Advice for picking an away

I wish there was more honest advice on this forum, but I agree with what has been said here. Grades are almost irrelevant. They never came up at interviews and I doubt it matters unless you were in the running for AOA.

I rotated at HSS and I'd highly recommend against rotating there. Their system with rotators isn't like other programs and they don't invite all back for an interview. Also, it's a very overrated program. NYU is a much better option, I interviewed at both. Although NYU also doesn't interview all their rotators, if you get asked to come back it means they really like you, and most of their 12 residents each year are rotators. Also, NYU is a way more solid program in terms of clinical/academic balance and their research opportunities sounded amazing.

I also agree with butterfingerbbs that you should consider Brown and Penn, solid, well-balanced programs with great research opportunities.

Your stats are fine for either of these programs

Any thoughts on worth of rotating at places in completely different regions and how much it'll help at that program and how much it might hurt locally? i.e. even with good stats, if coming from a school in Georgia, would you be wasting a rotation by going to UCSF? Likewise, would local programs look down on you if they find out on interview day or via LsOR that most/all your rotations were outside of your region?

People always say to look at where people from your school have matched in the past, but if it's a state school and people generally tend to want to stay in the area, it doesn't necessarily help people gauge your competitiveness for a non-local program.

I feel like variations of these questions get asked a million times, but it's only now that it's so close to finalizing a decision that I realize I'm still not really sure about anything.

I'd say that what school you come from does play a role for sure. If you crush a rotation at a higher-name place, and get a LOR from there, it could help though. Because many of your interviewers will glance at who wrote your letters and where they're from.

I'd recommend spreading out where you rotate it if you were planning on leaving Georgia.

1. Rotate where you really want to go but BE REALISTIC
2. Try to figure out how many rotators will be on with you, if that program historically favors rotators (or historically does the opposite), and if that program will interview you while you are there
3. Have 4 letters of recommendation prepared prior to starting your away rotations because you may not work with someone long enough to get one and some programs will discourage you from even asking for one. If you really need an additional letter of recommendation, be sure to rotate at a program that is willing to provide one early on because it may take 2-6 weeks for them to complete it.
4. I was asked about where I rotated at every interview (and I rotated all over the country), but no one who interviewed me seemed to have that information beforehand. The majority of my interviews were in regions I had ties to, so if there is a region you really want to be in and that fact is not obvious from your application you should rotate there.
5. BE REALISTIC

Does anyone have insights into which programs interview students while they are on their away rotation?

Thanks!

Stanford and WashU I know for sure

However, I would caution against using this as a criteria for selecting an away. Just because all rotators get an interview does not mean they will even rank you. In some ways, I think it is a disservice to the applicant, since you know so much less about what you want from a program while you are on your subI's.