Does it matter where you do your residency training?

[xnfs93hy]

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Lets say you go to a good medical school and want to get into a residency for a top specialty NOT A TOP RESIDENCY, A RESIDENCY for a top specialty. You finish that and you are ready to start your practice, go into a group practice, go into the hospital system, or whatever you decide to do. Will where you do your residency make a difference in how many job offers you get or how much you will be paid working for someone else.

For example, if you run your own practice it doesn't matter where you trained. I can give an example but I don't know how good it is. I go to a chiropractor who went to a state school here in NJ and went somewhere out west for Chiropractic school. He asked me what I wanted to do after high school and I said that ultimately I want to run my own medical practice and make a lot of money. Obviously he did not comment on the money but basically his message was if I wanted to work in private practice my degree does not matter at all and it is a great way to go because you can set all your prices when you own your own practice, you basically are your own boss.

But, even if I do not do my residency at Harvard or Johns Hopkins, will it still be hard to match into a residency in a competitive specialty? For example, I volunteer at a hospital and used to talk to a resident in the ER and he said that he went to UMDNJ for MS and went to an OOS State school for UG and said he was very happy with the choice he made, and the hospital I volunteer at isn't well know out of NJ but in NJ I can say it is one of the best. So ultimately, like my title suggests, does it REALLY matter where you do your residency? Will I ultimately be making just as much as the EM or Ortho guy who went to Harvard?

 

[smq123]

You're asking questions that don't have a simple answer.

a) I know that other people will say this, but it is way too early to worry about residency. Worry about college FIRST.

b)

For example, if you run your own practice it doesn't matter where you trained.

Obviously he did not comment on the money but basically his message was if I wanted to work in private practice my degree does not matter at all and it is a great way to go because you can set all your prices when you own your own practice, you basically are your own boss.

I would actually argue that it DOES matter where you trained it you want to run your own practice.

First of all, trying to run your own practice is ridiculously difficult. Some of the old-time physicians who did run solo practices fully admit that they probably couldn't do that in this day and age. You CAN run your own practice....but it is tough. A lot of physicians go out of business trying to do that. Paying office staff, paying rent on an office, trying to build a referral base, putting together a website and business cards, making enough to cover your malpractice insurance....it is really, really hard.

In order to build a referral base, and to attract patients, you have to prove that you have some kind of edge over the competition. Do you have more expertise than someone in the same city? Did you go to a more prestigious residency that patients recognize? Why should patients go to YOU as opposed to someone else?

WingedScapula, who is a breast surgeon (and an admin on this site) has frequently talked about the fact that being a surgeon who did a breast surgery fellowship has been an advantage - she can tell patients that, unlike the general surgeon down the street, she has really studied breast cancer, and operates almost exclusively on breast cancer. She has more experience, therefore, than someone who did NOT do a fellowship. In that case, I would certainly argue that her training makes a major difference, even though she is in private practice.

c) It depends on what you want to go into private practice in. For instance, if you wanted to open your own plastic surgery private practice - well, for most people, plastic surgery is a VERY competitive fellowship after a general surgery residency. In that case, yes, where you did your general surgery residency WILL make a difference, because if you did your residency in a very small community hospital that no one has heard of, it might make it almost impossible for you to get into a plastic surgery fellowship.

d) Finally, I know this goes without saying, but don't fixate on money. Medicine IS a high paying job, and some fields in medicine are exceptionally high paying - but there's always a price somewhere. Derm is a field that pays very well....but you have to almost kill yourself to get into it.

In summary, who's to say if you'll make more or less than the guy who did his residency at Harvard whle you did yours at Podunk Community Hospital? That really depends on a LOT of different factors.

 

[Thrombomodulin]

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[xnfs93hy]

You're asking questions that don't have a simple answer.

a) I know that other people will say this, but it is way too early to worry about residency. Worry about college FIRST.

b)


I would actually argue that it DOES matter where you trained it you want to run your own practice.

First of all, trying to run your own practice is ridiculously difficult. Some of the old-time physicians who did run solo practices fully admit that they probably couldn't do that in this day and age. You CAN run your own practice....but it is tough. A lot of physicians go out of business trying to do that. Paying office staff, paying rent on an office, trying to build a referral base, putting together a website and business cards, making enough to cover your malpractice insurance....it is really, really hard.

In order to build a referral base, and to attract patients, you have to prove that you have some kind of edge over the competition. Do you have more expertise than someone in the same city? Did you go to a more prestigious residency that patients recognize? Why should patients go to YOU as opposed to someone else?

WingedScapula, who is a breast surgeon (and an admin on this site) has frequently talked about the fact that being a surgeon who did a breast surgery fellowship has been an advantage - she can tell patients that, unlike the general surgeon down the street, she has really studied breast cancer, and operates almost exclusively on breast cancer. She has more experience, therefore, than someone who did NOT do a fellowship. In that case, I would certainly argue that her training makes a major difference, even though she is in private practice.

c) It depends on what you want to go into private practice in. For instance, if you wanted to open your own plastic surgery private practice - well, for most people, plastic surgery is a VERY competitive fellowship after a general surgery residency. In that case, yes, where you did your general surgery residency WILL make a difference, because if you did your residency in a very small community hospital that no one has heard of, it might make it almost impossible for you to get into a plastic surgery fellowship.

d) Finally, I know this goes without saying, but don't fixate on money. Medicine IS a high paying job, and some fields in medicine are exceptionally high paying - but there's always a price somewhere. Derm is a field that pays very well....but you have to almost kill yourself to get into it.

In summary, who's to say if you'll make more or less than the guy who did his residency at Harvard whle you did yours at Podunk Community Hospital? That really depends on a LOT of different factors.

Hmm. If it really is that difficult to run a practice these days I figure that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea for me to go down that route.

I have heard (I may be wrong though) that you make more money working in a group practice with other physicians as opposed to working in the hospital system. Would a prestigious (hope I spelled that correctly) residency help you land a job in a high paying group practice? What if I wanted to work as an Orthopedic surgeon in the hospital system, would I get payed less? I know money is not the only thing I just want to narrow down the options (even though I shouldn't be worrying about this now) so that I will be able to know or at least have an idea of what areas of medicine I want to go into if I still decide I want to (and can get into) med school.

Also, if I wanted to work in the hospital system, would a prestigious residency help me land a job there or does it not matter in this case as opposed to landing a job in a group practice?

 

[MilkmanAl]

If it really is that difficult to run a practice these days I figure that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea for me to go down that route.

Didn't you already have multiple people tell you this information in your money making thread? They weren't lying to you.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Didn't you already have multiple people tell you this information in your money making thread? They weren't lying to you.

I guess I'm now starting to realize the sad truth that I'm probably not going to make a million dollars a year and that I'm not special. However, I am still determined to make along the lines of 250,000 a year but I guess 250,000 can be made in Dentistry and Business. Maybe I would be better off as a Dentist 🙄, I don't know. I want to do SOMETHING in the medical field but I want to work most of the time and get compensated well. Like 250-350k a year. I think most dentists don't make more than 350 a year, most make around 200 which is pretty good.

 

[smq123]

I have heard (I may be wrong though) that you make more money working in a group practice with other physicians as opposed to working in the hospital system. Would a prestigious (hope I spelled that correctly) residency help you land a job in a high paying group practice? What if I wanted to work as an Orthopedic surgeon in the hospital system, would I get payed less?

It's generally believed that you make more money working in private practice than you do at an academic hospital center. You will work harder, though, and will not have the same opportunities to do research and teach - which are things that can earn you a lot of prestige.

If you work as an Orthopedic surgeon in private practice, the chances are good that you'll make more than you would at high-power, big name hospital system.

You will work harder though, and suddenly everything will be your responsibility. Your employees need to get paid, your rent needs to get paid, if you're going to go on vacation then YOU need to find someone to cover your practice, your malpractice needs to get paid, etc. If you work in a hospital, then the hospital tends to take care of all that stuff.

I know money is not the only thing I just want to narrow down the options (even though I shouldn't be worrying about this now) so that I will be able to know or at least have an idea of what areas of medicine I want to go into if I still decide I want to (and can get into) med school.

I know everyone is different, but I really believe that you're going about this the wrong way.

You don't pick a specialty based ONLY on how much money you can make from it. And you certainly shouldn't go to medical school just because of the CHANCE that you MIGHT make a lot of money doing a certain field.

You have to decide, first and foremost, that you want to be a physician. That is the ONLY good reason to go to med school. Not for the possibility that you might do ortho and make $300,000 a year. There is a high likelihood that a) you won't even like ortho, or b) you won't be good enough to get into ortho.

Forget about the money now. Seriously - just forget about it. It should not play that much of a factor in your thought processes right now.

 

[Depakote]

I'm in my second year of medical school.

I'm still not committed to:
-specialty (long list of possibilities... getting longer, not shorter at the moment)
-private practice v. hospital
any number of other questions you could throw at me about where I'll be in 10 years.

I've got a hint, maybe an inkling right now, but it's better to go into these things with an open mind than to try to commit early.