Location vs Quality of training?

[eyedontknow]

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I'm just wondering about this as I'm single female, Asian and have no family in the United States.

I'm trying to decide whether I should exclude applying for some very good programs on the basis of location. e.g. Cleveland, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Mayo, etc. On one hand, I thought being a single in such cities would be quite lonely, but then again ophthalmology residency is only 3 years long and should go quite fast.

Any thoughts on this? I hope to become an academic ophthalmologist, so quality of program is very important to me, but as I have no family in the States I'm little apprehensive about living in small city.

 

[MR1]

I preface this by saying, I am not female or asian and I have family here. So my advice may be worthless. But anyway, I would err on the side of quality no matter where the program is esp if you're interested in academics. Also it depends on what you consider a small town, going by metro area - OKC has like 1.5 mil, Nashville about the same and I think Cleveland is over 2 mil. If you are used to NYC size towns then those may be small, but to me I grew up in a town of 20K so that is fairly big to me. I would think more about other activities available (the "night life" of a city) when looking at locations if you are worried about having no one there.

Again I agree it is only 3 yrs, and having started recently I am actually surprised about how busy it is. You don't have a lot of free time on your hands. Granted more than I did last year though. Good luck

 

[4424]

my opinion is that i would apply broadly. if you are granted an interview you can adjust your rank list based on location, etc and make your decision later on about how important those things are to you. however, i personally would not make that decision now and i would make it after i was given an interview and saw the place and area myself and have more information about the program and how much i liked it before limiting myself.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I'm just wondering about this as I'm single female, Asian and have no family in the United States.

I'm trying to decide whether I should exclude applying for some very good programs on the basis of location. e.g. Cleveland, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Mayo, etc. On one hand, I thought being a single in such cities would be quite lonely, but then again ophthalmology residency is only 3 years long and should go quite fast.

Any thoughts on this? I hope to become an academic ophthalmologist, so quality of program is very important to me, but as I have no family in the States I'm little apprehensive about living in small city.

Consider the quality of the program first. You will hopefully benefit from that for many years after your residency. I wouldn't be afraid of going to a program outside of a major U.S. city, you might be surprised at how well you you enjoy your time there, even if you eventually go to work somewhere more urban.

Talk to the second and third year residents at the programs you are serious about.

 

[Wolverine98]

Quality first, then location.
That said, I'm not sure why you included Cleveland, which is a pretty big place with some very nice academic centers.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Quality first, then location.
That said, I'm not sure why you included Cleveland, which is a pretty big place with some very nice academic centers.

I completely agree with this. Residency is only 3 years long and it goes by extremely fast!

 

[twintiger32]

go ahead and apply to the quality programs, and attend the interviews if you get them. i had a lot of preconceived notions about programs in "the boonies," especially since i come from the coast, but there are actually some really nice places to train and live, with more diversity than i thought!

then again, i matched at my choice cali program, so i got the quality i want and the location i wanted. best of both worlds. i hope it works out for you as well.

 

[Mirror Form]

I completely agree with this. Residency is only 3 years long and it goes by extremely fast!

This is one of the few times I've disagreed with Dr. Doan! Residency DOES NOT go fast, at least not for me, heh.

But lets break things down here a bit:
Location: more important for personal life
Quality: more important for professional life

Which is more important to you? If your personal life is going great, then focus on quality of the program. But I personally wouldn't want to be one of the single females graduating residency in their 30's. There's a big difference b/w being single in NYC in your mid to late 20's, and being single in your early to mid 30's (and not be sexist, but especially for women). We sacrifice such a large chunk of our lives in medicine that it's easy to just keep piling on more years. I mean, what's 3 more years in a bad location? Or 1-2 more years for fellowship after that? But they can add up pretty fast. And, if your personal life is not also fulfilling at the same time, then there comes a point where you have to say enough is enough and give personal issues some priority.

Also, good luck getting a good job in good locations right after residency w/o any fellowhips. A quality program won't be that great if you have to sign a bad contract later to get a good location.