Going to a med school on the east coast. Any advice on how to get a residency position at a UC?

[Aspiring-Doctor]

Hi! I am going to start medical school in the east coast in August this year. I am a California resident and am very much interested in coming back to CA for residency. I was wondering how difficult is it to get a residency position at a UC from a decently ranked medical school (50-70th best medical school) on the east coast? What are the factors they consider? Also any advice on studying for the step 1 exam? Thank you so much!!!!! Appreciate all responses!

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[CharlieBillings]

Interesting question.

 

[RangerBob]

It really depends on how well you perform in med school, on boards, and which specialty you apply to. Do a visiting rotation (or two) at the programs you're interest in.

 

[sliceofbread136]

not that hard

 

[Med Ed]

Hi! I am going to start medical school in the east coast in August this year. I am a California resident and am very much interested in coming back to CA for residency. I was wondering how difficult is it to get a residency position at a UC from a decently ranked medical school (50-70th best medical school) on the east coast? What are the factors they consider?

There is no magic formula. First and foremost, choose a specialty for which you are competitive. Do some audition rotations at CA programs, and apply to a lot of them.

Also any advice on studying for the step 1 exam? Thank you so much!!!!! Appreciate all responses!

Focus on years 1 and 2, which will provide the fund of knowledge necessary for step 1. Buy access to a question bank (e.g. Kaplan or UWorld) and do questions as you go along. Most people start to burn out after 4-5 weeks of dedicated step 1 study, so don't start too early (as tempting as it will be).

 

[IlDestriero]

An extra year for an already competitive candidate not engaged in some kind of unique academic career enhancing project or compelling personal reason is ridiculous. It's a year of lost income, a waste of ~200-600k.
Be better than average for your specialty of choice at your programs of choice, try to do a couple away rotations if you have target hospitals, and quietly gun your competition to death. You want to be a superstar stand out in your peer group so your get a superior LOR.
You already have a reason to go to CA, make sure you point that out.
There are a lot of residency spots in CA, you'll probably be fine. Don't forget that there are lots of people that would rather go anywhere but CA.


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Il Destriero

 

[LyMed]

All the advice above is exactly what you should do. However, so much can change in the years of medical school. I know a lot of Californians that thought they wanted to return home, but loved other states so much that they ended up staying. I advise you not get ahead of yourself. Get situated and do things one step at a time, starting with figuring out what you want to do and getting a good step score.

As for advice for studying for the step: I advise my students get started from day one. It doesn't have to be anything strenuous, just look at whatever the day's lecture is and correlate that to First Aid. Fill in any blanks by annotating it/creating notes. If you have any more questions, just message me.

 

[gyngyn]

There are a lot of residency spots in CA, you'll probably be fine. Don't forget that there are lots of people that would rather go anywhere but CA.


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Il Destriero

You have to remember that almost twice as many CA applicants have to leave CA as get to stay.
Where do you imagine they want to return...

 

[sliceofbread136]

Lol at extra year. There are plenty of peds/Im/fam residencies in California that are not at all competitive. Ucsf/Stanford/ucla are somewhat competitive but other than that not really.

Story is obviously different if you want to do ent, derm etc

 

[IlDestriero]

If you're a super ️, you can go wherever you want. The problem is that medical school has a nasty habit of showing many former super star undergraduates that they're not so super after all.


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Il Destriero

 

[efle]

medical school has a nasty habit of showing many former super star undergraduates that they're not so super after all.

But the match lists from the med schools filled with superstar undergrads seem, well, pretty super?

 

[3member]

If you're a super ️, you can go wherever you want. The problem is that medical school has a nasty habit of showing many former super star undergraduates that they're not so super after all.


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Il Destriero

damn im no superstar

 

[aldol16]

But the match lists from the med schools filled with superstar undergrads seem, well, pretty super?

There's a difference between undergrads who think they're superstars and undergrads who are truly superstars. I think the argument applies more for undergrads who think they're superstars - maybe they were hot **** in their undergrad but now it's like transitioning from NCAA football to NFL football. Totally different stage.

 

[CharlieBillings]

Lol at extra year. There are plenty of peds/Im/fam residencies in California that are not at all competitive. Ucsf/Stanford/ucla are somewhat competitive but other than that not really.

Story is obviously different if you want to do ent, derm etc

Well what about mid competitive residencies like EM?

 

[efle]

Lol at extra year. There are plenty of peds/Im/fam residencies in California that are not at all competitive. Ucsf/Stanford/ucla are somewhat competitive but other than that not really.

Story is obviously different if you want to do ent, derm etc

Well what about mid competitive residencies like EM?

I don't know how much you want to be getting info from a guy that refers to matching IM at UCSF as "somewhat competitive"

 

[DameJulie]

Network with the professors at your school, let them know where you would like to go.

I am unfamiliar to the residency-matching stuffs, but I just wonder would medical schools think that you already wanted to go elsewhere for residency (especially for M1-M2) as being dis-loyal to the school?

 

[DameJulie]

Maybe this is not true, but some of my CA friends strived to stay in CA for medical school because they are afraid they won't be able to do residency in CA.

So, does going to a CA medical school increase one's likelihood to do residency in CA? Or is it a fair game regardless of where you went to school?

 

[sliceofbread136]

Well what about mid competitive residencies like EM?

Sorry EM is weird when it comes to rankings so I don't know much. However I'm pretty confident that a 230 coming from a us Med school would have no issues

I don't know how much you want to be getting info from a guy that refers to matching IM at UCSF as "somewhat competitive"

Im not an expert in IM rankings since I matched peds but I'm pretty sure I know significantly more than you do as I am assuming you are premed. You did pick by far the most competitive of the combinations I posted and yes you'd need some decent stats to match there. However if you compare it to MGH or top surgical subspecialty residencies it is a tier down in difficulty and could be classified "somewhat competitive" by comparison. But yes in isolation of that comparison it would be higher than somewhat competitive, the other 8 I posted not so much (maybe Stanford peds but not to the same extent)

 

[sliceofbread136]

Maybe this is not true, but some of my CA friends strived to stay in CA for medical school because they are afraid they won't be able to do residency in CA.

So, does going to a CA medical school increase one's likelihood to do residency in CA? Or is it a fair game regardless of where you went to school?

I have no experience applying to CA medical schools, but I'm pretty comfortable in saying that getting into a CA residency from a us medical school is easier than getting into a CA medical school

 

[efle]

Im not an expert in IM rankings since I matched peds but I'm pretty sure I know significantly more than you do as I am assuming you are premed. You did pick by far the most competitive of the combinations I posted and yes you'd need some decent stats to match there. However if you compare it to MGH or top surgical subspecialty residencies it is a tier down in difficulty and could be classified "somewhat competitive" by comparison. But yes in isolation of that comparison it would be higher than somewhat competitive, the other 8 I posted not so much (maybe Stanford peds but not to the same extent)

UCSF is not a place to pale in comparison to MGH, it's right in the Big 4 with it. You've got no idea what you're talking about. I like that you tried to whip out the "med students know more than premeds" trump card tho!

 

[sliceofbread136]

UCSF is not a place to pale in comparison to MGH, it's right in the Big 4 with it. You've got no idea what you're talking about. I like that you tried to whip out the "med students know more than premeds" trump card tho!

Ucsf is the #4 of the big 4. Mgh is the 1 (or 2 depending on who you talk to). Mgh beats it out, and quite significantly in my personal experience.

It's not a trump card, it is going through the match process.

And I'm no longer a Med student k thanks

 

[efle]

Ucsf is the #4 of the big 4. Mgh is the 1 (or 2 depending on who you talk to). Mgh beats it out, and quite significantly in my personal experience.

It's not a trump card, it is going through the match process.

And I'm no longer a Med student k thanks

Yes I'm sure all those brilliant students from/in California are just itching to go live in Boston or Baltimore because of the immense differences within the big 4. Smh

And I'm no longer a pre-med k thanks

 

[CharlieBillings]

Ucsf is the #4 of the big 4. Mgh is the 1 (or 2 depending on who you talk to). Mgh beats it out, and quite significantly in my personal experience.

It's not a trump card, it is going through the match process.

And I'm no longer a Med student k thanks

What are the other big 2? Yale and Johns Hopkins?

 

[efle]

Did you perchance go to med school out in the northeast, I feel like there's something in the kool aid up there about Harvard in general at all levels lol

 

[efle]

What are the other big 2? Yale and Johns Hopkins?

Harvard gets two (Brigham and Mass Gen), then yeah Hopkins, and the west coast contributes UCSF

 

[sliceofbread136]

Yes I'm sure all those brilliant students from/in California are just itching to go live in Boston or Baltimore because of the immense differences within the big 4. Smh

And I'm no longer a pre-med k thanks

I never said they were. Just that mgh is harder to match into than ucsf.

All of this really is really derailing from my original point which is that for non competitive specialty matching in cali is not hard coming from a us md school, and that even the upper tier brand names are quite doable

 

[efle]

for non competitive specialty matching in cali is not hard coming from a us md school, and that even the upper tier brand names are quite doable

Did OP mention what they're aiming for? If they just wanna do like anything that gets them back into CA, I'm on board

btw what makes you say matching to CA is easier than getting into med school in CA? Aren't the CA med students eager to stay and the people that had to leave for med school eager to come back? And isn't choosing from among a population of med students going to be a lot more competitive than choosing from among a population of college students?

 

[sliceofbread136]

What are the other big 2? Yale and Johns Hopkins?

Mgh jhu bwh ucsf in that order.

Yale's residencies are not nearly as competitive as their Med school

Did you perchance go to med school out in the northeast, I feel like there's something in the kool aid up there about Harvard in general at all levels lol

I'm from the south, I'm just reporting the information as I see it.

To be fair there isn't a good way to objectively measure how competitive these places are, so I am going off the results of my class/outside friends matchs and the input from my school mentors (I was between medicine and peds at the time). The answers I got were pretty consistent, UCSF was hard to get into but MGH was on a different level

 

[efle]

Mgh jhu bwh ucsf in that order.

And there's some disagreement about MGH vs JHU being on top right

UCSF was hard to get into but MGH was on a different level

That's interesting, from the little reading of threads on this I've done over in the allo forums, I usually hear talk of a "big 4 ceiling" where people usually have interviews/a good shot at multiple/all of them, or none of them.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Did OP mention what they're aiming for? If they just wanna do like anything that gets them back into CA, I'm on board

btw what makes you say matching to CA is easier than getting into med school in CA? Aren't the CA med students eager to stay and the people that had to leave for med school eager to come back? And isn't choosing from among a population of med students going to be a lot more competitive than choosing from among a population of college students?

Looking back op mentioned wanting to go to a uc, and being a brand name might make that goal a bit harder but nothing too difficult. If op was willing to go anywhere there are plenty of community programs in CA (like every other state) where the bar is significantly lower.

For your second question, my impression was that all of the cali medical schools were very competitive. All of cali residencies however are not very competitive as you have to factor in community programs and such. Also you are taking out the uber competitive applicants going into more competitive specialties

Bringing up the different pools though is interesting. Personally my step scores were the exact same percentile as my mcat and as I was applying into a less competitive specialty I found it much easier to get more competitive residency interviews than medical school. I guess since it was the same percentile of a more competitive pool it could be argued that I actually got harder to achieve scores

 

[sliceofbread136]

And there's some disagreement about MGH vs JHU being on top right


That's interesting, from the little reading of threads on this I've done over in the allo forums, I usually hear talk of a "big 4 ceiling" where people usually have interviews/a good shot at multiple/all of them, or none of them.

Prestige wise yes, but in my experience mgh is harder to get into because Baltimore isn't as appealing.

I'm sure that is pretty common, but in my experience the people who got one invite got it from ucsf. If they got 3 invites the one they didn't get was from MGH.

 

[efle]

Looking back op mentioned wanting to go to a uc, and being a brand name might make that goal a bit harder but nothing too difficult. If op was willing to go anywhere there are plenty of community programs in CA (like every other state) where the bar is significantly lower.

For your second question, my impression was that all of the cali medical schools were very competitive. All of cali residencies however are not very competitive as you have to factor in community programs and such. Also you are taking out the uber competitive applicants going into more competitive specialties

Bringing up the different pools though is interesting. Personally my step scores were the exact same percentile as my mcat and as I was applying into a less competitive specialty I found it much easier to get more competitive residency interviews than medical school. I guess since it was the same percentile of a more competitive pool it could be argued that I actually got harder to achieve scores

How rare do you think it is for someone with high scores/competitive app to choose something like peds? Are you a big outlier, most classmates with step scores in the top decile or two discovered a sudden fascination with skin conditions during M3?

I think the pools should make it way harder for the step yeah. Median admitted MCAT is what, top 20%? Remaining high in the distribution after it gets re-centered around the top fifth should be way harder.

 

[sliceofbread136]

How rare do you think it is for someone with high scores/competitive app to choose something like peds? Are you a big outlier, most classmates with step scores in the top decile or two discovered a sudden fascination with skin conditions during M3?

I think the pools should make it way harder for the step yeah. Median admitted MCAT is what, top 20%? Remaining high in the distribution after it gets re-centered around the top fifth should be way harder.

Nah there are plenty of great apps who go into peds. Chop/bcrp get pretty close to the big four in competition. I didn't know of anyone who switched specialty choices after step personally lol.

You're probably right, but I think some people's brains more naturally fit to one test over the other. I'm very good at getting down small details which is very helpful for step 1 and from my memory less so for the MCAT

 

[Aspiring-Doctor]

Thank you guys for your responses! Based on what most of you have said it seems to be totally doable and primarily based on what speciality you choose. That being said I understand that UCSF is a whole other ball game. I still haven't decided what speciality I would like to pursue because I haven't started med school yet nor figured out what interests me. Also I apologize for my lack of knowledge on this topic but what are community residency schools and are there any advantages/disadvantages to choosing them? More specifically, is it easier or harder to get matched into a more competitive speciality at one of these schools in CA compared to say a less competitive speciality at a UC?

 

[Med Ed]

Thank you guys for your responses! Based on what most of you have said it seems to be totally doable and primarily based on what speciality you choose. That being said I understand that UCSF is a whole other ball game. I still haven't decided what speciality I would like to pursue because I haven't started med school yet nor figured out what interests me. Also I apologize for my lack of knowledge on this topic but what are community residency schools and are there any advantages/disadvantages to choosing them? More specifically, is it easier or harder to get matched into a more competitive speciality at one of these schools in CA compared to say a less competitive speciality at a UC?

Just start med school, bro.

 

[DrfluffyMD]

Going to california for residency is both easy and hard.

Easy as in there are plenty.

Hard as in your life change. I was a cali or bust guy but I've met my so here in the midwest.

People who met their SO in a different location often have a hard time return to cali because the said so doesn't or cannot.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Thank you guys for your responses! Based on what most of you have said it seems to be totally doable and primarily based on what speciality you choose. That being said I understand that UCSF is a whole other ball game. I still haven't decided what speciality I would like to pursue because I haven't started med school yet nor figured out what interests me. Also I apologize for my lack of knowledge on this topic but what are community residency schools and are there any advantages/disadvantages to choosing them? More specifically, is it easier or harder to get matched into a more competitive speciality at one of these schools in CA compared to say a less competitive speciality at a UC?

A community program is one not associated with an academic center, which changes opportunities that are available. Less research, more bread/butter cases vs rare stuff. You'll get slightly less to much less subspecialty exposure. It is more difficult to match into a fellowship, although most are still doable.

As far as competitive specialty versus uc I'm not sure which would be harder