I think this illustrates one horribly annoying fact about the ortho match process. All the programs are unique and are likewise looking for different things in an applicant. One strategy might help tons with some programs and hurt you with others. It makes it exceedingly difficult for a given applicant to tailor his application efforts unless he/she can identify his target programs and their desires far in advance. Unfortunately the vast majority of applicants have no idea which programs fit their needs until they are nearly finished with the process, when it is far too late to change anything about their own CV/application experience. I can't tell you how many times I've looked back now after the match and said, "man I wish I would have known that before I applied". I'm very lucky that I landed somewhere that fits my needs perfectly because I basically did so by accident.

Good luck to all you applicants, gather all the info you can and use it to the best your judgment will allow.

While I was never told by anyone that doing three aways would be frowned upon by programs, my school didn't like it because they wanted to see more breadth in my 4th year schedule. But lets not be to concrete operational here. Like most things in life I think this issue is a little more complicated than a simple "it's bad, don't do it." Say for instance you don't have a home program--in this case why not do 3 aways since most people do one at hme and 2 aways. Is anyone really going to fault you for this? Suppose you got a questionable score on step 1 (

Continued........(less than 220) but you know that people you work with tend to worship the ground you walk on. In this case you would be a fool not to do as many aways as possible since this is your best way to get noticed. think about it.
why is this friggin thing cutting me off!

Do as many aways as you want or that your school will allow you.

Programs don't even know how many aways you did unless you tell them. Only the first 2-3 blocks of 4th year will be on your transcript and Dean's Letter anyway...so if you do more ortho aways in oct, nov. or dec....no one will ever know unless YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH and tell them!!!!