VSAS away elective dilemma

[matthewcas]

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My fiancee and I are trying to do an away elective together this summer. I'm applying for internal medicine programs, she's applying to anesthesiology. We applied to 3 schools.

I was offered a rotation at a top 5 internal medicine program for the month of August. The offer expires 1 week after it was sent out to me, which is this coming Tuesday. My fiancee hasn't heard back from them yet.

Do I take it, and then possibly drop it if we're offered rotations together elsewhere? Clearly this is a fantastic program and it would be unfortunate to hurt my chances of getting an interview there in the fall. But at the same time my finacee may be offered a spot say the following week - in which case I would be kicking myself if I turn it down.

I've already called and asked for an extension, which they declined. I realize other students are probably just behind me in line for this spot which makes it even more unfortunate.

Will it reflect poorly on my residency application to accept the spot and potentially turn it down sometime in the future? Anyone have experience or advice with this situation?

 

[MrBurns10]

Well, dropping an away rotation wouldn't exactly help you for that program but it's likely that the person coordinating the away rotation is different from the residency PC. You could always use the excuse that, while you are very interested in that program, you are couples matching and you want to maximize your chances of doing so. It still may not look great, but what can you do.

Also, I know it's ideal if you and your fiancee do an away at the same place, but it may actually benefit you to do aways at different places. If you do your away at program A and kick ass, your department will beg Program A's anesthesiology department to grant her an interview. Same with your fiancee at program B. If you both do an away at program A, program B won't know either of you, so you may actually double your chances by doing this. Just a thought. Take the spot either way.