Whats your point ? I know of people who applied a year in advance and still only got approved a month. We just know people with different experiences.
It's smarter to be doing an elective at 1 place for 2 months rather than going to 2 places for 4 weeks each. What that does is -
1. Allows you to have more opportunities to prove yourself and your abilities as a clinician. That, then obviously means that you are in a better position to request an LOR (which is the whole point of an elective anyway). The more interaction you have with the PD, the better chances you'll have of getting an LOR from him. That would have much higher value than 1 from someone junior in the department.
2. If you are really good, you can stay in touch with the faculty after your elective and then apply to that program for residency. A PD once told me that they would much rather invite candidates for interviews who've done electives with them. That way, they are assured of quality, since many candidates look good on paper but may not be very pleasant personalities.
3. If you know which specialty you want to pursue, you always arrange electives in sub-specialties within that field. 1 month of IM, 1 month of Peds and 1 month of Surgery and 3 weak LORs are not as impressive as 3 months of IM and one solid LOR.
Not to mention, finding housing, paying malpractice and living at 1 place
sounds more convenient than hoping around different states.
