Getting first choice residency

[deleted421268]

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How difficult is it for medical students to obtain the residency they want to do i the location they want to do it at? Does the medical school someone goes to influence that?

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

The higher the competitiveness of the speciality and the better the location, the harder it gets to get the gig. Your med school might influence it. If you go Caribbean, your med school will definetly influence it (badly).

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NRMP-2016-Program-Director-Survey.pdf

 

[ndafife]

How difficult is it for medical students to obtain the residency they want to do i the location they want to do it at? Does the medical school someone goes to influence that?

It depends on A) Specialty, B) Location, C) The applicants competitiveness for that location

Medical school influences that in a few ways. 1) It is easier to get into programs that your school has residents at. For example, a school like North Dakota sent 7 graduates to Mayo Clinic Residencies this year, so applying from North Dakota to Mayo there is a sense of familiarity with applicants that can help out.
2) On the flip side, if you apply to a program that has never seen an applicant from your school it makes things more difficult because they really dont know the quality of your education or anything about your letter writers. There are some ways around this though (away/audition rotations).
3) Schools that do lots of research make it a lot easier to get research as students applying for specialties/programs that require research. Its hard to get orthopedic surgery research if none of the surgeons at your program do research.

 

[Pasmal]

Just as datapoint 75%+ US-MD seniors match into one of their top 3 program rankings.

It's important for OP to remember that depending on the applicant's competitiveness for the field, desired location(s) and programs to which he/she was actually granted interviews, "top 3" may include strong programs in less desirable locations and v.v. I think it's safe to say that matching at a good program in a good location is going to be tougher than the average for that field regardless of specialty.