Sub I's and away rotations

[hsyed]

Hi,

I am a MS3 wondering what is an appropriate number of ophtho Sub I's one needs to do for the 4th year.

Also, how important are away rotations and how useful are they in helping one get in to the place where they did they away sub I?

Thanks

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[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by hsyed
Hi,

I am a MS3 wondering what is an appropriate number of ophtho Sub I's one needs to do for the 4th year.

Also, how important are away rotations and how useful are they in helping one get in to the place where they did they away sub I?

Thanks

Welcome to the forum Hsyed!

You should complete at least one one-month rotation, but two would be ideal. I did two before applying which helped to build relationships with faculty for the very important letters of recommendation.

In this age of high competition, I think away rotations help considerably when students are interested in a particular program. This allows you to really stand out if you're an outstanding candidate. The program will know you better, and if you're liked, then you'll be golden.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by north
I'm a 3rd year strongly thinking (but not sure) about ophtho. The first time I can do an ophtho rotation at my school is august, though the first month of my 4th year is july. I am going to do an away rotation as well, and am deciding between july and september.

Would doing a rotation in september be too late to get a letter of recommendation out of it? Should I do my first ophtho rotation at this other school in july? Part of me thinks september is the better choice, since i could make sure i want to go into ophtho while i'm at my own school before i do an away, but part of me thinks september may be too late to do an away if i hope to get a letter. any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

I recommend doing the away rotation in July because September is very late. Early Sept is the target date to get your applications into the Central Application Service. I think most programs set application deadlines in October.

 

[north]

Thanks. My roommate told me he thought it might not matter because he'd heard something about how letters are now not being released to the programs until Nov. 1. I think this is the case for dean's letter's, but is this the case for letters of rec as well?

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by north
Thanks. My roommate told me he thought it might not matter because he'd heard something about how letters are now not being released to the programs until Nov. 1. I think this is the case for dean's letter's, but is this the case for letters of rec as well?

The Dean's letters aren't released until around Nov 1. On the other hand, it's important to have your LORs in before the application deadline because these are considered when invitations for interview are determined.