To audition or not to audition?

[Psychyatryme]

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I'm an OMS III (DO). And planning on applying to Psychiatry programs. I've read some resources that say for psychiatry audition rotations are not advised. Also a few psychiatrists I talked to (one an MD other a DO) both said they matched into good programs that they did not audition at. As an Osteopathic Student we take the COMLEX, which I did and scored just above avg. I also took the USMLE 2wks before, and scored 199 🙁.

Thanks!

 

[Noncompliant]

Hey there. I am also a DO student who applied through the allo match this year. Honestly, I would not advise necessarily doing an audition rotation at your desired residency site. I did rotations at both of my top programs, and while I do think it was helful in some respects, I also think it is entirely possible to hurt your chances as well. You could end up with an inattentive preceptor or a personality conflict, etc. I applied to 21 programs and was invited to interview at 17, so I would not be deterred by the prospect of a DO student entering the MD match. Did not take the USMLE. Good luck with everything! 🙂

 

[Thorazine]

i "auditioned" at 2 places, but both were local so i didnt have to find housing or anything. i did a sub-i where i ended up matching, and an elective at the #2 hospital on my rank list. i definitely think it helped me match at my #1. especially coming from a DO school, we dont necessarily have a "home program" as our MD friends do, so the only psych exposure i had was at whatever hospital they dumped me at for my 3rd year clerkship. and my 3rd year clerkship site did not have a residency program.
i'd say do an away, but more for your experience than anything else. it really gives you a good feel for a place that you might spend the next 4 years at.

 

[VMSmith]

My view of audition rotations is that if you're weak on paper, it can certainly help, and if you're strong on paper, it can certainly hurt. When your grades and scores haven't been that great, an audition rotation is an opportunity to show a program that you're better than your scores indicate. When you look like a superstar on paper, I feel like the only thing you could accomplish by doing an audition is showing them that you do have some flaws (unless you're applying to a super-competitive specialty, in which case you should probably do several auditions even if you're a superstar).

You of course need to take into consideration how good your clinical evaluations have been, as well as your comfort level with needing to be "on" for the entire month.

I'd recommend doing an away elective (not necessarily at your #1 choice, and not a sub-i) for anybody just to see what things are like somewhere other than your home institution. I think it gives you some idea of what to look for on your interviews elsewhere, and helps you figure out what you're looking for in a program.

 

[Psychyatryme]

Great thank you each for your comments.

 

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