Realistic fourth year

[Idiopathic]

Assuming fourth year starts June 1, how many visiting rotations can I reasonably expect to do before interview season? Will any help me after interviews? For instance, lets say I apply at, and get interviewed by, Emory, in October. Would it possibly help me to try and schedule an elective there in December or January? Or is the decision at that point likely based on what the PD already has in his/her possession.

Thanks

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[ckent]

Away rotations are still very useful during dec/jan. As long as you are participating in ERAS, most interviews aren't even until Dec/Jan so you can schedule your interview while at an away rotation and schedule other interviews at neighboring hospitals while there too. Decisions are not made until late January/early February about who the PD wants to rank, so anything up until then is fair game in terms of making contacts and letting the attendings see how you work. The only downside to making away rotations during Dec Jan is that you will probably need to be away for a significant proportion of your rotation, which may unconsciously give the people that you are working with a bad impression of you (I say unconsciously because everybody knows that people have to go away for interviews, but student A who did his rotation in Sept and was there every morning might get more points then you who was away for half of the rotation). Also, it would stink to schedule an away rotation only to discover that you weren't offered an interview there.

 

[DireWolf]

Originally posted by Idiopathic
Assuming fourth year starts June 1, how many visiting rotations can I reasonably expect to do before interview season? Will any help me after interviews? For instance, lets say I apply at, and get interviewed by, Emory, in October. Would it possibly help me to try and schedule an elective there in December or January? Or is the decision at that point likely based on what the PD already has in his/her possession.

Thanks

Our 4th year starts on July 1. June is our last month of 3rd year.

And yes- Dec/Jan away rotations are beneficial if you don't plan on getting a letter, and you're very interested in interviewing at that particular program.