Best places to apply for Family Medicine with my scores

[jets46]

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Hi everyone. I wanted to see if anyone has any input for where I should apply for a FM residency. 3 LORs from FM doctors. No red flags. Passed first two years with no fails. High passed and honored most of 3rd year and fourth year up to date. Low 470s on level 1 and 2. Any decent programs I can apply to with this? I appreciate any feedback.

 

[Sardonix]

Hi everyone. I wanted to see if anyone has any input for where I should apply for a FM residency. 3 LORs from FM doctors. No red flags. Passed first two years with no fails. High passed and honored most of 3rd year and fourth year up to date. Low 470s on level 1 and 2. Any decent programs I can apply to with this? I appreciate any feedback.

I'm a bit confused by what you're asking. On the one hand, you have a great profile for FM and have like a 99% chance of matching FM. On the other hand, your scores are going to limit you to an extent when it comes to large, prestigious institutions. This in and of itself is not bad as FM often is not defined by huge academic centers and is actually a specialty where community programs get you much better training. So the question comes down to where do you YOU want to match and why?

FM values connection and chance of staying in the area after graduating residency. If you want to match at a program in the tristate area of your home-state, fantastic, apply to wherever you want and see what shakes out. You will get invites and you will match. But will you get into a prestigious academic center on the East/West coast without any connection and with just the stated COMLEX scores? Maybe? But chances are much more dicey.

So essentially my advice is pick a geographic location you have a connection to and can see yourself practicing in and apply to 20-30 programs and see what happens.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

It also depends on what type of practice you see yourself in. My son does deliveries and inpatient care. If that is appealing, there are several. Most dont do deliveries or inpatient

 

[DameJulie]

This in and of itself is not bad as FM often is not defined by huge academic centers and is actually a specialty where community programs get you much better training. So the question comes down to where do you YOU want to match and why?

Are there any other specialties that are like that?

 

[jets46]

I'm a bit confused by what you're asking. On the one hand, you have a great profile for FM and have like a 99% chance of matching FM. On the other hand, your scores are going to limit you to an extent when it comes to large, prestigious institutions. This in and of itself is not bad as FM often is not defined by huge academic centers and is actually a specialty where community programs get you much better training. So the question comes down to where do you YOU want to match and why?

FM values connection and chance of staying in the area after graduating residency. If you want to match at a program in the tristate area of your home-state, fantastic, apply to wherever you want and see what shakes out. You will get invites and you will match. But will you get into a prestigious academic center on the East/West coast without any connection and with just the stated COMLEX scores? Maybe? But chances are much more dicey.

So essentially my advice is pick a geographic location you have a connection to and can see yourself practicing in and apply to 20-30 programs and see what happens.

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. I don't care if it is a 'prestigious academic center.' I want to go somewhere where I feel like I can hone in my skills and become the best family physician I can possibly be. And I know I want to do out patient with focus on outpatient procedures, sports medicine, geriatrics, OMT, and preventative medicine to name a few of my interests. And my school is in the southeast region. So, I'll focus most of my time in that region. Reading through these forums, it made it seem like I'd need to apply to like 80 programs with my scores.

 

[Sardonix]

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. I don't care if it is a 'prestigious academic center.' I want to go somewhere where I feel like I can hone in my skills and become the best family physician I can possibly be. And I know I want to do out patient with focus on outpatient procedures, sports medicine, geriatrics, OMT, and preventative medicine to name a few of my interests. And my school is in the southeast region. So, I'll focus most of my time in that region. Reading through these forums, it made it seem like I'd need to apply to like 80 programs with my scores.

Tableau Public

public.tableau.com

Apply Smart: Data to Consider When Applying to Residency

Your likelihood of securing residency training depends on many factors — including the number of residency programs you apply to.

students-residents.aamc.org

Play around with these tools, though the second requires Step1 it still gives you the right idea. But keep something in mind--you passed all your boards, you have no red flags. 2019 MGMA data says Southern US pays a median of $245,000 for outpatient only FM. That should tell you FM is in demand in the region. If you cast a wide net, there is no reason for you to apply 80 programs. If you're feeling really bold, apply to 40. FM is not a super duper competitive specialty and regularly takes people with multiple board failures and/or red flags.

Chin up, buttercup. If you show genuine interest in FM and desire to practice where you say you'll be fighting off invites with a stick.

 

[jets46]

Tableau Public

public.tableau.com

Apply Smart: Data to Consider When Applying to Residency

Your likelihood of securing residency training depends on many factors — including the number of residency programs you apply to.

students-residents.aamc.org

Play around with these tools, though the second requires Step1 it still gives you the right idea. But keep something in mind--you passed all your boards, you have no red flags. 2019 MGMA data says Southern US pays a median of $245,000 for outpatient only FM. That should tell you FM is in demand in the region. If you cast a wide net, there is no reason for you to apply 80 programs. If you're feeling really bold, apply to 40. FM is not a super duper competitive specialty and regularly takes people with multiple board failures and/or red flags.

Chin up, buttercup. If you show genuine interest in FM and desire to practice where you say you'll be fighting off invites with a stick.

Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Sardonix]

Are there any other specialties that are like that?

Any specialty that benefits from variety, breadth, and independence. EM comes to mind. But even then, FM is still a little unique. No other specialty aims to cover as much ground as us. Subspecialties require large hospitals/academic centers to see sufficient volume of cases relevant to their wheelhouse, which makes sense, but is also why FM programs sometimes suffer when they take a back seat when competing with other specialties in the same center.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

World's your clam buddy. As long as you play nice and you make friendly with the residents you'll be able to get your top 3. But you should be able to get some nice community programs and possibly some university programs in the midwest.