Away Rotations
Away Rotations coaches you from choosing a specialty through VSLO applications, performing on your aways, and collecting letters. It has 6 phases, 27 phase skills, and a 5-skill memory system.
Included in: Residency Application ($59). Med Student Pack buyers from before October 18, 2026 keep it too. Folder: aways-pack/. First line: "Set me up for away rotations".
The six phases
| # | Phase | You are here when | Typical window |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orientation and intake | First session, or a full re-intake | 1 to 2 sessions |
| 2 | Specialty choice | Undecided, or unsure whether aways fit your plan | Mid M3, ideally by early spring |
| 3 | Away strategy | Your specialty leaning is known and aways are recommended or considered | About December to February of M3 |
| 4 | VSLO application | VSLO access opens or your first host opens within 30 days | About February to May of M3 |
| 5 | Audition performance | Aways are accepted and scheduled, or an away or home sub-I starts within 2 weeks | M4 summer and fall |
| 6 | Letters and hand-off | Any rotation that could produce a letter is under way | M4 summer, overlapping phase 5 |
What you can ask
| You say | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Am I competitive for ortho?" | An honest competitiveness check and a parallel plan |
| "How many aways should I do?" | An away count and goals for each rotation |
| "Where should I rotate?" | A program target list, tracked in away-tracker.csv |
| "How do I pay for aways?" | A budget and housing plan |
| "Applications open Monday." | A VSLO calendar and application sprint |
| "I got an offer and a waitlist." | Help with offers, conflicts, and scheduling |
| "My away starts in 2 weeks." | Pre-away prep and a daily audition playbook |
| "How do I ask for a letter?" | Letter strategy, asking, and follow-up, tracked in letters.csv |
| "Remember what I thought of this program." | Program fit notes you can use when ranking |
A weekly rhythm
Away Rotations has no daily study check-in. Its loop is the weekly review: deadlines, applications, offers, and letters re-planned every seven days. It also builds a local HTML dashboard and can sync to your account dashboard, where the away tracker shows each program's status (including not_offered) and the letter tracker shows each letter from potential to uploaded.
Hand-off
At the end of the away season, the coach writes aways/handoff.md: your specialty and parallel plan, each away with program-specific details and people you met, letter writers and their status, and the strengths and themes worth using in your personal statement. You review it before anything is final. Pair it with the ERAS Organizer, Personal Statement Workshop, and Interview Prep Coach in Residency Application.
Facts change
VSLO fees, host rules, and specialty away guidance change every cycle. The pack dates every fact in reference/sources.md and asks you to confirm time-sensitive ones on the official sites.