Getting residency position across the country

[rockydoc]

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Hi,

I've heard that in general, programs sometimes tend to take applicants from schools from which they have previously taken applicants. Subsequently, if an applicant from a different area of the country, from a not-so-well-known medical school, applies to their program, they may not review their application at all just based on the assumption that either they don't take applicants from that area or they assume that the applicant does not have a great desire to move across the country. This is all regardless of the applicant's competitiveness.

I ask because I am in that situation, and for the upcoming application season, I am looking at programs mostly in large cities which are across the country, and do not have a history with students from my medical school.

Is there anyway I can decrease the chances of my application getting overlooked in that situation??

 

[typhoonegator]

While some programs may certainly have a good working relationship with certain schools, I think programs in general have a pretty open mind about applicants from different regions and schools they haven't taken people from before. Programs are always looking for "fresh blood", and keeping their residency heterogeneous is a good way to encourage that. If your residency was only populated by people from four medical schools in your local vicinity, that would be pretty stagnant.

I can only speak for what I have seen, but great applicants from small schools can and do earn spots at top residencies, even across the country. You do want to make sure you stay communicative with them, particularly if you have any firm reasons for looking at their program. Top residencies get peppered by wishful applications, and while your overall competitiveness will weed you out from those looking for a moonshot, it doesn't hurt to follow up (after your interview) with some concrete language about how realistically you see yourself moving across the country to live in City X.

Oh, and have your neurology program's PD call your top places and let them know how serious and good you are. That goes a long way.

 

[Hank Rearden]

Having served on a residency selection committee, I can tell you that programs try to get the best applicants they can get their hands on period. It doesn't matter where they come from. One place where bias probably does come into play are the letters of recommendation. Would you feel more comfortable taking an applicant with a solid LOR from a leader in neurology whom you know personally, or an applicant with an even better LOR from a medicine doc at podunk U? Most committee members would choose the former. If you really feel like you're at an obscure med school and you want to overcome this perceived limitation, you can always do an away rotation at a school of interest your 4th year. If you're a rock star the month you're there it doesn't really matter what your letters say. Having said that, I really feel the neurology match is not that competitive (despite what some folks may say on this board) and doing away rotations is mostly a waste of time.