How to evaluate a match list?

[brodaiga]

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I am having a really hard time choosing between schools. How does one compare match lists? What factors do you look for besides the numbers in particular specialties?

 

[silas2642]

I am having a really hard time choosing between schools. How does one compare match lists? What factors do you look for besides the numbers in particular specialties?

WHERE they are ending up... are they at UCLA, Harvard, Johns Hopkins affiliates, or in lonelyville Alaska? If you have a healthy fear of polar bears or suffer from chronic hypothermia, a school that has most of its students end up in the middle of northern nowhere may not be for you.

By the way, if you're in the same position I am (i.e. no acceptances), don't jinx yourself by counting your chickens before they're hatched.

 

[Flopotomist]

WHERE they are ending up... are they at UCLA, Harvard, Johns Hopkins affiliates, or in lonelyville Alaska? If you have a healthy fear of polar bears or suffer from chronic hypothermia, a school that has most of its students end up in the middle of northern nowhere may not be for you.

By the way, if you're in the same position I am (i.e. no acceptances), don't jinx yourself by counting your chickens before they're hatched.

I have to step up and defend Alaska - have you ever talked to anybody that actually lived there? They are unanimous in their love of the place. Also, interestingly, note that nobody ever really LEAVES there once they start to live there.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I have to step up and defend Alaska - have you ever talked to anybody that actually lived there? They are unanimous in their love of the place. Also, interestingly, note that nobody ever really LEAVES there once they start to live there.

I always thought that was because of the money. The state of Alaska actually pays you to live there, or at least they used to. I have two coworkers from Alaska who opted to leave and aren't going to return, so it's not for everyone. One is from Fairbanks and actually hates cold weather, so, yeah, that wasn't a good match. The other is from Anchorage and loved it but wanted to be in a bigger city. Alaska seems like a weird state because it's very conservative, and they apparently hate environmentalists there. They're blessed with abundant natural resources, and most people there would rather use that to make money than to preserve it.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

As to evaluating match lists -- aside from just looking at the competitiveness of specialties, generally a match list is better if more people go into university based residency programs instead of community based residency programs. Also, as mentioned above, going into big name university based programs is even harder.