How much moving is required?

[Brooke3]

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How many times do you think the typical medical students moves from the time they apply to the time they actually begin their careers? It seems highly unlikely that one could go to UG and med school in the same state as their residency (or internship). How do people with families (or significant others with high career aspirations) deal with all the moving around? Any opinions/suggestions out there?

 

[ejw5075]

Well... I did the first two years of my undergrad in one town (own a home here, fiance has stable job here, friends who are like family, etc), my last year of undergrad 3 1/2 hours away (rented an apartment with my then 3-year old daughter), now moving to Florida for the first two years of med school (by myself), back to PA for the last two years (with my family), who knows where I'll end up for residency but I'm definitely going to have to move because I want to do my residency and fellowship in the same city (assuming I do both) so I'll only be looking at places that have both. Then I'll probably move one last time to wherever I want to live "forever," the most important thing to me is that my kid(s) don't have to move past high school.

 

[Ellipsis1104]

I guess it depends on what schools you have in your area and the internship/residency options available. I foresee 2-3 moves especially once post-docs are considered

 

[DrMidlife]

Very close friends of mine started dating (each other) as she was trying to get into med school and as he was figuring out his next career.

Big dramatic buildup moment #1: she got into the med school in the city where both lived. Whew. They bought a house.

Then he proposed and she said yes as she was waiting for the match.

Big dramatic buildup moment #2: she got residency in the same city.

During her med school years, he decided to go to nursing school.

Big dramatic buildup moment #3: he got into nursing school where she went to med school and was doing residency. Same city.

In her last year of residency, they had their first kid, and they wanted to move to her hometown in another state, which is about an hour from his hometown.

Big dramatic buildup moment #4: she got a job in private practice and he got a job at the big hospital in her hometown. Now they have 2 kids.

Any one of those big dramatic moments could have gone another way. And there could have been bigger dramatic moments involving parent care or medical issues or changes of heart or fundamental relationship issues. They got lucky, big time.

So there's an anecdote for ya.

 

[Brooke3]

Very close friends of mine started dating (each other) as she was trying to get into med school and as he was figuring out his next career.

Big dramatic buildup moment #1: she got into the med school in the city where both lived. Whew. They bought a house.

Then he proposed and she said yes as she was waiting for the match.

Big dramatic buildup moment #2: she got residency in the same city.

During her med school years, he decided to go to nursing school.

Big dramatic buildup moment #3: he got into nursing school where she went to med school and was doing residency. Same city.

In her last year of residency, they had their first kid, and they wanted to move to her hometown in another state, which is about an hour from his hometown.

Big dramatic buildup moment #4: she got a job in private practice and he got a job at the big hospital in her hometown. Now they have 2 kids.

Any one of those big dramatic moments could have gone another way. And there could have been bigger dramatic moments involving parent care or medical issues or changes of heart or fundamental relationship issues. They got lucky, big time.

So there's an anecdote for ya.

Wow- they should probably be playing the lottery because their luck is amazing! (Well, I'm sure most of it was hard work, but they're definitely lucky!!)

 

[cabinbuilder]

How many times do you think the typical medical students moves from the time they apply to the time they actually begin their careers? It seems highly unlikely that one could go to UG and med school in the same state as their residency (or internship). How do people with families (or significant others with high career aspirations) deal with all the moving around? Any opinions/suggestions out there?

I have moved soo many times. I have lost count. In the last 10 years this was my path. I have a husband who is a nurse's aide, and I have 2 kids.

#1 Alaska to PA for medical school
#2 PA to Texas for internship
#3 TX to NYC for surgery residency (hated it, left after one week)
#4 NYC to TX back to original program to finish family practice
#5 TX to MT first post-residency job (left after 3 months ,unhappy family
#6 MT to CO took a job in Colorado, quit after 3 months, hostile work

Very leary after this second job fell through. Did locums for a year looking for that perfect job. My kids and husband stayed in one place in CO while I did short term jobs elsewhere. Usually I did 8 weeks then took 4 weeks off during the school year or did locums close to home so I could help with school work.

#7 CO to OR job in Oregon, hopefully this is the last one.

feel free to PM me with other questions. I don't think I'm typical, but I have done it with kids/family so you know it can be done.

 

[Law2Doc]

I guess it depends on what schools you have in your area. It's possible you could go to med school where you did your undergrad. At my state schools (and my state may not be an exception), the numbers seem to imply it happens fairly often.

My big plans involve three moves:

1) med school ~hopefully~ at my state's flagship university
2) residency ~hopefully~ at Mass Gen in Boston
3) back to my home state to practice

~though I'd add another in a heartbeat if I could snag a civilian fellowship at Tripler (prolly not very likely 🙁 )

It makes no sense to pick a place for residency before you even get into med school. You probably won't be certain what specialty you want until you try a few on for size during med school 3rd year rotations. And every specialty has a different hierarchy as to what places are good, malignant etc, so it's silly to contemplate any of this until you pick a specialty and talk with mentors in the field. Mass gen may make no sense for the field you choose. For other paths it could be out of reach. It all depends on things that happen in med school. Not before.

As to the original question, unfortunately you may have to mobile during your training unless you are a superstar or willing to concede things. Potential moving points are med school, intern year, residency, fellowship. For all these things there may be very good reasons to do these at different places.