Med students, your take on away rotations?

[Dawkter]

Posted this over in the anesthesiology forum earlier but thought I may get more replies over here. When trying to decide on an away rotation, you certainly have to take into consideration the cost of applying and if you are dead set on being at the institution you are rotating at. I am currently trying to weigh the risks of doing an away (program may not love you, cost, stress of applying/performing) versus just sending my ERAS out to more schools and going on more interviews. A few questions to those of you in a similar situation:

1. What type of applicant do you think would most likely benefit from an away rotation?

2. If you have solid board scores and have demonstrated interest in your specialty early on, does an away rotation really give you any additional advantage?

3. Does it take a lot to impress someone when doing a rotation at a competitive program (UCLA, Northwestern) to the point where they are sold on you as an applicant?

4. Will you be doing an away rotation and if so in what specialty?

Thank you in advance for all the advice. Hope all of you end up at your top programs

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[armybound]

I spoke with the assistant program director of my specialty of interest and she recommended doing an away pretty much for the sole purpose of obtaining a good LOR.. she seemed less concerned about whether or not I wanted to be at that particular program. She told me some programs where the chair writes very good letters and recommended I rotate there. She even said to only do 1, MAYBE 2 aways, whereas the residents I had talked to had all done 3.

Of course she was able to tell me places that were both places I wanted to go and places that could give good LORs.

YMMV.