no away rotation = no admission??

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snowinter

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Hi guys,

I missed the deadline for an away rotation at an upper-tier school .. mostly b/c I didn't know I was going to want to do obgyn until July when I finished the rotation and had some time to think.

My question is: should I bother applying to upper-tier schools if I don't have an away rotation there? If most schools only take between 4-6 residents-- doesn't it seem like most of those acceptances come from 1. home applicants 2. ppl who did away rotations?

any thoughts?

thanks ! snow

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still apply. from places ive been it seems like never more than half the incoming interns did away electives at the program. theres only so much time, not every one is going to be able to do an externship. its also a question of how confident you are: if you're a weak applicant then itd be more important to go and kiss ass for a few weeks. but if you're strong, then don't sweat it, you'd probably only hurt yourself. ttyl
 
Well, first off, it never hurts to apply because you truly don't know what might happen. However, I don't think that logic is all together solid. Think about it, if people are doing away rotations, they may do more than one. And often people want to change programs for residency. Additionally people are applying widely, so those "home-grown" people will have many choices and may not even decide to all rank a particular program highly. Remember, just because it is an "upper-tier" school, it isn't necessarly perfect for every applicant. If a program only interviews/ranks people who did a rotation there or who went to that school, they will come up short.

Also, if someone does a rotation at a particular program, it doesn't mean they are well liked by the program, and now the program knows that for sure. They might get a courtesy interview, they may not necessarily be ranked very highly.

Now, this is all speculation (and perhaps hopeful thinking because I am not doing ANY away rotations!!!) so take it for what it is. I suppose we will all find out the truth fairly soon. :) I am going to take the advice that I have been given by just about everyone: apply broadly. Then I'm going to sit back and hope they know what they're talking about. Good luck!
 
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hmm Wednesday,
thanks for pointing out the flaw in my logic.
I'll use that for now. :love:

and Buzzlightyear, have you already done away rotations, etc since you were quoting stats from places you've been?

thanks for the reply,
snow.


Wednesday said:
Well, first off, it never hurts to apply because you truly don't know what might happen. However, I don't think that logic is all together solid. Think about it, if people are doing away rotations, they may do more than one. And often people want to change programs for residency. Additionally people are applying widely, so those "home-grown" people will have many choices and may not even decide to all rank a particular program highly. Remember, just because it is an "upper-tier" school, it isn't necessarly perfect for every applicant. If a program only interviews/ranks people who did a rotation there or who went to that school, they will come up short.

Also, if someone does a rotation at a particular program, it doesn't mean they are well liked by the program, and now the program knows that for sure. They might get a courtesy interview, they may not necessarily be ranked very highly.

Now, this is all speculation (and perhaps hopeful thinking because I am not doing ANY away rotations!!!) so take it for what it is. I suppose we will all find out the truth fairly soon. :) I am going to take the advice that I have been given by just about everyone: apply broadly. Then I'm going to sit back and hope they know what they're talking about. Good luck!
 
i don't have aways at any of my top programs. i hope it doesn't hurt me, but i don't think it will. i have a great letter from the chair of my dept, and from the chair of an away i did. i am assuming that the programs know it is not easy to get aways in everyplace you would like to work, and that other issues can come into play when trying to schedule stuff.
 
snowinter said:
and Buzzlightyear, have you already done away rotations, etc since you were quoting stats from places you've been?
me? no, im still waiting to start the 9th grade this fall.
 
Another (related) question....

If you do an away elective at one place, do you think another program might question you as to why you didn't choose their program for the elective? I can almost see a program wondering if they're "second choice" behind the program that you did choose to do the elective at. On the other hand, I suppose it's impossible to do electives at every school you're interested in, and programs (hopefully) recognize that.

Hmmmm......seems to me that the best strategy is probably to do a few electives, have fun, and stop stressing about it. Who's with me?? :)
 
I'm with you :) we'll see how long that lasts though we're all type A Personailties .. that's what medical school does: type A personality breeding factory.


lmh14 said:
Another (related) question....

If you do an away elective at one place, do you think another program might question you as to why you didn't choose their program for the elective? I can almost see a program wondering if they're "second choice" behind the program that you did choose to do the elective at. On the other hand, I suppose it's impossible to do electives at every school you're interested in, and programs (hopefully) recognize that.

Hmmmm......seems to me that the best strategy is probably to do a few electives, have fun, and stop stressing about it. Who's with me?? :)
 
DrBuzzLightYear said:
me? no, im still waiting to start the 9th grade this fall.

good for you buzzlightyear! skipped 2 grades in a matter of days. this forum really does make you smarter.
 
I don't know if your schools have access to the apgo.org residency directory, but if they do you can learn details about residency programs. With each program, there is a section that addresses away electives:

Here is an example from one school:
Elective as student in department required for resident selection No
Elective as student recommended for resident selection No
Elective as student discouraged for resident selection No
If not required, elective is beneficial in obtaining residency position Yes

There are a handful of schools that say an elective is recommended, and I can't think of any offhand that say one if required.
Here is the website: http://www.apgo.org/getinfo/index.cfm?doc=residency directory
 
that's a great website. to get access to it, ask someone in the ob/gyn department at your home school, or wherever you did your core clerkship - it's pretty helpful and most of the programs are pretty up to date.
 
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