contacting clerkship directors when applying for aways?

I didn't even know about vsas when I was applying for aways, but the places I rotated at had their own in house system for applying for rotations. I got what I wanted and I'm happy I did it that way.

One of my classmates applied to one of same places through vsas and it worked out fine for her as well. I suspect it just depends on how many other students want to rotate there at the same time and less about how you apply for the rotation.

Good luck!

a program i emailed that doesn't use VSAS told me that they have no say in who their rotators will be, and that the medical school administration that handles visiting students decides, and just notifies them on who's coming. how ridiculous is that.

If it is through vsas, it usually goes to a clerkship director for the entire school, not that department. If they say they are full for a month, try contacting the program coordinator and tell them how much you want to rotate there and why and ask if they can fit you in. Worked for me.

The 2 places that I did away rotations used VSAS. I would caution you against being too desperate when it comes to contacting programs, however, I think that some contact would be warranted.

Our school has unusual rules about aways, so I made sure to e-mail the coordinators and ask if there was a)anything else they needed outside of vsas and b)let them know about the rules of my school and to say that I'd done my research on the program and I would really appreciate the opportunity to get to know more about them.

As a side note - I've seen that you've been asking a lot of questions on here, and I wanted to impart a bit of general advice for your personal sanity. Over-analysis throughout this thing will drive you crazy - show up early, stay late, do your best, BE YOURSELF, and the rest will fall into place. I'm not a stellar applicant, and I ended up matching at a uber-competitive program -- just let it flow my man, and let the chips fall where they may. Best of luck.

I completely agree that you need to chill out and just relax a little. I have seen a number of your "should I..." or "how can I..." posts about some of the most ridiculous things that come across as both neurotic and desperate. I know this is only an internet forum, but if your personality that you present on this board is what you show up with on your sub-I's, you are going to come across in a less than positive manner. Just do what Bill said and you'll be fine.

I know this is not completely related to the OPs post but for others: I have contacted some vsas schools about whether they would let me come during dates that sync with my school schedule instead of the dates that they had posted and all of the schools were quite receptive and willing to let me come during my dates. That's the extent of my contact though, and it was all via email not over the phone.

For what its worth I don't come across like this in real life. I've done my research on a lot of the big-picture things which is why I've turned to an anonymous internet forum to ask about nit-picky "ridiculous" things haha. However, a few things that have seemed nit-picky and ridiculous to me in the past turned out to be maybe more important than I initially thought so I figured I might as well be as informed as possible going through this process. So thank you to those who have responded. FYI this topic specifically doesn't strike me as a "ridiculous" question since away rotations are extremely important for ortho and I want to make sure I get a couple rotations under my belt before interview season.