Now that you've done Sub-Is

[Guest]

(01-11-2017, 11:36 PM)illmatic Wrote:

(01-11-2017, 04:00 PM)Strategy Wrote: If I do 2 aways in philly and one in Chicago, will that put me at a disadvantage for programs in the south and west? Should i do each rotation in a different city or does it not matter too much?

it is very possible, in fact likely, that you will not receive a single interview in the south or west. think wisely before you proceed

True story -- geographic bias is real.

[Neurofibroma]

Residents:

What are your pet peeves about students rotating on the neurosurgery service? What advice do you have to get the most out of a Sub-I?

[Guest]

(01-12-2017, 01:03 PM)Guest Wrote:

(01-11-2017, 11:36 PM)illmatic Wrote:

(01-11-2017, 04:00 PM)Strategy Wrote: If I do 2 aways in philly and one in Chicago, will that put me at a disadvantage for programs in the south and west? Should i do each rotation in a different city or does it not matter too much?

it is very possible, in fact likely, that you will not receive a single interview in the south or west. think wisely before you proceed

True story -- geographic bias is real.

Im from the south and looking to to do two sub-I's, preferably in the Pacific Northwest/California. It seems awfully unreasonable to think that if you don't do a sub-I in one region you wont receive a single interview in other areas of the country. I'd imagine that when the question of where you did your sub-I's gets brought up during interviews you will have to discuss it, and that it may impact what area of the country you end up matching in, but if people only got interviews in the region of the country where they did their sub-I, then I think the interview trail would be quite a different landscape. 

On a related note for aways, it seems like a bunch of programs who have externships offered on their school's website and state that they use VSAS don't have any courses posted in the VSAS course selection site. Anyone have information regarding this? I'm assuming that they just haven't posted the courses on VSAS yet?

[dispo]

I agree with your take on the regional bias thing. I think spreading out where you go shows you value the quality of the program over a particular region. I would say PNW and California represent basically one region, though I realize California is kind of an entity of I'm in the southeast, and I intend to do 1 away in the West and one in the Southeast that is driving distance to save money and because I am interested in a number of Southeast programs. Now, if were in school in say Florida, and I did aways at Vanderbilt and Duke, then yeah, I would expect a PD to look and say, "wait, I don't think this person wants to leave the SE." But outside of that, it seems like there are such a small number of programs and given it's competitive, I imagine most applicants are willing to go wherever they can get the best education. At the same time, I hear repeatedly that regional bias is real, so I'm doing what I can to mitigate that by trying to do my two aways on opposite ends of the country.

Regarding VSAS, if you're referring to how there aren't more than a couple schools with the 2017-2018 calendar up yet, yeah they just haven't posted the dates yet. You'll notice most programs' 2016-2017 schedules extend into early spring, so most just haven't posted their new dates yet. My school typically gets all M3s together in early/mid-February to discuss VSAS and get everyone to start getting docs and immunization stuff together.

[subi]

still pretty early to apply for aways