I have seen a lot of talk on 'carrying weight' of a residency and was wondering if anyone can comment on how much this actually becomes a factor after residency. I have seen it used in two scenarios. The first one is obviously fellowship opportunities which I think we can all agree on plays a part, but the second is the location in practicing after residency. People have said things along the lines of "I like X program, but not sure it will carry me as far as program Y in terms of wanting to go back to the West coast." Is this a real thing I should be considering (essentially factoring in reputation vs fit)?
'Carrying Weight' of a Residency
- Thread starter TRED1400
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The #1 thing for finding a job in the real world is connections. You will likely end up working wherever graduates of your program end up working (whether in academics or in private practice). If you want a job in random town USA, it's probably better to do a residency where many of the docs working there came from which is usually local. I'm not saying you can't get a job across the country, it's just harder to do because you are less likely to know anybody.
So if somebody 100% for sure wants to work on the West Coast, I'd recommend they do a residency on the West Coast.
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^^This. Train where you want to practice. If you decide during residency that you want to practice somewhere radically different, and want to pursue fellowship anyway, then do fellowship where you want to practice. It is hard to break into a market without any connections or ways to stand out.
Aside from this, 'reputation' is largely crap. One decent program is basically the same as another decent program, and people can only tell the difference based on people that they know from those programs. I've met enough not that great doctors from places like Duke, Brigham, Mass General, and CCF to not be impressed by pedigree.
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Aside from this, 'reputation' is largely crap. One decent program is basically the same as another decent program, and people can only tell the difference based on people that they know from those programs. I've met enough not that great doctors from places like Duke, Brigham, Mass General, and CCF to not be impressed by pedigree.
Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile
