Scheduling Child Neuro away rotation (in Cali) question from mediocre applicant

[Ambrosha]

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I am just realizing how tight my schedule will be to complete these early applications soon after they become available. I need to study for and take step 2 CK and complete a child neuro sub-i for a rec letter before I apply. This is b/c I am a mediocre applicant (middle of class) hoping to improve my slightly below avg step 1 with a good step 2. Unfortunately I am interested in lots of "reach" programs b/c geographically, these are the places I want to be. (Of course I will make sure to have a good mix when applying, but I want to try for these anyway) I am confused about when I should schedule these away rotations in california or other more competitive programs that I might decide to apply to. Shouldn't a CAS rec letter be from a child neurologist not at a particular institution to which the student might be applying since they are sent everywhere? Which would mean I should just do a CN rotation at my home school? [I am just writing to see if this seems to make the most sense, b/c there are so few resources and ppl interested in CN there is no one really to ask about these things, and the rec letters seem to work differently through ERAS-you can choose which programs receive which letters, which is so nice.] Then after that home rotation, I should do the away rotation so that they have a chance to evaluate me in person lest they immediately reject my app?

This CAS app is so confusing, could anyone provide an idea of your application timeline and how it worked our for you? thank you so much!

 

[Rutabaga]

If you were applying anywhere other than Cali, I'd guess you probably don't need to do any away rotations. But California programs are tough to crack, so maybe it's important.

I was a similar applicant, scored higher on step2 to make up for step1, and didn't do any aways (in fact, I still have only done one month of child neuro total, and that happened to be in September of my fourth year, after the recommended deadline for CAS application submission). I matched at my favorite program and didn't have any issues getting interviews other than in the west. I had zero child neuro letters because I submitted my CN app during my elective rotation. So apparently you can get away with this, although I'm not sure my approach was necessarily ideal (I just decided late!). As far as electives go, I had other specific things I had been wanting to do for a while now, and figured I will have YEARS of child neuro later, whereas the flexibility to explore these other interests might be a little more fleeting. Again, it didn't seem to hurt. I'd probably forget all the child neuro I might learn now by the time third/fourth year of residency rolls around anyway...

Good luck, and try to enjoy third and fourth year!!

 

[Ambrosha]

Hi rutabaga,

Thanks for your reply. That's really helpful. I've begun to understand the reality of the situation for applicants like us (well, like me-I haven't taken step 2 and might tank that). I'm now hoping and planning to do an away at a "realistic" program in Cali, if there is such a thing for me. Can anyone comment on the cali programs loma linda, UCSD and Irvine? (I don't really want to be in LA-is traffic that bad and scary everywhere in cali?)

Thanks!

If you were applying anywhere other than Cali, I'd guess you probably don't need to do any away rotations. But California programs are tough to crack, so maybe it's important.

I was a similar applicant, scored higher on step2 to make up for step1, and didn't do any aways (in fact, I still have only done one month of child neuro total, and that happened to be in September of my fourth year, after the recommended deadline for CAS application submission). I matched at my favorite program and didn't have any issues getting interviews other than in the west. I had zero child neuro letters because I submitted my CN app during my elective rotation. So apparently you can get away with this, although I'm not sure my approach was necessarily ideal (I just decided late!). As far as electives go, I had other specific things I had been wanting to do for a while now, and figured I will have YEARS of child neuro later, whereas the flexibility to explore these other interests might be a little more fleeting. Again, it didn't seem to hurt. I'd probably forget all the child neuro I might learn now by the time third/fourth year of residency rolls around anyway...

Good luck, and try to enjoy third and fourth year!!