community programs frowned upon post residency?

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marchellene

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Can anyone give me their opinion pros and cons of community versus university residency for OBGYN. There seem to be a lot of misconceptions. Here are some general questions I have.
1. Are community based programs 'easier' to get into?
2. If perhaps I want to do a fellowship post residency, will it be harder to obtain if I went to a community program?

Any opinions welcome, good or bad. Thank you dearly!
 
I cannot tell you if community programs are easier to get into, but I think if you are considering a fellowship, a university based program is best. The letters you will receive from university based faculty will have more of an impact for the fellowship you will be applying for. They all know each other and if you receive an outstanding letter from a strong faculty member who is well known, then that will work in your favor.
 
Can anyone give me their opinion pros and cons of community versus university residency for OBGYN. There seem to be a lot of misconceptions. Here are some general questions I have.
1. Are community based programs 'easier' to get into?
2. If perhaps I want to do a fellowship post residency, will it be harder to obtain if I went to a community program?

Any opinions welcome, good or bad. Thank you dearly!

As a rule, going into a fellowship will generally be easier coming from an academic program, especially one with the fellowship that you are interested in. Programs will take people in house.

Im in a smaller community program and we have had several people match in fellowships (MFM, Onc etc). It is a bit more challenging but if you do the work, it will happen.

To contrast, my old med school has a very large/prominent OB Gyn department with pretty famous names in the department and in recent years they have generally matched most people into their fellowships but there have been people who didn't match even with the connections for whatever reason.

Work hard in residency, do well on the CREOGS, try to churn out some good research, and network at meetings.
 
Graduating from a community program isn't going to black-ball you. It may be more difficult, but nothing is impossible. Work hard, and you'll get what you want. Even at community programs, there should be a few faculty members who may be well-connected.
 
I will say, just in case you want one of the more competitive fellowships, that community programs could hinder you. It is pretty much expected for some fellowships that you do some serious research and that may be really difficult from a community program (there are a few out there that are fantastic but ask about their fellowship match rates and what fellowship). There are also a few old school fellowship programs that don't consider community program applicants.
 
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