How much does it matter if a school does not have particular specialty/residency?

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

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Let's say a student decides to attend a school that does not have departments in all the major specialties. How much of a hassle is this when trying to build an application for residency match? Obviously one would try to do away rotations, but what about research, LOR's, and just networking in general?

 

[breezy16]

Let's say a student decides to attend a school that does not have departments in all the major specialties. How much of a hassle is this when trying to build an application for residency match? Obviously one would try to do away rotations, but what about research, LOR's, and just networking in general?

I would be concerned if you were aiming for a competitive specialty (ortho, derm, plastics) because these guys normally have specific research attuned to the app and your PI probably wouldn't be able to network as well for you come Match.. I think highly specific based on what you want to do.
To those who say you can't know what you want to do / no way of knowing if you can get there, I think its important to set yourself up for the best case scenario rather than saying "f--- it, stuff changes"

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

I would be concerned if you were aiming for a competitive specialty (ortho, derm, plastics) because these guys normally have specific research attuned to the app and your PI probably wouldn't be able to network as well for you come Match.. I think highly specific based on what you want to do.
To those who say you can't know what you want to do / no way of knowing if you can get there, I think its important to set yourself up for the best case scenario rather than saying "f--- it, stuff changes"

Well I really don't know what I'm aiming for right now, but yeah my fear is finding out I like something that isn't really offered. I'm sure there will be affiliated doctors in the hospitals around the school, but I don't know if they would carry the same weight as actual professors.

 

[mimelim]

Connections are important for residency applications, especially in the more competitive fields. In smaller fields, everyone knows each other. They also know who people trained under and their research. Having a home program rolls into that. LOR matter. Who will vouch for you matters. There are other avenues for sure, like away rotations and doing research elsewhere, but obviously those require coordination and foresight. Is it impossible to match into those specialties? Of course not. But, expect to do your own leg work when it comes to getting into those specialties.

 

[Ismet]

Connections are important for residency applications, especially in the more competitive fields. In smaller fields, everyone knows each other. They also know who people trained under and their research. Having a home program rolls into that. LOR matter. Who will vouch for you matters. There are other avenues for sure, like away rotations and doing research elsewhere, but obviously those require coordination and foresight. Is it impossible to match into those specialties? Of course not. But, expect to do your own leg work when it comes to getting into those specialties.

This. I'm not even going into a competitive specialty, and connections still mattered. At every single interview I went on, at least one interviewer/PD/aPD knew one of my letter writers, a fairly big name in the field, several even trained under that person. I'd say it helps immensely.