choosing residency programs- PM&R

[onehundred19]

Hi all,

So I am a 3rd year medical student, soon to be scheduling my 4th year rotations. I am hoping to go into PM&R but am having trouble figuring out what programs are appropriate for me to be striving for. I want to start planning which away rotations to aim for, and don't want to waste my time with programs that are out of my league. I am an MD applicant and got a 219 on Step one and will be taking Step 2 prior to my residency apps, and hopefully doing better-- i typically get around the 70th national percentile on my shelf exams and hope that that has at least a slight correlation to Step 2? My home program does not have a PM&R program, but I have been able to do some short electives at community programs.

So for residency- I am looking for programs that are strong in MSK and pain, and am thinking of doing either a sports or pain fellowship after residency. I would prefer to be in the West but not a deal breaker in any way. As far as in California I was thinking of doing UC Irvine or possibly UCLA. I would of course be open to programs anywhere if they were a good match. Let me know if there are any programs that seem like a good fit. I have seen that some of the more competitive programs list a 220 cut off, but don't know if other programs just aren't as open about how competitive they are. Thank you so much!

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[Jitter Bug]

Start from the other end. See which programs have away rotations, and which programs have fellowships in pain or sports. Then see if you can afford to live there for 4 weeks. Do they include housing or do you have to find your own housing for 4 weeks? Once you have a list of potentials, I would choose away rotations at places you are thinking of trying to match into. You definitely get a leg up in the match process if you spent a month there instead of one afternoon. And you still have to apply and get accepted , so apply early.

I had a really nice away rotation experience, and it helped me decide that it was NOT the place for me. (Mostly due to geography). But I still received a LOR out of it which was quite helpful.

 

[onehundred19]

Thanks for the response! I guess more than that, I was wondering if there is any resource that describes the strengths/weaknesses of programs and the competitiveness? Because from looking at programs it is pretty hard to tell what they are focused on because they all seem pretty similar based on the curriculum alone. Thanks!

 

[j4pac]

Thanks for the response! I guess more than that, I was wondering if there is any resource that describes the strengths/weaknesses of programs and the competitiveness? Because from looking at programs it is pretty hard to tell what they are focused on because they all seem pretty similar based on the curriculum alone. Thanks!

Two sources:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-2015-pm-r-interview-experiences-thread.1103600/

http://www.scutwork.com/cgi-bin/links/page.cgi?g=Physical_Medicine_and_Rehabilitation/index.html&d=1

SDN reviews are far more updated than scutworks (which is a dead site), and there are lots more reviews. Work your way through the archive.