rambling about aus surgery

[Skills]

how important do people believe contacts/references are for securing a place in the BST?
Would it severely harm chances if moving interstate e.g melbourne to adelaide, qld to sydney etc. for the internship year? even though people say it doesn't make a difference, wouldn't people usually be more favorable to you if they have known you as a student?
Also, if you do research in the student years does it sort of count less than when you are an intern?

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[Purifyer]

how important do people believe contacts/references are for securing a place in the BST?
Would it severely harm chances if moving interstate e.g melbourne to adelaide, qld to sydney etc. for the internship year? even though people say it doesn't make a difference, wouldn't people usually be more favorable to you if they have known you as a student?
Also, if you do research in the student years does it sort of count less than when you are an intern?

With the disclaimer that I probably know as much as you do I'll throw in my opinion.

contacts/references for BST - very important at least. Chances hurt by being a house surgeon/intern in a new environment? I doubt it. A year is long enough to make yourself known.

I would be interested as to what research you plan on taking out while simultaneously doing intern year. I guess it's possible. Even if it is possible however, I doubt you'd be able to publish it before it made a difference to your application for BST anyway. Research done in med school is what will set you apart (if I keep telling myself that it might just come true). Having said that at least a good proportion of the BSTs I've met didn't seem to have done any research before BST. Talking to the people who pick ASTs, they told me your marks, research, etc, aren't what they pick you on. While it may help you nose ahead of a similar rival, the most important thing was personality, ability to work in a team and willingness to grind yourself to the bone (essentially).