I'm afraid to do a residency in some small, rural town

[zut212]

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I would love the idea of going to a Caribbean based medical school. However, one of my greatest fears is to get stuck in a crappy small town (or a Tier 3 American city, such as SLC, Utah; Oklahoma City; Jackson, MS, etc.).

I plan on doing a residency in Family Medicine, and just become a Primary Care Doc.

What would be my chances of doing a residency in Greater Boston or Greater NYC or even Greater Bay Area given that I (1) plan on going to a Caribbean based medical school, and (2) want to become a Family Doc?

 

[TopsyKrett]

There are carib med students, residents, and docs all over NYC. Most of the big carib schools rotate there too. Don't worry about ending up in a rural area if you don't want to. Check out some schools match lists for comparison.

 

[peppy]

You should be aware that the competition for residency spots is increasing so nobody can be quite certain what your chances will be four years from now. The last few years of the Match have been harder for everyone than it used to be.
A lot of applicants want to go to highly desirable cities like San Francisco, Denver, NYC, Boston, etc. so if I were you I would not count on being able to get in there. Sure, definitely try for these kinds of places but also apply to some of the less desired cities to be safe since having a job in a "crappy" location is better than being unemployed and having no way to pay your loans.

(Another issue is that in many residencies you will be busy enough that it won't matter how much there is to do in the city since you won't really have time to go out on the town regularly)

 

[ScootDoc]

...

 

[TopsyKrett]

http://www.aucmed.edu/alumni/residency-appointments.html

https://baysgu35.sgu.edu/ERD/2010/ResidPost.nsf/BYPGY?OpenView&RestrictToCategory=PGY1&Count=-1

like I said, check the websites of various carib schools you are interested to see where their students have obtained residencies.

 

[dragonfly99]

I agree with Peppy.
Do not go to med school (any med school, including Caribbean) if desiring not to be in a rural location for 3 years would be enough to dissuade you from going into medicine. I can understand not wanting to train in certain areas, but honestly it is only 3 years and I promise you won't have that much time to do fun stuff as an intern...sorry but it's the truth.

 

[eforest]

There are many "less desirable" hospitals in some of the big cities. There are some that have tons of IMG's.