Advice externships at Campbell Clinic?

Let's see . . . I stayed in the dorms which is somewhat expensive for staying in a kind of crappy place but it IS really close to the MED. Supposedly you can call some frats and see if you can stay with them, but that never panned out because the numbers I got didn't work. Bring a car because you will be driving a LOT. Unless they've changed things you will do four rotations . . . of one week each, with 4 different people. You can request that they be with people on the admissions committee.

Don't worry too much about taking call . . . I mean, take a few but I don't think it really helps all that much . . . and several residents said the same thing. One from Nebraska told me he got in and didn't take any. Find out which of the two chief residents are on the admissions committee and take call with THEM.

One impression someone gave me when I was there was that they look at your numbers and how you interact with the residents while you're there. However, I do know of some people who didn't have the numbers who still got interviews because they told Dr. Azar that they really, really liked the program and made a case for their other strengths.

Any other questions?

What not to do:

Don't volunteer to present something during Monday or Thursday night meetings. A guy did this while I was rotating there and a resident told me later that that visiting student completely hosed himself by presenting.

In other words, don't be too over-eager - you have to have that perfect balance between active interest and keeping your head down: usually the case for most ortho rotations, but especially the case at Campbell's.

Good luck, dude.