Link between rotations, residency, and area of final practice?

oopnoyoo · Feb 18, 2008

Hello all,

I am having a difficult time choosing where to go this fall: CCOM or COMP. While both are good schools, CCOM seems to be the stronger of the two, but COMP is in Cali. If CCOM and all affiliated hospitals magically moved to Cali, this would be an easier decision.

Anyway, to my understanding, where you do rotations impact where you get matched for residency and most people stay in the area where they did their residency. Is this correct? Is it simply easier to stay where you did your residency or is it in fact harder to move to another state? I want to eventually practice in Cali (most likely Northern Cali/bay area) so would it be better for me to stay in Cali for school/rotations/residency? (which then brings me to compare TUCOM-MI vs. Western)

Would it be easier for me to stay in Cali if I went to COMP? Would it be hard for me to end up practicing in Cali if I did my residency in another state?

I notice that some CCOM graduates have gotten residencies in Cali (most stay on the east coast), but is that simply because most CCOM students are originally from the east coast and want to stay there or is it because it is hard to land a residency across the country?

Or do I have the wrong info and where you end up practicing is not strongly related to where you went to school/did rotations/did your residency?

Thanks!!

DocInProgress · Feb 18, 2008

I would go to COMP if you want to stay in Cali. COMP is well known in the DO realm as well.

oopnoyoo · Feb 21, 2008

That's what I'm kind of leaning towards, but I'm wondering if CCOM will better prepare me for boards/residency. I know a lot of that depends on me, though.

Any other thoughts? Any input from 4th year students from CCOM/COMP?

Old_Mil · Mar 1, 2008

There is no such thing as a "better medical school", only a "better medical school for you." 99% of what you learn is self taught, and so go to the school whose location, curriculum, and policies free you to be the best student you can be.

TrustDrDice · Mar 2, 2008

Old_Mil said:
There is no such thing as a "better medical school", only a "better medical school for you." 99% of what you learn is self taught, and so go to the school whose location, curriculum, and policies free you to be the best student you can be.

Well said. Finally someobody says it to the point on these forums.

oopnoyoo · Mar 2, 2008

Old_Mil said:
There is no such thing as a "better medical school", only a "better medical school for you." 99% of what you learn is self taught, and so go to the school whose location, curriculum, and policies free you to be the best student you can be.

Thanks for replying. Yes, I understand what you have pointed out and that has always been my mentality. But that doesn't answer any of my questions, at least not directly. So are you implying that it does not matter where I do my rotations/residency given my future goals?

I can understand the concept that with all things being equal (board scores/letters of rec/etc...) a COMP grad and a CCOM grad would be able to practice in Cali, but my main concern is that would the CCOM grad have to work harder (travel to do rotations/increased networking effort/etc...) to end up on the west coast?

As an analogy, say there are two people who want to travel from Los Angeles to New York by walking (and for the sake of argument lets say they can walk on water). One person travels across the country going east, while the other travels across the world going west. Yes, they both end up in the same place, but there is no doubt that the one who traveled west had a much harder time than the one who traveled east.

Again, I could be totally wrong in assuming that where you end up practicing in the end is related to where you did rotations/residency.

RockfordWF · Mar 5, 2008

oopnoyoo said:
Hello all,

I am having a difficult time choosing where to go this fall: CCOM or COMP. While both are good schools, CCOM seems to be the stronger of the two, but COMP is in Cali. If CCOM and all affiliated hospitals magically moved to Cali, this would be an easier decision.

Anyway, to my understanding, where you do rotations impact where you get matched for residency and most people stay in the area where they did their residency. Is this correct? Is it simply easier to stay where you did your residency or is it in fact harder to move to another state? I want to eventually practice in Cali (most likely Northern Cali/bay area) so would it be better for me to stay in Cali for school/rotations/residency? (which then brings me to compare TUCOM-MI vs. Western)

Would it be easier for me to stay in Cali if I went to COMP? Would it be hard for me to end up practicing in Cali if I did my residency in another state?

I notice that some CCOM graduates have gotten residencies in Cali (most stay on the east coast), but is that simply because most CCOM students are originally from the east coast and want to stay there or is it because it is hard to land a residency across the country?

Or do I have the wrong info and where you end up practicing is not strongly related to where you went to school/did rotations/did your residency?

Thanks!!

You will have a better shot at a residency attached to your medical school, just because they are affiliated.

You will also have a better shot at any residency that you rotated through and did well.

You will have less of a shot at places you did not rotate at, and particularly in states you did not rotate in.

The solution is to go to school where you plan to stay OR rotate at the place where you want to end up.

drmolar07 · Mar 7, 2008

Link between rotations, residency, and area of final practice?

oopnoyoo

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