Does anyone know what it is like for students trying at the regional campuses that are trying to match into non-primary care or competitive specialties? Obviously, the main goal of the regional areas is to promote primary care in that state, but the match lists show that there are still people who can match into top-notch residencies from the regional sites. How do they do it?
For example, if I wanted to match into Dermatology (not actually my preferred specialty rn), would I meet any sort of resistance or extra hoops to jump through compared to the path to matching at a regular medical school. What comes to mind for me is the blatant research arms race for some of those specialties. I would imagine it would be difficult to have longitudinal research due to the transient nature of the regional sites, and it would be difficult to get the number of pubs that many students have. Do people have to go to Seattle for the summers for research, do they try to do most clerkships in Seattle, or can they match into more selective specialties while still doing something like TRACK at one of the regional sites?
I guess what I'm basically asking is if anyone has any insight into what the process is like for the regional students that are trying to go into things beyond primary care!
Also, if asked about this in the interview, do most people lie and say they are interested in primary care? I'm not opposed to being a PCP by any means, but it has never been high on my list. I don't want to be disingenuous about my intentions though during the interview.
Regardless of what site you're at, we're all UW. Regional sites have (almost always) equal access to the opportunities afforded to the Seattle class, so a person in Alaska will have the same chances at a competitive specialty as someone in Seattle. I'm at one of the smaller regional sites, and I've felt like our class gets more attention and one-on-one time due to our smaller size. We can access a lot of things out of Seattle (for example, we can do research with Seattle faculty, even if we're not part of the Seattle cohort). The regional sites have their own administration but otherwise everything is pretty standardized across UW.
Yes, UW's match list is heavier on primary care, but don't forget that it's also a T-10/15 school and is a clinical/research powerhouse. UW's got plenty of opportunities to do research. So UW's brand + research capabilities will help a lot with those competitive specialties. You are
NOT required to go down to Seattle for research; every regional site has its own faculty and research projects. Additionally, specific programs exist at UW where you can do longitudinal research (not 100% sure on details but they exist). The biggest tip I have is that
if you're trying to get into something competitive, it's best to know that early on. That way you can prepare in advance and get in as much research as possible. It's risky if you realize you want to do derm towards the end of MS3 and don't have a lot of derm research to show for it.
@Taskha 's advice is spot on.
To my knowledge, a lot of kids do the WWAMI Safari. Nothing really ties you down to Seattle. However, if there's a specific specialty you want to get into, you usually try to do that clerkship in Seattle. So for example, if you want to get into EM, you'll try to schedule your EM rotation down in Seattle. Or if you want to do ophtho, schedule an ophtho rotation there. I would love an MS3 or MS4's input on this, but I don't think doing a TRACK will limit your choice of specialties.
It's better not to lie if you're asked about what specialty you want to go into. Don't say primary care if you're not interested in it. UW matches several people to competitive specialties every year, so it's not a deal breaker. You can always say you're keeping your options open too.
EDIT: Here is UW's 2019
Match List. There are some bomb competitive matches.
