MD How to Secure a Residency in a State where I have no ties.

[SpoiledMilk]

Gonna be a MS1 in August, so post might be way too early. But since SDN has been so helpful during pre-med and the application cycle, I wanted to start off here with my inquiry before delving more deeply as school starts and progresses.

Will be attending a MD medschool in TX, but I highly desire to end up in 4 years with a residency in Washington state, especially in the Seattle area. I don't have ties to the state other than visiting for one summer.

Can anyone give me, in a skeleton/blueprint/nutshell, what I can do in medical school to increase my chances of landing a residency spot in the Seattle and/or its surrounding area?

Thanks in advance!!!

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[Oso]

Honestly, just do well in school and be a competitive applicant for your specialty of choice.

If you're in a field that requires/encourages aways (ortho, EM, etc.), then do a rotation and get a good letter from UW or other program in the area.

 

[BigRedBeta]

Most residency programs really don't care whether you have ties or not. They may ask why you are interested in the locale, but you just tell them you are looking for the best program possible in every facet. A simple "how could I not love Seattle, right?" will be sufficient.

That said, you still need to apply broadly, and play the game required by your chosen field (eg away rotations for Ortho). But there just usually isn't the favoritism with match lists like there is for admissions.

 

[Redpancreas]

This stuff is kind of irrelevant to you at this point in your schooling, but for maybe future you and others since this gets asked a lot...The first thing you need to do is settle on a field which is easier said than done. Then, you make connections and network with people who are connected to people who carry weight in the programs/regions you want to go to. If you choose a surgical subspecialty, EM, or other audition-heavy fields, your path is clear. I do think that doing auditions in the region you want to end up in shows commitment so even if you don’t match at the program you rotate at, 3 EM rotations in Philadelphia may not get you Temple, but it may get you Drexel when you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten an interview there coming from the Midwest. Programs use a lot of subjective signs that may not be accurate indicators to filter out residents. All you try to do is try to brand your application to that area. Mention it in your PS, do away rotations there, have answers perfected in your interviews, reach out to mentors to make calls on your behalf (and have them say this was your plan from day 1), etc. You can also try applying to research positions in those areas if you’re still a pre-clinical student but this is really pulling it out at all stops because that will really be expensive if you have no place to stay. After doing all this though, it’s still not a certain thing because everyone throws smokescreens during application season.

For larger fields like Internal Medicine or Pediatrics, I think auditions can actually hurt you and be a net negative as I’ve mentioned elsewhere and you may want to consider auditioning. At best it’s a slight positive, at worst you’re off their interview list or a Do-Not-Rank. Also, some aways kind of mandate courtesy interviews which I personally feel are worse than real interviews because being disappointed on match day is far worse than slow disappointment throughout the beginning of M4.

 

[MSTPlease]

Honestly, just do well in school and be a competitive applicant for your specialty of choice.

If you're in a field that requires/encourages aways (ortho, EM, etc.), then do a rotation and get a good letter from UW or other program in the area.

If OP is from the west coast then yeah, I probably agree. If OP's whole life has been away from the west coast, I'd suggest doing an away (not a sub-I though, like a subspecialty elective or something) up there even in specialties where it's not required/encouraged just to establish some connection there and be able to talk about living up there. Being a student at Sinai, I had several NYC program interviewers mention that they didn't need to ask/worry about how I would adjust to living in NYC which means that they do actually think about it. That might not be a concern in the PNW, but if it is, having spent 4 weeks as a med student up there is better than nothing.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

This stuff is kind of irrelevant to you at this point in your schooling, but for maybe future you and others since this gets asked a lot...The first thing you need to do is settle on a field which is easier said than done. Then, you make connections and network with people who are connected to people who carry weight in the programs/regions you want to go to. If you choose a surgical subspecialty, EM, or other audition-heavy fields, your path is clear. I do think that doing auditions in the region you want to end up in shows commitment so even if you don’t match at the program you rotate at, 3 EM rotations in Philadelphia may not get you Temple, but it may get you Drexel when you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten an interview there coming from the Midwest. Programs use a lot of subjective signs that may not be accurate indicators to filter out residents. All you try to do is try to brand your application to that area. Mention it in your PS, do away rotations there, have answers perfected in your interviews, reach out to mentors to make calls on your behalf (and have them say this was your plan from day 1), etc. You can also try applying to research positions in those areas if you’re still a pre-clinical student but this is really pulling it out at all stops because that will really be expensive if you have no place to stay. After doing all this though, it’s still not a certain thing because everyone throws smokescreens during application season.

For larger fields like Internal Medicine or Pediatrics, I think auditions can actually hurt you and be a net negative as I’ve mentioned elsewhere and you may want to consider auditioning. At best it’s a slight positive, at worst you’re off their interview list or a Do-Not-Rank. Also, some aways kind of mandate courtesy interviews which I personally feel are worse than real interviews because being disappointed on match day is far worse than slow disappointment throughout the beginning of M4.

Auditions = Aways? Unsure about the terminology...Thanks!

 

[Got Em]

Auditions = Aways? Unsure about the terminology...Thanks!

Yes auditions = aways. You do them during 4th year.

Here are the ways to secure this spot in Washington state

1) Do well on boards/clinical rotations
2) Do aways during 4th year in Washington state
3) Email program director(s) for your interest before interview/match
4) Pick a less-competitive specialty. You can still get in if you pick moderate/competitive specialties, but it gets harder as you try to pick a small area to match at. University of Washington/Seattle will be competitive no matter what, but if you pick something with many spots in non-competitive places (IM, peds, FM, psych, etc), you'll have a much better chance.
5) If you go to UTSW/Baylor, your chances increase. New schools in TX (except UT Dell) decrease your chances.

 

[ortnakas]

I matched in the state my husband and I wanted to end up in, but the geographic ties are his and thus weren’t obvious in my ERAS. I had two personal statements, one for everywhere else and one for that state which included a sentence stating I wanted to train and practice there. My interview yield there was high (although I didn’t apply to super competitive programs there anyway) so I think this helped.

 

[MSTPlease]

I matched in the state my husband and I wanted to end up in, but the geographic ties are his and thus weren’t obvious in my ERAS. I had two personal statements, one for everywhere else and one for that state which included a sentence stating I wanted to train and practice there. My interview yield there was high (although I didn’t apply to super competitive programs there anyway) so I think this helped.

The personal statement thing is a great idea