Can one pick an institution rather than a specialty?

[CopperStripes]

---

Members do not see this ad.

If a medical student really wants to do a residency at a specific institution and does not have his heart set on a specific specialty, could he apply to several different residency programs at that one hospital and then just enter whichever specialty into which he gets matched?

As a completely hypothetical example, if I absolutely fall in love with Mass General and I could see myself doing either emergency medicine, OB/GYN, urology, pediatrics, pathology, PM&R, or neurology, can I just rank all of those programs at the top of my list in hopes that I match at Mass General?

 

[Blade28]

Theoretically, yes, you can apply to any programs you want, in any field that you want.

But what would you write in your personal statement? Would you get letters of recommendation from 3-5 people in EACH FIELD? What are you going to say in your interviews?

I thought you were thinking about Rads?

 

[mlw03]

in theory, yes, what you state is possible. but it's completely un-doable, and anyone who would advise you to do that is nuts. that's saying nothing of the fact that it doesn't make sense - fall in love with a hospital? it's a place to treat sick people, not a beautiful woman.