, and "Um, I applied nearly everywhere and took every interview I was offered," (while probably true), is not good enough.
