- Joined
- May 7, 2009
- Messages
- 934
- Reaction score
- 53
(Cliff Notes: tl;dr)
IM Intern. I frequented here around this time last year when I was applying, interviewing, and ranking. I know what's up. I met a ton of you during interview season. I've been in touch with several friends going through this now.
Man, people really hype this whole thing up, don't they? They act like your choice of Top 15 or Top 20 program in your rank list will make or break your career and your life. It won't. Let me tell you 4th-years what it's like to be on the other side.
Here's what you can expect at any Top 20/25 program:
You're going to work hard next year. Really hard. You're going to have fun. You're going to have bad days. You're probably going to have bad weeks. You're going to love your job. You're going to be tempted to quit.
You're going to have at least one senior resident who thinks you're the best thing ever. You're going to have at least one senior resident who thinks you're really incompetent and dumb, who probably won't tell you to your face but will make it known in other ways.
For those of you rockstars and model citizens in the eyes of the administration and AOA's who have been told for the past 18 months that you're the greatest thing since curly fries (I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I too was in this position), for most of you your world is going to change. Medical school coddles us. I don't think my Sub-I truly prepared me for residency at all. Neither did all those consult electives I did during 4th year.
Here are the facts. The only people that will care about the "reputation" of your residency program 1 week after the Match will be your girlfriend, your physician relatives / parents, and your grandma. That's it. No one else cares. Instead of fixating on "rankings", these are the things that surely WILL impact your life next year and beyond:
- Call schedule for PGY 2-3
- Perks: How many times does the program plan to feed you?
- Rounds: How much teaching are you going to get (efficiently incorporated into your day?)
- The quality of the ER residency program (who will be stabilizing your patients before they get admitted to the floors)
- Quality of life for your spouse/fiance/SO in that city
- How stressed out or relaxed the location, faculty, and co-residents make you
- Safety around the hospital
- Cost of living
- How well will you be able to maintain your hobby/activities in that program/city?
For those of you from the mid-tier schools (like me), I know it was fun to sit at the cool kids' table when the Big 4/6/8/whatever sent you invitations. Be sure that's really what you want. I too was starstruck at a few places and needed to re-evaluate when I got a wake-up call at one of my final interviews of the season, when one program essentially made me feel useless.
Please understand what you are getting yourselves into. I personally think I made a good choice for residency. Granted, everyday isn't the greatest day of my life, and I hope working 60 to 70 hours a week isn't the pinnacle of my existence, but I feel like I've made (almost) the best of the situation, given that we have to do residency and all. I left a (debatably) malignant medical school (one that shook my confidence, and surely temporarily made me into a somewhat bitter person), so I know the feeling of a "bad fit". It's amazing what an experience like that for 4 years can do to you. I'm glad that didn't happen to me in residency.
This is one of the few times in the next several years you will be permitted to get excited about a major life change. Any programs excite you and make you feel happy and welcome? Rank them high. You will need that positive energy when July rolls around - it will get you through when the storms start brewing.
I by no means intend to "stir the pot" here. I just hope at least 1 person who bothers to read this finds this useful.
IM Intern. I frequented here around this time last year when I was applying, interviewing, and ranking. I know what's up. I met a ton of you during interview season. I've been in touch with several friends going through this now.
Man, people really hype this whole thing up, don't they? They act like your choice of Top 15 or Top 20 program in your rank list will make or break your career and your life. It won't. Let me tell you 4th-years what it's like to be on the other side.
Here's what you can expect at any Top 20/25 program:
You're going to work hard next year. Really hard. You're going to have fun. You're going to have bad days. You're probably going to have bad weeks. You're going to love your job. You're going to be tempted to quit.
You're going to have at least one senior resident who thinks you're the best thing ever. You're going to have at least one senior resident who thinks you're really incompetent and dumb, who probably won't tell you to your face but will make it known in other ways.
For those of you rockstars and model citizens in the eyes of the administration and AOA's who have been told for the past 18 months that you're the greatest thing since curly fries (I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I too was in this position), for most of you your world is going to change. Medical school coddles us. I don't think my Sub-I truly prepared me for residency at all. Neither did all those consult electives I did during 4th year.
Here are the facts. The only people that will care about the "reputation" of your residency program 1 week after the Match will be your girlfriend, your physician relatives / parents, and your grandma. That's it. No one else cares. Instead of fixating on "rankings", these are the things that surely WILL impact your life next year and beyond:
- Call schedule for PGY 2-3
- Perks: How many times does the program plan to feed you?
- Rounds: How much teaching are you going to get (efficiently incorporated into your day?)
- The quality of the ER residency program (who will be stabilizing your patients before they get admitted to the floors)
- Quality of life for your spouse/fiance/SO in that city
- How stressed out or relaxed the location, faculty, and co-residents make you
- Safety around the hospital
- Cost of living
- How well will you be able to maintain your hobby/activities in that program/city?
For those of you from the mid-tier schools (like me), I know it was fun to sit at the cool kids' table when the Big 4/6/8/whatever sent you invitations. Be sure that's really what you want. I too was starstruck at a few places and needed to re-evaluate when I got a wake-up call at one of my final interviews of the season, when one program essentially made me feel useless.
Please understand what you are getting yourselves into. I personally think I made a good choice for residency. Granted, everyday isn't the greatest day of my life, and I hope working 60 to 70 hours a week isn't the pinnacle of my existence, but I feel like I've made (almost) the best of the situation, given that we have to do residency and all. I left a (debatably) malignant medical school (one that shook my confidence, and surely temporarily made me into a somewhat bitter person), so I know the feeling of a "bad fit". It's amazing what an experience like that for 4 years can do to you. I'm glad that didn't happen to me in residency.
This is one of the few times in the next several years you will be permitted to get excited about a major life change. Any programs excite you and make you feel happy and welcome? Rank them high. You will need that positive energy when July rolls around - it will get you through when the storms start brewing.
I by no means intend to "stir the pot" here. I just hope at least 1 person who bothers to read this finds this useful.
