At Harbor-UCLA nearly all rotators are offered an interview. The only people that don't get interviews do something really bad from a professional standpoint. However, not all rotators ultimately get ranked and of course this depends on multiple factors including your overall application and interview performance.

ya I'm from a school in the Midwest, and I'm trying to plan my aways as strategically as possible so I've got the best chance of getting California interviews. I'd like to do my aways where I get the most bang for my buck so to speak.

stanford

my two cents: don't go into/pick your rotations by places that guarantee a rotation. choose places in CA you think you'd want to go, and do really well on the rotation get a letter (two ideally) and use those letters out west and you'll get many west coast interviews. e.g . if you rotate at a northern CA school (davis, stanford, UCSF, etc) and a southern CA school youd get offers from the surrounding schools if you did well, have a good app, and got a good letter or two. I guess it also depends on strength of application though.

addendum:

residents I talked to at a couple of schools during interview said that while all rotators get an interview, many of those rotators are already on a black list and have no shot of matching there because of poor performance on rotation.

Why would you want to choose programs that give automatic interviews? If I'm not a legit applicant in their eyes, I don't want to be fly back for an interview on my dime.

my two cents]


I couldn't agree more with mdwstms. When deciding where to do your away rotations, whether the program automatically offers rotators an interview shouldn't even be a factor in your decision in my opinion.

Think of it this way - no matter where you go, you want to work as hard as you can and make the best impression possible. If you do well and they like you, you will get an interview whether the program offers interviews to all rotators or not. On the other hand, if you do poorly, wouldn't you rather the program just not offer you an interview than waste your time, money, and effort by going to an interview where you have no shot anyways? Also, that would be misleading to you and there's the possibility that you would cancel a different interview(s) if one or more conflicted with the program at which you rotated.

I rotated at a program that doesn't interview all of its applicants and know some of my fellow rotators who did not get an interview there. I'm sure it's not the best feeling in the world, but at least they could focus their attention and resources on a different program where they might have a better chance.

I think deciding where to do your away rotations is one of the most important decisions in the 4th year process. If you work hard, are well liked, and make a good impression, you have a huge advantage over a majority of the other applicants. The program knows you well and often you will have a letter or two from someone in that program...again, putting you at a huge advantage.

Everyone is going to be looking for something different in an orthopaedic resdiency program, so you need to figure out exactly what you value most and target programs that offer those attributes. With that being said, you also need to be realistic in your goals. If you have low board scores, average/below average grades, little to no extra-curriculars, etc. then you need to talk with your ortho advisor to see where you would be competitive. Doing well on an away can definitely boost your chances, but some highly competitive programs still may not offer you an interview if you have poor stats.

Moral of the story: Figure out what is most important to you when determining where to do away rotations. Work hard and be optimistic, but also be realistic.

my 2 cents

I guess I've never thought about it that way, very good points. I guess the reason I'm so anxious about the whole process is that I have no idea how good of an applicant I am, and I know that Ca programs are more competitive than most. I thought that automatically ranking rotators would give me a little better chance but you made a good point that it probably doesn't.

I just wish there was a better way of gauging how good of an applicant you are. For example, I'd like to rotate through UCSF, but I realize how competitive UCSF is. Would it be more worth my while to rotate somewhere else in California where I had a better chance at matching, or would an away rotation at UCSF really give me a chance at my (like so many others) dream program? All questions I'm not sure have good answers but just adds to the anxiety. Thanks for the continued help with this topic.