What is the absolute latest date to do an away?

[ca79co80]

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I have my first anesthesiology rotation at my home institution scheduled for this May, and I was hoping to schedule an away rotation as early as possible to increase my chances of getting into a competitive program at that school. However, due to scheduling difficulties I'm unable to do an anesthesiology away rotation any earlier than November. I may even have to schedule my rotation in late November. Since this is during interview season, would this still be worth wild? What is the latest I could do a sub I and still see some benefit in terms of helping me get in?

Thanks in advance 👍

 

[mstudent12345]

If you do one in November you can still get an interview afterwards and it is well before rank lists are due, so it will still help. If you can do it earlier earlier then that would probably be a bit better, but I wouldn't sweat it.

I would not do it any later though.

I have my first anesthesiology rotation at my home institution scheduled for this May, and I was hoping to schedule an away rotation as early as possible to increase my chances of getting into a competitive program at that school. However, due to scheduling difficulties I'm unable to do an anesthesiology away rotation any earlier than November. I may even have to schedule my rotation in late November. Since this is during interview season, would this still be worth wild? What is the latest I could do a sub I and still see some benefit in terms of helping me get in?

Thanks in advance 👍

 

[cchoukal]

The goal of doing the away is either to

1) get a letter from someone bigger than you can get at your own school

and

2) get a leg up getting an interview at a place you might not ordinarily be competitive for.

Sure, there are other esoteric reasons, some of which are even important, but when it gets down to brass tacks, that is it. To do your rotation in late November makes reason #1 pretty hard. The idea behind the letter is that it goes out with your application and is used by programs to decide whether or not to give you the interview. If you get the letter in early december after your rotation, well, you can see that this might be too late, as most places have sent their invitations by then.

So, to answer your question directly, november isn't too late to do the rotation, but I think it's very nearly too late for it to impact your application.

 

[lfesiam]

hi OP, this is what I think:

June - Early August Aim for High Power Programs Letter writers.
Early enough to get a high power letter (UCSF, MGH, RRC chairmen/members, ASA president, look them up to see where they are at!) ----->This letter will carry a lot of weight with ALL programs (if it is a good lettter, not the generic one paragrapher). However...they might not remember you as well when you come back for the interview.

Late August - Early October Aim for your Number One program.
Best time in my OP. You'll be able to get a Letter in time, do it early, take calls with letter writer. May be granted an interview ONSITE, thus saving you a trip later. But again, would you want your "first interview" at your top choices? I would schedule to come back to your number one in Late November-December when you are more seasoned and at your peak. Also show more commitment to the program in my OP. Think of it as a built in second look. [They will see you in late summer - fall, then again during the winter without wide gaps in between] This plan allows for the most continuous face time.

November - December even January Aim for the Region where you will be applying to with your number one.
I call this the wild card money saver time. Schedule this in a region where you plan on applying to a bunch of programs. (i.e. tri-state, NW, Chicago, Boston, Mid-Atlantic, Texas, Southern corridor/Route 66/Bible Belt etc) So when you are on your rotation, you can go to all of your interviews at the same time THUS SAVING YOU A CRAP LOAD OF MONEY. Trust me on this, interviewing will get very expensive. They will also remember you quite well during ranking time. Not alot of MS4 around to compete with you except newbie MS3s, thus making you an instant stud. The con is that it might be too late for a letter ....but for the visiting program, face time with the chair, PD, faculty, resident will be even better than a letter in my OP,(if you don't have a pathologic personality).

If your school allows for more elective times, you can try to do 2 aways (a bit excessive but if one is during interview season, might not be so bad if you have a bunch of interviews in the same area!)

Visiting rotation is a double-edge sword. But if you're humble, fun, friendly, nice, professional, & have great work ethics....should not be a problem! I had a great time during mine. Good luck bud.

 

[DO4lifer]

agree with lfesiam 👍

 

[neuroride]

The program that I matched at I did my away in November and then interviewed at the end of the month. It was great because I knew most of the staff and residents so interviewing was more comfortable. Also I felt that it was late enough in the interview season that I was not "forgot about" if I had done my rotation in say Sept./Oct.

 

[doozenberg]

I did an away in mid-Nov to early Dec and interviewed there on the last day of the rotation. The PD told me that they were glad I was there to do the away because they likely would have overlooked my application otherwise. We'll see if it pays dividends in the match, but from what I can tell Nov-Dec is not too late.

 

[ca79co80]

thanks for the advice!