what do you think of this plan?

[fang]

I'm trying to get a competative residency in internal medicine. I'd like to do 2 away rotations at 2 different schools, probably in a medicine subspecialty. I'm thinking about doing them later in the year (Nov/Dec) rather than sooner, #1 because I think I'm late as far as getting application in for August, and #2 because I can't think of a good reason to do them early, except to get a letter. (I have a feeling that attendings at my own school will know me better, and therefore write better letters.)

Any advice on all of this?

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[Tapout]

I'm trying to get a competative residency in internal medicine. I'd like to do 2 away rotations at 2 different schools, probably in a medicine subspecialty. I'm thinking about doing them later in the year (Nov/Dec) rather than sooner, #1 because I think I'm late as far as getting application in for August, and #2 because I can't think of a good reason to do them early, except to get a letter. (I have a feeling that attendings at my own school will know me better, and therefore write better letters.)

Any advice on all of this?

I don't really see the point of doing an away during this time period. Remember, if you have the credentials and the people to support you with letters, you can hurt your chances on an away rotation (you may end up on a complete prick MDs service or you may be disliked by the given resident(s) on service. If your scores/attributes blaha blah blah are up to par, you will get interviews at great programs anyways and you can bank on impressing them on interview day!

 

[gutonc]

I'll throw this out there again. I think the away rotation is better for you to get to know a program than for the program to get to know you. If you think you have two places that you think might be your top choices, spend some time w/ both of them and see which one is best for you. Work hard at both of them, kick ass and then decide where YOU want to be...most programs could honestly cre less about your specifically.

BE

 

[remedios]

I'll throw this out there again. I think the away rotation is better for you to get to know a program than for the program to get to know you. If you think you have two places that you think might be your top choices, spend some time w/ both of them and see which one is best for you. Work hard at both of them, kick ass and then decide where YOU want to be...most programs could honestly cre less about your specifically.

BE

i agree with BE. i would also just add that, in terms of timing, if you are fairly sure you can get interviews everywhere you apply, then it doesn't matter so much. however an earlier away rotation might be able to make you more competitive in terms of getting interviews if you were borderline making the cut.

having done an away rotation at where i ended up, it definitely helped me. it's impossible to quantify how much effect it had compared to the other chance or non-change factors though.

p.s.: for my part, i chose to do an away more because i wanted to see what another place is like, rather than for consciously choosing an audition election; but i ended up blown away by the place and the people and that factored a lot into my rank list.

 

[ruthmd]

I'm going to second what remedios and BE said, and add that a kick-butt letter from an away rotation means more to many PD's than a kick-butt letter from your institution, since the person at the away has not vested interest in seeing you match well. So you might think about doing at least one earlier in the year. And, most of the places I looked at wouldn't take away applications seriously until they'd scheduled all their own students (usu around 5/1).
I also did an away at where i ended up matching, more to see if it was a place I'd be happy, and also ended up being blown away.
Good luck!

 

[megacolon]

As far as contributing my own advice...I would advise you not to wait until Nov/Dec to conduct your away rotations. I did my away rotations in Oct/Nov last year. The thing you want to think about is this...when you're doing an away rotation because it's where you want to go, you want a good letter, etc. -- the key is that you're trying to impress the people by showing up, working hard, etc. And if you schedule your aways during 2/3 of your interview season, you're either going to stress yourself out interviewing just in January, or you're going to be requesting all this additional time off during your away (which could make you look bad...they might think why didn't you do this earlier so you'd be committed to spending time with us), you'll be coordinating travel when you're already in a possibly unfamiliar place. I would say don't do more than one during that time period, because you will definitely want flexibility in being able to schedule your interviews how you'd LIKE to, not how you HAVE to. Hope this helps.

 

[coogmed]

As far as contributing my own advice...I would advise you not to wait until Nov/Dec to conduct your away rotations. I did my away rotations in Oct/Nov last year. The thing you want to think about is this...when you're doing an away rotation because it's where you want to go, you want a good letter, etc. -- the key is that you're trying to impress the people by showing up, working hard, etc. And if you schedule your aways during 2/3 of your interview season, you're either going to stress yourself out interviewing just in January, or you're going to be requesting all this additional time off during your away (which could make you look bad...they might think why didn't you do this earlier so you'd be committed to spending time with us), you'll be coordinating travel when you're already in a possibly unfamiliar place. I would say don't do more than one during that time period, because you will definitely want flexibility in being able to schedule your interviews how you'd LIKE to, not how you HAVE to. Hope this helps.

I couldn't agree with this more- I did 3 aways - the last 2 were in oct and in nov/dec- the last one really added in some extra stress w/ trying to fit interviews around that away rotation (however, to be my own devil's advocate, I WAS able to knock out several interviews in the area of my away school and saved serious $$...)
In the end, it was more stress, more interviews in late Jan. than I was comfortable with, and very unwieldy with interview season occurring all around me. For 2 aways, I would shoot for sept./oct., but I supposed any way you sliced it, there would be +'s/-'s.
FYI: it is more for you than for the program: one away I declined the interveiw, the second I didn't rank, and the third I ranked low

 

[DPD]

I couldn't agree with this more- I did 3 aways - the last 2 were in oct and in nov/dec- the last one really added in some extra stress w/ trying to fit interviews around that away rotation (however, to be my own devil's advocate, I WAS able to knock out several interviews in the area of my away school and saved serious $$...)
In the end, it was more stress, more interviews in late Jan. than I was comfortable with, and very unwieldy with interview season occurring all around me. For 2 aways, I would shoot for sept./oct., but I supposed any way you sliced it, there would be +'s/-'s.
FYI: it is more for you than for the program: one away I declined the interveiw, the second I didn't rank, and the third I ranked low

Is it better to do a Sub-I or a subspecialty elective as an away rotation? Which will be more effective in obtaining a letter of recommendation (if you work hard, etc.)? Will a subspecialty elective allow you to get a idea of whether you will like a program? Thanks.

 

[remedios]

Is it better to do a Sub-I or a subspecialty elective as an away rotation? Which will be more effective in obtaining a letter of recommendation (if you work hard, etc.)? Will a subspecialty elective allow you to get a idea of whether you will like a program? Thanks.

I did a subspecialty and got a letter from it. The exposure you get from meeting the residents will get you a good feel of the culture and your "fit". In terms of getting in the door I imagine it would be worth the same, with which resident/attending you get being equally luck of the draw.

I know others who did Sub-I electives. For me, I had a 6-week sub-I requirement already and I didn't want to do another 4-weeks (although my away elective was billed as an "sub-I" equivalent and in retrospect was easily as time-consuming as the sub-I; but i learned a lot and loved it )

i think away electives, like a lot of other parts of medical school, you get what you put into it.