Is it possible or common to stay at one’s home institution for residency?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 907914
  • Start date Start date
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
9

907914

Members do not see this ad.
I was just wondering how plausible it is to stay in the same site for residency? Like, if you were comfortable with several different specialties, could you apply to things at your home institution?

Do people do that? Instead of applying to the same specialty everywhere, apply to different specialties at one spot just to maintain geography?

Probably not possible with hyper competitive stuff, but if you just wanted FM, IM, PMR maybe a couple reach things like EM, could you do that? Otherwise good applicant?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think it varies. It's definitely possible, especially if you've networked and know the people that in that specialty. I know plenty of docs that have stayed at the institution where they went to med school (and even undergrad). I know others that stayed in the same city, or returned to the city after residency.
 
In my opinion i think its a good idea to explore a different hospital environment for residency. But Ive met doctors and residents who have stayed at their med school hospital. I dont think it’s super rare

Haha. @premed20172017 beat me to it
 
MemeLord said:
I was just wondering how plausible it is to stay in the same site for residency? Like, if you were comfortable with several different specialties, could you apply to things at your home institution?

Do people do that? Instead of applying to the same specialty everywhere, apply to different specialties at one spot just to maintain geography?

Probably not possible with hyper competitive stuff, but if you just wanted FM, IM, PMR maybe a couple reach things like rads could you do that? Otherwise good applicant?
Click to expand...

idk if maybe you’re potentially referencing NYU and their linked program but i think it also depends on the hospital. Some hospitals have really strong specialty areas and in that case it may be worth staying put.
 
Engrailed said:
In my opinion i think its a good idea to explore a different hospital environment for residency. But Ive met doctors and residents who have stayed at their med school hospital. I dont think it’s super rare

Haha. @premed20172017 beat me to it
Click to expand...

Ha! It's all the free time I have now that I'm done with secondaries (unless I get the 2 I've been waiting very impatiently for)! This will be you soon! See what you have to look forward to?
 
MemeLord said:
I was just wondering how plausible it is to stay in the same site for residency? Like, if you were comfortable with several different specialties, could you apply to things at your home institution?

Do people do that? Instead of applying to the same specialty everywhere, apply to different specialties at one spot just to maintain geography?

Probably not possible with hyper competitive stuff, but if you just wanted FM, IM, PMR maybe a couple reach things like EM, could you do that? Otherwise good applicant?
Click to expand...

Getting the necessary LORs for that would be really difficult. You’d need two SLOEs for EM. You’d have to convince all of these programs you want to do that specialty. I feel like that is potentially too many cards to be playing.
 
ciestar said:
Getting the necessary LORs for that would be really difficult. You’d need two SLOEs for EM. You’d have to convince all of these programs you want to do that specialty. I feel like that is potentially too many cards to be playing.
Click to expand...
So there are only a couple specialties (particularly FM, I guess) where “I have a general interest” is acceptable? Even among “non competitive” residencies, is some kind of connection or evidence of that pathway needed to demonstrate you want to be there?
 
MemeLord said:
So there are only a couple specialties (particularly FM, I guess) where “I have a general interest” is acceptable? Even among “non competitive” residencies, is some kind of connection or evidence of that pathway needed to demonstrate you want to be there?
Click to expand...

Yes. It is really important, actually. A program doesn’t want to be your backup. Your entire PS is written to explain why you want that specialty and the things you’ve done that got you there.
 
MemeLord said:
So there are only a couple specialties (particularly FM, I guess) where “I have a general interest” is acceptable? Even among “non competitive” residencies, is some kind of connection or evidence of that pathway needed to demonstrate you want to be there?
Click to expand...
If you're pursuing a relatively non-competitive specialty like IM, you usually can stay unless you do poorly in your rotations (though look at the match lists to get school-specific data, namely what % of people stay or match at "higher ranked" residencies). This is still true at most schools affiliated with 'top' residency programs. I suspect the same can be said for other specialties with a large number of residents such as in pediatrics.
 
Moko said:
If you're pursuing a relatively non-competitive specialty like IM, you usually can stay unless you do poorly in your rotations (though look at the match lists to get school-specific data, namely what % of people stay or match at "higher ranked" residencies). This is still true at most schools affiliated with 'top' residency programs. I suspect the same can be said for other specialties with a large number of residents such as in pediatrics.
Click to expand...

Like.. Harvard’s IM match list. Lol
 
Moko said:
If you're pursuing a relatively non-competitive specialty like IM, you usually can stay unless you do poorly in your rotations (though look at the match lists to get school-specific data, namely what % of people stay or match at "higher ranked" residencies). This is still true at most schools affiliated with 'top' residency programs. I suspect the same can be said for other specialties with a large number of residents such as in pediatrics.
Click to expand...
Conversely, say you are from a “top school” and applied broadly based on geography rather than competitiveness. Would an FM residency in Missoula, MT (best place on earth, BTW) overlook a Mayo grad thinking they are a backup school?
 
MemeLord said:
So there are only a couple specialties (particularly FM, I guess) where “I have a general interest” is acceptable?
Click to expand...

You have to admit that that's just a pretty bad answer for literally the most important question they'd ask you during the interview.

Also - why in the world would you go through all the effort to get an MD/DO just to pick something you're that lukewarm about...???
 
I don't know how common but one of the attendings and PI in my lab completed his college, medical school, residency, fellowship in the same ivy league school. and guess what hes been working in this school since he finished all of his training
 
AnMDtoB said:
You have to admit that that's just a pretty bad answer for literally the most important question they'd ask you during the interview.

Also - why in the world would you go through all the effort to get an MD/DO just to pick something you're that lukewarm about...???
Click to expand...
I just know I wanna treat patients with a good amount of procedures 4 days a week, have some chickens and a garden lol

Very true, though...a half assed answer is not the best, obv. Do most med students know what they want to do by the end of 3rd year? Like, really know?
 
MemeLord said:
Conversely, say you are from a “top school” and applied broadly based on geography rather than competitiveness. Would an FM residency in Missoula, MT (best place on earth, BTW) overlook a Mayo grad thinking they are a backup school?
Click to expand...

If you can express interest, no. FM is weird with that. You can submit separate PS’s to programs. You can do auditions to programs. All these show why you’d want to be at a program and dont think of it as a “safety” program.
 
I mean you can definitely dual apply, you just need to have a good reason as to why. For instance you can apply for general surgery and vascular surgery residencies, and no one is going to look at you funny for doing so. To your original question, it depends on the school. Some schools have half their students staying for residency. It’s one reason why some specialties are so hard to match, there’s only a few spots but most are already spoken for before interviews happen.
 
MemeLord said:
I just know I wanna treat patients with a good amount of procedures 4 days a week, have some chickens and a garden lol

Very true, though...a half assed answer is not the best, obv. Do most med students know what they want to do by the end of 3rd year? Like, really know?
Click to expand...

Many do, many don’t.
I finally made a decision like a week or so ago.
 
War of Arts said:
I don't know how common but one of the attendings and PI in my lab completed his college, medical school, residency, fellowship in the same ivy league school. and guess what hes been working in this school since he finished all of his training
Click to expand...
btw this guy is in his 70s so he spent 50+years in one place
 
MemeLord said:
Conversely, say you are from a “top school” and applied broadly based on geography rather than competitiveness. Would an FM residency in Missoula, MT (best place on earth, BTW) overlook a Mayo grad thinking they are a backup school?
Click to expand...
If you make it clear that you are only applying regionally and show interest in their program (ie not treating them as a safety even if that may be true), you will likely get interviews at places that normally will pass over you. A few of my classmates ended up getting some interviews this way after they alerted the other local residency programs of their priorities.
 
N=1 but I Just looked at my schools most current match list (top 20) and it looks like about ~25% matched here for residency. Among those matches were ENT, Plastics, gen surg.
 
I did. There are pros and cons. I think if you really admire the attendings in the department and get along with them and the current residents (because that’s likely the type of people they match) it’s great. Just become friends with current residents and see if they feel like their training is adequate.
 
CidHighwind said:
For instance you can apply for general surgery and vascular surgery residencies, and no one is going to look at you funny for doing so.
Click to expand...
Is it only related specialties or can one conceivably build their app around the idea of “procedures” or whatever? Like, would it be a stretch to apply (for example) PM&R, IR, and FM if one demonstrated interest and success in those fields as well as did a rotation with their home department and built a positive vibe?
ciestar said:
finally made a decision like a week or so ago.
Click to expand...
And where will miss Ciestar be heading!
Moko said:
show interest in their program
Click to expand...
And is this through personalized PS for the program(s)? Most people just use one though, right?
gonnif said:
Some like Harvard and JHU still seem to prefer their own
Click to expand...
I mean, those are both far reaches but I will keep that in mind lol
gonnif said:
If you are not ready to realize that starting medical school, no matter what you planned for the future, may wind up as an IM/FM 2,000 miles away
Click to expand...
Totally understand and realize the possibilities. With only 2 states schools, I already recognize moving for school will be the most likely outcome and residency is the same. Totally get what you are saying! Thanks!
Tenk said:
Just become friends with current residents and see if they feel like their training is adequate.
Click to expand...
Is that just through rotations, shadowing...?
 
TRexLife4 said:
Montana? Oh hell naw. I’d probably die of a hate crime within 2 weeks.
Click to expand...
What....what do you think Montana is...? If you are thinking racism, Nazis and KKK, that is North Idaho. Western Montana is dope AF. But I digress, let’s take the Montana talk elsewhere lol my bad for the tangent.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MemeLord said:
What....what do you think Montana is...? If you are thinking racism, Nazis and KKK, that is North Idaho. Western Montana is dope AF. But I digress, let’s take the Montana talk elsewhere lol my bad for the tangent.
Click to expand...

Im sure it exists there, too. We’re naturally weary of people who are “outsiders”. I grew up in a like, 98% white, christian town. Minorities of any kind were not looked at kindly. Sad.
 
ciestar said:
Im sure it exists there, too. We’re naturally weary of people who are “outsiders”. I grew up in a like, 98% white, christian town. Minorities of any kind were not looked at kindly. Sad.
Click to expand...
Ok, just googled I and apparently Montana, specifically North West Montana, has one of the highest hate-groups per capita in the country. Huh. Aight’ y’all def justified. I guess I only ever paid attention to the pretty mountains and hot springs....didn’t even know. Glad I do now.

Alright, seriously though. Done with tangent lol
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MemeLord said:
Ok, just googled I and apparently Montana, specifically North West Montana, has one of the highest hate-groups per capita in the country. Huh. Aight’ y’all def justified. I guess I only ever paid attention to the pretty mountains and hot springs....

Alright, seriously though. Done with tangent lol
Click to expand...

That’s scary.

Sorry i always extend your tangets lol
 
MemeLord said:
Is it only related specialties or can one conceivably build their app around the idea of “procedures” or whatever? Like, would it be a stretch to apply (for example) PM&R, IR, and FM if one demonstrated interest and success in those fields as well as did a rotation with their home department and built a positive vibe?

And where will miss Ciestar be heading!

And is this through personalized PS for the program(s)? Most people just use one though, right?

I mean, those are both far reaches but I will keep that in mind lol

Totally understand and realize the possibilities. With only 2 states schools, I already recognize moving for school will be the most likely outcome and residency is the same. Totally get what you are saying! Thanks!

Is that just through rotations, shadowing...?
Click to expand...
Mostly rotations. If you have a specific department you’re interested in though you can do some research or something with attendings and residents usually.
 
Tenk said:
Mostly rotations. If you have a specific department you’re interested in though you can do some research or something with attendings and residents usually.
Click to expand...
For electives in 4th year (and some in third, I guess) I know most applications are due some time in November. Does that mean that folks are rotating through the departments/specialties more than once over a short time frame (like...June to October of 3rd into 4th year?) Seems pretty rushed and difficult to really get a good feel for various specialties? Am I missing something here?
 
MemeLord said:
For electives in 4th year (and some in third, I guess) I know most applications are due some time in November. Does that mean that folks are rotating through the departments/specialties more than once over a short time frame (like...June to October of 3rd into 4th year?) Seems pretty rushed and difficult to really get a good feel for various specialties? Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
It is somewhat rushed and if you look at the med forums you will see people all the time looking for advice about what specialty to choose because they have no idea even though they have done all the core rotations. The trick is to find what kind of lifestyle you want to live and work backwards, not what specialty looks the coolest and choose that one. Who cares what specialty you do if you hate your life outside the hospital.
 
TRexLife4 said:
How important is research to get into EM?
Click to expand...
For most programs, like a 2 or 3 out of 10 importance.
For some big name academic research heavy programs, like a 7 or 8 out of 10 importance.

Really depends on what kind of program you want to match to. I had done multiple projects during med school and had some posters at ACEP and stuff. When I went on the interview trail almost all the big academic programs asked me about it, all the community based programs couldn’t have cared less.
 
Tenk said:
The trick is to find what kind of lifestyle you want to live and work backwards
Click to expand...
I am but an applicant, but this resonates with me on point. To me, the coolest specialties and ones where work would be the most fulfilling are almost universally also the ones where life outside of work would be unfulfilling.
 
MemeLord said:
I am but an applicant, but this resonates with me on point. To me, the coolest specialties and ones where work would be the most fulfilling are almost universally also the ones where life outside of work would be unfulfilling.
Click to expand...

I feel like this is especially true for the surgical specialties.

I forgot his name but there is this one member on here who seems to be god-like perfect. He’s a surgical resident and says he goes rock climbing like every weekend. He even said that he got interviews at almost all the top schools when he was applying to medical school.
 
MemeLord said:
I am but an applicant, but this resonates with me on point. To me, the coolest specialties and ones where work would be the most fulfilling are almost universally also the ones where life outside of work would be unfulfilling.
Click to expand...
You also have a family so you know more than most med students about time commitments.
 
MemeLord said:
I am but an applicant, but this resonates with me on point. To me, the coolest specialties and ones where work would be the most fulfilling are almost universally also the ones where life outside of work would be unfulfilling.
Click to expand...

Ophtho - surgical subspecialty, 40-hour workweek
 
CidHighwind said:
It’s not really “surgery surgery” unless you do an oculoplastics or retina residency, then it loses its “lifestyle”.
Click to expand...

Kinda true. It is one of the hybrid specialties (like urology, I'm sure there are others) that has a solid mix of clinic and surgery. All of the ophthalmologists I work with have 2 full days of surgery per week. Just because the surgeries are shorter doesn't mean you don't spend as much time doing it though. They usually do 20+ cataract surgeries per week, in addition to subspecialty surgeries (corneal transplants, retina membrane peels, LASIK)
 
Cornfed101 said:
Kinda true. It is one of the hybrid specialties (like urology, I'm sure there are others) that has a solid mix of clinic and surgery. All of the ophthalmologists I work with have 2 full days of surgery per week. Just because the surgeries are shorter doesn't mean you don't spend as much time doing it though. They usually do 20+ cataract surgeries per week, in addition to subspecialty surgeries (corneal transplants, retina membrane peels, LASIK)
Click to expand...
I may be biased in this due to working and having most of my shadowing there , but I agree that specialties like Urology are dope. Half clinic (mostly procedures) and half surgery. Gonna sound lazy, but I am just not about that 70 hours a week average through all of residency.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MemeLord said:
I was just wondering how plausible it is to stay in the same site for residency? Like, if you were comfortable with several different specialties, could you apply to things at your home institution?

Do people do that? Instead of applying to the same specialty everywhere, apply to different specialties at one spot just to maintain geography?

Probably not possible with hyper competitive stuff, but if you just wanted FM, IM, PMR maybe a couple reach things like EM, could you do that? Otherwise good applicant?
Click to expand...
This is not how residency or match works at all. You are talking about being comfortable with several different specialties before you've ever even treated a patient in any capacity.
 
Question about your original post. Why do you want to stay in the same place? Not moving family around?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Internship or Stay at Home
Replies
4
Views
602
LizzyM
LizzyM
Butalbusaur
How Common Is It To Get Ghosted By Schools?
Replies
5
Views
919
Butalbusaur
Butalbusaur
jrlybob1
How hard would it be to come back home (California) for residency?
Replies
11
Views
3K
jrlybob1
jrlybob1
B
Is it possible to send individual letters to certain schools only?
Replies
2
Views
691
kiwisun
kiwisun
dondeP
  • Question Question
Is MD still possible?
Replies
13
Views
1K
Obnoxious Dad
Obnoxious Dad
Top