MS4 in need of a little guidance

[stephentyler20]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all - I posted on here once before regarding away electives, and really appreciate the outpouring of advice I received.

I find myself a little unsure on if I'm doing the right thing with my elective schedule as MS4 kicks off.

Quick triage on me: non-trad student (30 years old with some EM background), solid step 1 / MS3 grades. Planning to apply into EM programs.

My schedule is for the next 6 months is as follows:

Month...
1 - ED at my school (big, busy ED)
2 - Anesthesiology at my school (out of interest, just to make sure)
3 - ED affiliated with my school (wanted to do a local visiting elective, but school dropped the ball on paperwork)
4 & 5 - required medicine sub-internship
6 - Visiting elective at highland hospital

I'm in the NYC area, and frankly, I'm second-guessing why I signed up for the Highland Elective, and wondering whether the timing makes any sense. Will it benefit me at all to do that elective in the November/december timeframe? Or has the interview ship sailed at that point?

Furthermore, CA is a really far move. Part of the reason I signed up for the elective out there is to experience living on the west coast for a month to see how I (and my wife) might like it, and HH seems to have a great reputation out there. But I think it's far more likely we'll end up on the East coast, and I find myself more curious about Carolinas and Vanderbilt.

Should I try and switch to do an elective at one of those places in that time period? Is it a waste to do a visiting elective (from the "getting an interview" standpoint) then anyway? Should I try and land something in the nearer future at one of those places, such as before my sub-internship?


Thanks guys... Looking forward to finally getting some ED experience in med school!

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

If you truly have solid scores, the two rotations early in the year will probably suffice.

If you are not from california and have zero ties there, even with great scores, it might be a crap shot on picking up interviews on the left coast if you are born/raised/educated on the right coast.

If you truly want to consider CA, I would try hard to get that moved earlier... It sounds like you have little interest in going to CA, if thats the case then I am not sure I would do the rotation... unless money is not an issue and you are essentially looking for a mini vacation out there. Also remember that in Dec you will probably still be going on some interviews...

Good Luck.

 

[Hypomanics]

There's always a chance you'll get an interview while there just for being on the rotation at highland. This is dependent on the program and I'm not familiar with highland specifically. Otherwise, it wouldn't give you any other advantage that I can think of. It will be too late for a letter to really matter.

 

[RPedigo]

There's always a chance you'll get an interview while there just for being on the rotation at highland. This is dependent on the program and I'm not familiar with highland specifically. Otherwise, it wouldn't give you any other advantage that I can think of. It will be too late for a letter to really matter.

If I recall correctly (interviewed there, but did not rotate there), Highland doesn't interview the students who have rotated because they don't think one interview day will change what they thought of them for the past four weeks.

 

[Arcan57]

If you truly have solid scores, the two rotations early in the year will probably suffice.

If you are not from california and have zero ties there, even with great scores, it might be a crap shot on picking up interviews on the left coast if you are born/raised/educated on the right coast.

If you truly want to consider CA, I would try hard to get that moved earlier... It sounds like you have little interest in going to CA, if thats the case then I am not sure I would do the rotation... unless money is not an issue and you are essentially looking for a mini vacation out there. Also remember that in Dec you will probably still be going on some interviews...

Good Luck.

It's been a while since I was interviewing, but what Rebuilder is saying regarding ties to the West Coast was my experience as well. I got interviews everywhere I applied east of the Mississippi and no interviews west of it.

 

[ensuii]

As someone who spent 23 years in the bay area: it's a great place to be but generally overrated and not worth it unless you're made of gold.

 

[dotcb]

I wouldn't worry too much with either plan. It's likely to be a good rotation in CA, and I do think EM on the west coast does have a little different flavor to it. As someone who did zero away rotations, you really don't have to rotate at places to match there. However, if you want to change the rotation, that'd probably be fine too.

 

[turkeyjerky]

It's been a while since I was interviewing, but what Rebuilder is saying regarding ties to the West Coast was my experience as well. I got interviews everywhere I applied east of the Mississippi and no interviews west of it.

OTOH, I received interview offers from every west coast program I applied to, w/o absolutely any ties to the area.

 

[gman33]

don't bother with the second away if you don't want to go there.
I'd schedule something at a place you have more interest in, or just do something else.

 

[alphaholic06]

OTOH, I received interview offers from every west coast program I applied to, w/o absolutely any ties to the area.

Likewise