"Regional" Aways matter?

[judb16]

Read through similar posts, but couldn't find a consistent conclusion..

Spouse and I are from separates states in the west (born, raised, undergrad, families still there) and I ended up at mid-tier med school in the East. Though it's certainly not a deal-breaker, we would like to keep schools in west an option. How important is securing an away rotation in this region? Will seeing my CV and undergrad be enough to be considered having "ties" to region? I'm not interested in CA, which leaves me with some of the more "popular" places (Utah, Maricopa, Denver etc) and I've so far been unable to secure an away (still early in the game, but I know Maricopa is already completely full). I have one rotation at my home institution and then I have an away at Christiana in DE. But If I'm unable to get anything in the west, my options are to apply to more programs in West or just to try and do one more away in my region and get a great SLOE (I have a standing invite from PD to rotate at a program that is in the same state as med school), but am also worried that 3 rotations in the same region could hurt chances of matching in the west.

Am I thinking too hard about this? Is it worth applying to all programs in west even if I'm not particularly interested in that residency?

Edit: I think I'll be slightly above average candidate if this changes anything.. Step 1: high 230's, All honors and 1 HP in 3rd year, few pubs..

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[gamerEMdoc]

Programs can filter geographically based on two things. Your permanent address and your schools location. Where you did your aways won't factor into any computer driven filters. Now when they look at your application, if you've made it through whatever filters a program uses, other geographic factors like where you rotated or went to college may play a part at places that put a high premium on geography.

 

[minor.groove]

Programs can filter geographically based on two things. Your permanent address and your schools location. Where you did your aways won't factor into any computer driven filters. Now when they look at your application, if you've made it through whatever filters a program uses, other geographic factors like where you rotated or went to college may play a part at places that put a high premium on geography.

So find a friend or relative on the opposite side of the country and start using their address? (Kidding)

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Only if that's where you want to end up?

 

[judb16]

Programs can filter geographically based on two things. Your permanent address and your schools location. Where you did your aways won't factor into any computer driven filters. Now when they look at your application, if you've made it through whatever filters a program uses, other geographic factors like where you rotated or went to college may play a part at places that put a high premium on geography.

Thanks for the reply. Good to have that insight about the computer filtering.

What I'm hearing is do my best to secure a rotation in the area of interest and use permanent address in west to get through computer filters. I also have to assume that if a program really liked my application they'd still give me a shot. Reading through others' experiences on here makes me feel that there aren't too many programs that have strict geographic regulations, but ties could be the tipping point for an otherwise average applicant.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Yeah I doubt anyone uses 100% filters only. What they likely do is use filters to schedule their initial round of interviews, trying to get as many geographically linked students as possible. Then fill up the rest of their interviews once all the people with regional ties (with acceptable apps) are approved. That's how I do it anyways.