Matching Vascular without department support

[probiotics++]

I'm currently an M3 at a T50 school with vascular surgery attendings but no integrated or fellowship training program. As a result, no one has matched into an integrated vascular program from our school in the past 4–5 years, and research and mentorship opportunities in vascular are limited. How much of a hurdle will this be for matching into vascular surgery?

I have a strong relationship with our general surgery department and have performed well in my rotations. No red flags, but I likely won’t have a letter from our vascular surgery chair. I plan to do away rotations at other institutions and secure letters from vascular faculty there.

TL;DR – Will not having a letter from my home vascular surgery department (but strong letters from general surgery and vascular at other schools) impact my ability to match?

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[ThoracicGuy]

I suspect that since you don't have a vascular program at your home place, it won't hurt you too much. Make sure you do your away rotations early.