matching in different regions of the country

[luckyducky87]

Is it true that if you go to a school in a particular region of the US, it's easier to match in a similar area? For instance, residency programs in the midwest will "prefer" or "favor" applicants also from the midwest?

I do see some trend on schools' match lists of staying on the same region, but I am wondering if there is any reason for it besides people in that age group wanting to stay in the area for personal reasons... Is it just as easy for someone graduating from a midwest school (compared to an east coast graduate) to match into an east coast school, given all other qualifications are comparable?

Also, in general, does anyone know if most MD students are able to "control" a geographical region they end up for residency, as long as they don't pursue a super competitive field? As in, if you want to stay/go to a major city like Boston, Chicago, etc for your residency, is it fairly reasonable to achieve that?

(I am thinking in the long-run of... being with a significant other who is not pursuing medicine, but is also fairly inflexible in moving around after just 3-4 years, and also trying to pursue a career in academia...)

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[flatearth22]

I think there are a couple of things in play here:

1) On the whole, people prefer to do residency in an area where they have ties. This is often in the same place or region where they attended medical school because that's where they've spent their last 4 years and are most comfortable.

2) Because of this, residency PD's are more used to dealing with students from local schools which, over the years, makes them a known commodity. A PD in an IM residency program in SoCal for example, knows that students from UCLA, USC, UCSD, and UCI have great clinical skills coming out of med school and are primed to perform the job on day one because he's had dozens of them every year. When assessing a student from a similarly ranked east coast school though, he doesn't have that same rapport so he would be less inclined to pick them over a known commodity (basically the same reason why SDN tells you to pick an established school over a new one).


3) PD's really hate going unfilled and having to plug undesirables into their program (ie US seniors who weren't good enough to match, FMG's, IMG's, etc.). So they are more inclined to interview and rank local applicants who they figure will also rank them highly as opposed to applicants living thousands of miles away who they fear will rank their program low or not at all as they might prefer to stay in their own region of the country.

The way you potentially could "control" your geographic region is by doing a lot of away rotations in an area of the country in which you wish to do residency and showing the physicians there that you not only belong because of your work ethic and clinical skills but are genuinely interested in working and living in that part of the country.

 

[mvenus929]

Is it true that if you go to a school in a particular region of the US, it's easier to match in a similar area? For instance, residency programs in the midwest will "prefer" or "favor" applicants also from the midwest?

I think this is, as stated above, simply because students want to stay in that region, so PDs have more rapport. Remember, half the match is where the students want to go. I was talking to one of our deans, and made mention of the fact that I want to go to University of Colorado for my residency. He stated that Colorado seems popular because of the location, not necessarily because of the reputation of their residency programs. This is true with a lot of US grads. In the end, all the programs you apply to are accredited and should teach you the same thing (same thing with schools). The difference lies in how much you're going to enjoy spending your time there.

Also, in general, does anyone know if most MD students are able to "control" a geographical region they end up for residency, as long as they don't pursue a super competitive field? As in, if you want to stay/go to a major city like Boston, Chicago, etc for your residency, is it fairly reasonable to achieve that?

You can 'control' residency placement in the sense that you can apply to only programs in a certain region, or only rank the programs in a certain region, etc. The outcome, though, is going to vary depending on what specialty you want to go into (Derm is much more competitive than Internal Medicine), as well as the desirability of the location (Boston and New York seem to be popular regardless of where you went to school, and generally seem more competitive).

As mentioned above, though, 'audition' rotations can be useful if you do want to go to a very specific program. You just have to be willing to work really hard when you're there, because one bad word can eliminate you from the pool.