ALL FEMALE second year class. Would it make a difference to you as an intern?

[Odaleyguey11]

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Hi.
So I'm in love with a particular residency. The only caveat is if I match there my second years will all be moms.
I'm wondering, as a single person with no children, if that is going to somehow negatively affect the training experience and internal social dynamic (I.e. I'll be auto-isolated) as an intern? Would that be a concern for anyone or am I worrying over nothing?

 

[Psai]

There's a reason why obgyn is so unbearable

 

[mimelim]

This depends entirely on you as an individual.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

This thread is going to go poorly

 

[Odaleyguey11]

Fwiw I'm a male and going into FM.

 

[psychMDhopefully]

There's a reason why obgyn is so unbearable

? Women?

 

[bumblebee611]

Hi.
So I'm in love with a particular residency. The only caveat is if I match there my second years will all be moms.
I'm wondering, as a single person with no children, if that is going to somehow negatively affect the training experience and internal social dynamic (I.e. I'll be auto-isolated) as an intern? Would that be a concern for anyone or am I worrying over nothing?

I am awfully early in this process, but I am pretty darned old and I am a woman who has spent a lot of time in a male-dominated profession and I have worked on a number of all-male-except-for-me teams. I am enough of a feminist to be able to see that the concerns are not totally symmetric, but I do understand why you might worry about this. I think the question for you is how well you get along in majority-female environments, how well you get along with women peers generally, and how well you get along with peers who are parents or who have otherwise taken a different path from yours. I have known really smart, thoughtful men who just don't develop deeper friendships with women, and it doesn't make them terrible people. As mimelim says, it's about you as an individual.

 

[Señor S]

Would be a huge negative for me. To each his own.

 

[WingedOx]

As someone who was a single guy moving alone across the country to a new city, having my co-residents around to build a new social circle was hugely important. I was still close with the residents in my program who had kids, but for rather obvious reasons they weren't as open and available for the same social things as the rest of us.

Though it's really hard to judge what types of residents you'll land in your own class. For all you know, the PG1 class at that same residency could end up being 100% single people.

 

[mvenus929]

The fact that they are all women shouldn't make a difference. If they are all moms, though, social circles will be a bit different. What will the third year class look like? If there was a good enough mix of singles vs families, they might recruit a solid single population in the intern class. If the third year class is also all married with kids, that represents a culture that will be hard to change.

 

[Odaleyguey11]

Current 1st years--all moms and/or married. Current second years--one guy.


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[Odaleyguey11]

Long shot but anyone here familiar with the Fort Collins residency?


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[pageantry]

As someone who was a single guy moving alone across the country to a new city, having my co-residents around to build a new social circle was hugely important.

!

I hope you'll take it as a compliment that I always thought you were a woman.

 

[J ROD]

If you do not mind tucking your sack back and putting on a little rouge then you should be fine! 😳

 

[alpinism]

As someone who was a single guy moving alone across the country to a new city, having my co-residents around to build a new social circle was hugely important. I was still close with the residents in my program who had kids, but for rather obvious reasons they weren't as open and available for the same social things as the rest of us.

Though it's really hard to judge what types of residents you'll land in your own class. For all you know, the PG1 class at that same residency could end up being 100% single people.

Agreed.

While its possible the next class will have more singles, most "family friendly" programs tend to attract those types of applicants. Its unlikely that a program that is mostly married w/ kids will suddenly become mostly singles in the near future.

If you're moving across the country and/or don't have family/friends in the area its going to be really tough to find new people to hang out with outside of work. I'd personally want at least a few single residents who you can make friends with and form a new social circle.

 

[mvenus929]

Current 1st years--all moms and/or married. Current second years--one guy.


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Let me be clear--just saying what gender the residents are does not define how the culture of the program is. And just because the female residents are married does not mean that they want to or will become mothers.

I am in a relatively large program, with 21 residents in my class. 6 of them are male. At present, two have children (one female and one male). Six of the girls are unmarried. Three of the guys are unmarried. So, our social scene in our class alone is varied--the married people without kids occasionally hang out with the single people, and the married people with kids tend to march to the beat of their own drum.

Contrast this to a program that is 6 people, with 5 married and 4 with children. At that point, does it really matter what the gender distribution is? The single person may hang out with the group, but will have different priorities, regardless of whether that person is male or female. If none have children, sure, some will certainly start having children by the time residency is over, but there will also be some who want to finish evidence before starting a family, or have no desire to have children at all. If that one guy in the program is also married with kids, he is going to have different priorities than a single guy new to the area.

 

[Psai]

Let me be clear--just saying what gender the residents are does not define how the culture of the program is. And just because the female residents are married does not mean that they want to or will become mothers.

I am in a relatively large program, with 21 residents in my class. 6 of them are male. At present, two have children (one female and one male). Six of the girls are unmarried. Three of the guys are unmarried. So, our social scene in our class alone is varied--the married people without kids occasionally hang out with the single people, and the married people with kids tend to march to the beat of their own drum.

Contrast this to a program that is 6 people, with 5 married and 4 with children. At that point, does it really matter what the gender distribution is? The single person may hang out with the group, but will have different priorities, regardless of whether that person is male or female. If none have children, sure, some will certainly start having children by the time residency is over, but there will also be some who want to finish evidence before starting a family, or have no desire to have children at all. If that one guy in the program is also married with kids, he is going to have different priorities than a single guy new to the area.

I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in but gender distribution makes a huge difference. A group of mostly men will be way more chill and relaxed with jokes while a group of mostly women will be more uptight and catty in general, especially in larger groups

 

[Mad Jack]

I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in but gender distribution makes a huge difference. A group of mostly men will be way more chill and relaxed with jokes while a group of mostly women will be more uptight and catty in general, especially in larger groups

There was definitely a very different vibe when the ED or ICU happened to be all men versus all women (plus myself). I preferred the former to the latter, personally.

 

[Teddy.KGB]

I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in but gender distribution makes a huge difference. A group of mostly men will be way more chill and relaxed with jokes while a group of mostly women will be more uptight and catty in general, especially in larger groups

I was hoping this would devolve into an open discussion of stereotypes (I tend to find stereotypes to be real time savers 😉), but the topic we're talking about has actually been studied in nursing units. Units that have a good mix of men and women tend to have the best retention, morale, and professionalism, whereas too many guys and it gets a little Animal House (poor professionalism), and too many women and it gets a little Mean Girls (poor morale).

 

[TBV]

I'd be worried about the pregnancy bug going around one year and getting effed in the a by that one. Happened in my old job, 3 women all with the same job as me got pregnant all within a month of each other. I saw a sh*tstorm on the horizon and told them 3 months ahead of time my last day would be before they go on maternity.

 

[GUH]

I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in but gender distribution makes a huge difference. A group of mostly men will be way more chill and relaxed with jokes while a group of mostly women will be more uptight and catty in general, especially in larger groups

I agree somewhat although having rotated through a surgery department with only male attendings, male attendings and residents can also be very effective at being mean-spirited divas even without women around.

 

[mvenus929]

I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in but gender distribution makes a huge difference. A group of mostly men will be way more chill and relaxed with jokes while a group of mostly women will be more uptight and catty in general, especially in larger groups

I had a sentence or two in my original post about the extremes--having an all female residency program would likely make a new male resident an outsider. However, I think the overall culture of a program is not immediately defined by gender distribution. Yes, it plays a role, but it is not the be-all-end-all of defining the culture, which is why it's difficult to assess the OP's chances of fitting in by just saying that the second year class will be all female. It doesn't take into account the personalities of said people, the distribution of single/married/with kids, interactions with other groups (nurses, ancillary staff, attendings, other residents).

This is also why it's good to get as much interaction with the residents and other staff as possible on interview day (and the pre-interview dinner), so you can get a feel for what the culture of the program is. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.

 

[Psai]

Actually you guys are right

 

[ChillDawg]

If that's all I knew about 2 hypothetical residency spots that had opposing, extreme gender skews, I'd definitely avoid the all-female one. Things like camaraderie matter to me, like others have mentioned.