I think doing away rotations is a good opportunity to check out programs that you are really interested in. Doing 2 is probably the norm. However, when deciding where to do them, one needs to take an internal inventory of their strengths as an applicant. Here are some other points to consider:
1) If you look like SuperMan on paper, do you really want to give yourself a month to p@#$ someone off at your dream program? Plenty of people match just from their application!
2) If your application is average but you know that everybody you have ever worked with worships the ground you walk on....pick AIs at places that propably wouldn't offer you an interview otherwise. ALWAYS CHECK THIS OUT BEFORE DOING AN AI....some places will have you work your butt off for a month only to tell you they don't give automatic interviews to AIs. Sad but true!
3) Some programs have a reputation of selecting applicants from their region or ones that do AIs at their institution.......do one there to get your foot in the door!

Good Luck!

I would do as many aways as possible depending on your university and your own personal/family situation. My school only allows 2 months total (including 1 month at home) in any given specialty, therefore I had to choose a bit more carefully than most. Pick an institution that you are interested in and that you want to know more about. Aways are a great way to confirm what programs you like and, more importantly, figuring out that your dream school might not be such a good fit afterall.

I have to agree with the above. If you think you are a marginal applicant, you should do rotations at places that you think you would like to be and then bust your a$$ while there. I met some people on the road who only got interviews at the places they rotated and their home program. If you feel pretty confident that you will match (take a look at the credentials post) then rotations help you get a feel for the programs that you are very interested in (as well as telling the programs that you are really considering them). I rotated at two plus my home and those two ended up No. 1 and #2 for me. My experiences ended up changing my mind about which to rank first and that is where I matched so obviously it was very important to me.

I'm planning on doing 3 aways since my school doesn't have a residency program. I've applied to one already, but of the other 2 places, one isn't sending out applications until May, and the other doesn't even want to hear from me until June(after they've scheduled their own students). How concerned should I be taking into account that I want to do both of these aways early, like July and August?

DoinJoints,
An early AI is critical in your case because this is the only way you are going to get Ortho letters in a timely fashion for your application. Most applications are due sometime in oct-nov, so doing an AI no later than Aug is my advice. However, you dont need to do all of them early! In fact there is one school of thought that suggests doing an AI at your No. 1 choice late (NOV) so that you are fresh in their mind when ranking applicants.
Hope this helps. :smokin:

I'm applying to these AI's right now and my goal is to get a flavor of 3 or 4 programs. All of them are dream schools and varied geographically. I figure this way I can get past regionalism a bit and get an opportunity to see different parts of the country. My school only lets us do 3 aways in ortho so if I did do a 4th, it'd come out of my vacation which kinda sucks. That's my 2 cents...