Location, location?

[TravelingRunner]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Has anyone applied to schools only in a specific area and gotten in?

Here's the situation:
We've been on the semi-nomadic plan with the military for many years now; we've averaged 1.5 years at each place. DH is leaving the military partially because we would love to be closer to family, especially for the kids' sake. Ideally, we'd move to Hometown, U.S.A., buy a house, and have some roots. We are fortunate that Hometown is very near multiple med schools and residencies in my prospective specialty.

Is this a ridiculous expectation with medical school and residency?

(I should add - my DH is very supportive and has said he'll move anywhere for my med training; my kids are also supportive. It would just be nice to finally be near family.)

 

[theseeker4]

Has anyone applied to schools only in a specific area and gotten in?

Here's the situation:
We've been on the semi-nomadic plan with the military for many years now; we've averaged 1.5 years at each place. DH is leaving the military partially because we would love to be closer to family, especially for the kids' sake. Ideally, we'd move to Hometown, U.S.A., buy a house, and have some roots. We are fortunate that Hometown is very near multiple med schools and residencies in my prospective specialty.

Is this a ridiculous expectation with medical school and residency?

(I should add - my DH is very supportive and has said he'll move anywhere for my med training; my kids are also supportive. It would just be nice to finally be near family.)

Do not buy a house until you know where you will be for residency. Yes, there are of course people who have stayed in the same city for med school, residency, then for their practice as an attending, but it is not something you can count on. Do not buy a house, even if you get into med school where you want to, unless you are ok with not living in that house during residency, as that is a very real possibility.

 

[Goro]

It happens. I like asking my students "why did you come here?" and they often reply it was "the only school they applied to". NOT because it was the only one they could get into, but because it was the only one they wanted to go to!

Location, Location, Location, indeed!

Keep in mind that most doctors establish their practices within 20 miles of where they do their residencies.

Has anyone applied to schools only in a specific area and gotten in?

Here's the situation:
We've been on the semi-nomadic plan with the military for many years now; we've averaged 1.5 years at each place. DH is leaving the military partially because we would love to be closer to family, especially for the kids' sake. Ideally, we'd move to Hometown, U.S.A., buy a house, and have some roots. We are fortunate that Hometown is very near multiple med schools and residencies in my prospective specialty.

Is this a ridiculous expectation with medical school and residency?

(I should add - my DH is very supportive and has said he'll move anywhere for my med training; my kids are also supportive. It would just be nice to finally be near family.)

 

[cabinbuilder]

Has anyone applied to schools only in a specific area and gotten in?

Here's the situation:
We've been on the semi-nomadic plan with the military for many years now; we've averaged 1.5 years at each place. DH is leaving the military partially because we would love to be closer to family, especially for the kids' sake. Ideally, we'd move to Hometown, U.S.A., buy a house, and have some roots. We are fortunate that Hometown is very near multiple med schools and residencies in my prospective specialty.

Is this a ridiculous expectation with medical school and residency?

(I should add - my DH is very supportive and has said he'll move anywhere for my med training; my kids are also supportive. It would just be nice to finally be near family.)

Very unrealistic to expect to do medical school and residency in the same place. If you are not willing to move: don't apply. I only say that because I ended up moving across the country (with husband and 2 kids) 3 times between undergrad, medical school, and residency and 4 more times after residecy graudation in pursuit of the dream job.

I bought a house in residency thinking I would be able to sell it after graduation. There was no market, I have renters and have taken a loss on my house every year for the last 4 years.

 

[Five0tomed68]

Do not buy a house until you know where you will be for residency. Yes, there are of course people who have stayed in the same city for med school, residency, then for their practice as an attending, but it is not something you can count on. Do not buy a house, even if you get into med school where you want to, unless you are ok with not living in that house during residency, as that is a very real possibility.

Second this one! We purchased a house in 2008 when my wife started medical school. I thought it was a good investment. I thought in 4 years, we'll have equity to help with the move. I was terribly wrong. Now we have renters!

On a side note, the program director of the specialty my wife pursued during medical school expressed a large amount of interest in her. She put forth a lot of effort and did a lot of volunteering, so the program became very familiar with her. I wasn't very tolerable of the area (way to congested, traffic drove me insane). I feel if we would have ranked them #1, we would have matched there. Only reason I bring this up is there are things you can do to improve your chances of staying in a locality, but there are no gaurantees.

 

[alpinism]

It happens, but very rarely.

Most people end up having to move for one or the other. A lot of it also depends on how competitive of an applicant you are and what specialties you're considering.

 

[Five0tomed68]

It happens, but very rarely.

Most people end up having to move for one or the other. A lot of it also depends on how competitive of an applicant you are and what specialties you're considering.

Absolutely. We moved for med school (only an hour and a half). I'm just suggesting you could increase your odds by getting involved in research, volunteering, and finding that fine line of showing interest and not being a nuisance. However, there is never any gaurantees and I would never bank on staying in one area.

 

[TravelingRunner]

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate it!