Med school closer to home or somewhere new

[DrSolus]

I'd love to hear from people who have or are considering med schools near home vs schools further away. Let's say both are great schools but I can't decide if it's better to have the familiarity, and support from family/friends + fewer expenses (for moving, for example) vs living out my dream of being on the opposite coast and living it up a little somewhere new and be adventurous while I still can (no sig other, no obligations)

Any thoughts? Much appreciated!

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[CodeBlu]

My options were...

A) 2.5 hours away from my family
B) 30 minutes away from my family
C) 12 hours away from my family
D) 6 hours away from my family


I really... really wanted to choose option C... But I had strong ties at option A.
So I chose option A, not too far, not too close. I can go home whenever I please.

It's up to you. Sometimes, I think if I went to option C I would have been happy as well. I have a few friends that went to option C and I have visited a few times. I loved it. But, nevertheless, option A ftw 🙂

 

[girlonfire]

I'm at a school very far from home, I love where I am but am also incredibly homesick.

 

[MedPR]

I'd love to hear from people who have or are considering med schools near home vs schools further away. Let's say both are great schools but I can't decide if it's better to have the familiarity, and support from family/friends + fewer expenses (for moving, for example) vs living out my dream of being on the opposite coast and living it up a little somewhere new and be adventurous while I still can (no sig other, no obligations)

Any thoughts? Much appreciated!

Cheaper and near family and friends imo. You can live out your dream during residency

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[Cookie Queen]

It's hard for someone else to tell you what is right for you. That being said, I'm in med school now about 8 hrs from home and it's the perfect place for me. It is a great time in your life to try out a new place (you have a lot more free time in med school than residency to go home & visit). If I hadn't moved here, I would not have met some of my best friends and my boyfriend of three years. But now that I'm with him, it complicates my choices for residency (a welcome complication however). You're young, not tied down with significant others or kids, and have the opportunity to experience something new. It's your choice, but I chose to go far and do not regret it.

 

[DrSolus]

Thanks to all of you for responding, esp the current med students for sharing your current experience.

Cheaper and near family and friends imo. You can live out your dream during residency

I guess my concern is that generally people settle down where they do their residencies - it's probably also alot easier to get a job in the area out of a local residency. I feel like md school is a better time to do anybit of globe/country-trotting?

Thanks again

 

[DrSolus]

It's hard for someone else to tell you what is right for you. That being said, I'm in med school now about 8 hrs from home and it's the perfect place for me. It is a great time in your life to try out a new place (you have a lot more free time in med school than residency to go home & visit). If I hadn't moved here, I would not have met some of my best friends and my boyfriend of three years. But now that I'm with him, it complicates my choices for residency (a welcome complication however). You're young, not tied down with significant others or kids, and have the opportunity to experience something new. It's your choice, but I chose to go far and do not regret it.

Thanks Cookie Queen! But what made you want to leave home in the first place? Seems you had no trouble adjusting to your new location! I wonder - are you currently living in a dorm? I feel like dorming really helps with bonding/meeting new people. The trouble for me is most people commute in from around the area to the far-from-home school that I'm considering =/

 

[girlonfire]

I started school back in August... so approx 6 months. My boyfriend is out here with me at the same school, and that was a big part of the decision to move across the country.

 

[911 Turbo]

Lol I won't settle for a location that's less than a 6 hour plane ride from my family.

 

[MedPR]

Thanks to all of you for responding, esp the current med students for sharing your current experience.

I guess my concern is that generally people settle down where they do their residencies - it's probably also alot easier to get a job in the area out of a local residency. I feel like md school is a better time to do anybit of globe/country-trotting?

Thanks again

Idk, I feel like you should be somewhere comfortable for med school. You're going to need a support system and if you're really dependent (not necessarily in a bad way) on your family/friends might not be a good idea to move away.

Lol I won't settle for a location that's less than a 6 hour plane ride from my family.

👍👍👍 I'm currently about a 12 hour plane ride from my family.

 

[Ravizzle]

I ended up choosing a school on the opposite coast. It was tough to choose it over a school which was closer to home, but I just went with my gut and chose the school where I feel I will be happiest.


Sent from my Galaxy S2 i think, but I don't really know. Im just a lowly premed.

 

[Roxas]

I want to go somewhere far far away...not because I hate my home state, but I just want to experience somewhere very different.

 

[darkjedi]

Go to where you think you might want to do your residency. If you don't know where yet, then I would say to explore while you can, you have few chances left in your life to be able to pick up and go almost anywhere.

 

[CsHead]

I want to go somewhere far far away... not because I hate my home state, but... no wait I totally hate my home state and I dislike being back here.


Top the OP, home is where you hang your hat. Go where your heart wants to go and other stuff will pan out.

 

[Narmerguy]

I'm considering this as well. I've actually spent all of college across the country from my family, and also am spending my time in grad school even further away from my family. It's hard, because while it was cool for the first 3 years of college, I quickly began to miss being at home and seeing my parents and my younger brother, who's growing up without me.

But at the end of the day, you have to keep making the steps that you need to make toward your goals. My goals and where I want to be are sadly not near my family, so it's likely that I'll choose a medical school that's still across the country, and maybe the same for residency too. It's OK in some ways, you learn to cherish the little things more (phone calls, emails, holidays).

 

[Doctor Strange]

If things go as planned, I may have to choose between something half an hour and something an hour and a half away from home. It's not much of a difference, but, if you think about it, half an hour could cut down on a lot of expenses.

 

[SixStringPsych]

Top the OP, home is where you hang your hat. Go where your heart wants to go and other stuff will pan out.

This.

I love my family and my old high school friends and don't want to be away from them, while others feel that their family is bothersome and want to get away, maybe they lived at home/close to home throughout undergrad or something, but it's all up to you. Go with your gut. I would be OK going to school away from home because I'm pretty independent, but if I had a choice it's a no-brainer.

 

[Barcu]

It's really about where you think you will feel most comfortable and succeed. Your main priority is to do well in school. For some people, that may mean being close to their family and for others it may not be an issue. Don't just go somewhere to try something new without any other good solid reasons to do so. Location is one of the most important factors for success in med school (you do need to be happy and also have a school you like).

I ended up on the opposite side of the country. It made it easier that I was familiar with the city, and I knew people here. Making new friends or getting a social support system isn't necessarily hard since you are in a new experience with new people. However, if your social support system currently is highly dependent on your family, then it may be a bit harder.

Go to where you think you might want to do your residency. If you don't know where yet, then I would say to explore while you can, you have few chances left in your life to be able to pick up and go almost anywhere.

This is a reasonable option. You don't need to be picking your residency and future home yet. However, it is something to think about. If you look over the match lists of schools, it tends to concentrate in a particular geographical area. There are many reasons for this, and it does have a large element of self-selection. Still, many people do residency at the program they did med school at, or residency programs on one coast may be more familiar with students from med schools on the same coast making it more likely they select those students. You also may meet a spouse at this med school across the country and decide to stay. This doesn't mean that you can't move across country for residency or at any other point. However, the further you advance in your training, the harder these moves are to make. So in some respects, going cross country for med school may be the last time you can do something like this. However, it also may mean that you remain on the opposite coast for a long period of time.

 

[DrSolus]

I think my heart is set on the opposite coast, but my gut says to stay near home. The heart tends to be fickle though, and my gut tends to be right.

For those who went to school somewhere far: do you feel like you got much of a chance to really enjoy living in said new place, or is that mostly just during first year?

For some reason I picture myself spending amazing weekends traipsing/gallivanting around the area doing outdoorsy stuff that I wouldn't do back home, but maybe that's unrealistic considering the workload of med school.

This is a reasonable option. You don't need to be picking your residency and future home yet. However, it is something to think about. If you look over the match lists of schools, it tends to concentrate in a particular geographical area. There are many reasons for this, and it does have a large element of self-selection. Still, many people do residency at the program they did med school at, or residency programs on one coast may be more familiar with students from med schools on the same coast making it more likely they select those students. You also may meet a spouse at this med school across the country and decide to stay. This doesn't mean that you can't move across country for residency or at any other point. However, the further you advance in your training, the harder these moves are to make. So in some respects, going cross country for med school may be the last time you can do something like this. However, it also may mean that you remain on the opposite coast for a long period of time.

All good points, but basically my exact train of thought and dilemma. I guess then I'd like to know how advisable it really is to do a residency somewhere you're not entirely sure you wanna stay at for the rest of your life.

PS - I'm considering starting a new thread regarding which city is better to live in, but I'll save that for later and I'll try to stick to the opening topic of this one =P

Thanks errybody!

 

[DrSolus]

One other thought:
I should mention I'm very interested in pursuing a dual degree: MD/MPH. The MPH program on the opposite coast is miles and miles above the caliber of the MPH near home.

What if... (hypothetically) I were able to defer my acceptance in my home city, then do my MPH in said new city. This way I can decide if I want to stay there for my MD (and do so by re-applying), or return to my home city promptly after finishing the MPH - to do the MD near home.

Crazy, I know. My indecision sometimes spawns some pretty insane ideas.

 

[dsoz]

Lol I won't settle for a location that's less than a 6 hour plane ride from my family.

Ha ha. That puts it anywhere in the continental U.S. If you get a direct flight, you can get from one corner to the opposite corner in less than 6 hours. It is pushing it to get to Hawaii in that time frame, unless you are on the west coast.

I was accepted to three schools before canceling more than 10 interviews. Multiple reasons went into my choice to end up where I will be going in August.

1) price. OHSU is 10-20k a year less cost of attendance than either Nova or COMP-NW.

2) housing. I own a home in driving distance to OHSU. I would either need to sell my house (at a loss) or rent it out to someone else and rent a new place to stay at either of the other schools.

3) health insurance. Staying here allows my spouse to continue to work and carry health insurance for our family. Without this, we would not be able to afford to live. There is little chance to get an equal job in a new location that gives as good of salary and benefits.

I was starting to look forward to living in Florida, but logically staying where I am at makes sense. I will end with a little less debt, and I will be able to keep my home for a couple more years. Maybe by then housing prices will have gone back up and I will be able to afford to sell it (not at a loss) and move somewhere for residency.

tl;dr I am staying put instead of traveling. If I was younger and more free, I would probably have moved to try something new.

dsoz

 

[SOMBound13]

I'm facing a similar dilemma.

My sibling is in a PhD program that is a day's drive away. He wishes he wasn't that far away. It's a pain for him to fly in/fly out to see family and friends. If he books a Friday afternoon flight, he gets in later, and then has to spend most of Sunday flying/shuttling back. All that for just a Saturday.

I will likely be choosing between schools that are 8 about hours away vs 1 hour away vs 4 hours away.

 

[Cookie Queen]

Thanks Cookie Queen! But what made you want to leave home in the first place? Seems you had no trouble adjusting to your new location! I wonder - are you currently living in a dorm? I feel like dorming really helps with bonding/meeting new people. The trouble for me is most people commute in from around the area to the far-from-home school that I'm considering =/

Sorry in advance for the long reply DrSolus!

I moved around a bit when I was younger and my family is spread out. Then I went about a 13 hr drive away for college and had a BLAST. I think moving around when I was younger makes it slightly easier, but I had such an awesome time in undergrad I thought "I could do that again, try a new place, explore new things." I do not live in a dorm for med school. We do have one on-campus housing option at my school but it's really not a "dorm." It's an apartment complex with all private entrances and no common areas. However, my med school is not in a big city, so the med students really stick together for our entertainment. If most ppl commute at that school, you might have to work a little harder to find your group of friends but it's possible. Med school is hard and ppl tend to stick together to get through it.

As far as residency and jobs beyond - you absolutely can get residencies and jobs not where you currently reside. I have med school classmates that are only interviewing for residencies on the opposite coast. And the peds residents at our institution (my specialty) have taken jobs or fellowships all over the country. Reputation of the med school is helpful, but if you won't be happy at the more prestigious program then you won't thrive and then what's the point?

I'm a firm believer in experiencing new places while you're young and not tied down. At least for me, I know now that I have a significant relationship I've chosen to slightly narrow my search for residency. We plan to be engaged/married by the end of residency, so he will be a big factor in my decision for fellowships. When looking at jobs after, we most likely will be looking to live near family as we'd like our kids to live near relatives. And so on and so forth.

Oh, and you totally have free time during med school during all four years (third year is the worst for that, but you have a TON of free time fourth year!). I've taken weekend trips to almost every major city on the east coast during medical school. I've gone to visit family, gone to weddings, and visited college friends. You have time. Anybody who says they don't is either trying to "sound busy" or is boring.

 

[MedPR]

One other thought:
I should mention I'm very interested in pursuing a dual degree: MD/MPH. The MPH program on the opposite coast is miles and miles above the caliber of the MPH near home.

What if... (hypothetically) I were able to defer my acceptance in my home city, then do my MPH in said new city. This way I can decide if I want to stay there for my MD (and do so by re-applying), or return to my home city promptly after finishing the MPH - to do the MD near home.

Crazy, I know. My indecision sometimes spawns some pretty insane ideas.

Bad idea.

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[SOMBound13]

What if... (hypothetically) I were able to defer my acceptance in my home city, then do my MPH in said new city. This way I can decide if I want to stay there for my MD (and do so by re-applying), or return to my home city promptly after finishing the MPH - to do the MD near home.

I don't think you can do that. I think that when you defer an acceptance, you're agreeing that you won't be matriculating anywhere else.

 

[Ismet]

For some reason I picture myself spending amazing weekends traipsing/gallivanting around the area doing outdoorsy stuff that I wouldn't do back home, but maybe that's unrealistic considering the workload of med school.

Yeah those weekends will definitely be in the minority, unless you are REALLY good with time management and get all your studying done during the week. Most weekends for me equate to extra time to catch up on studying and a bit of sleeping in. I really wouldn't base your decision on how you plan to spend your weekends.

I chose to stay where I went for undergrad (a 4 hour drive from my family) because I was comfortable and settled here, but also because it's a really good distance from home. It's close enough that I can hop in the car and get home in an afternoon if I need to, but far enough away that I'm "separated." If you're someone who relies on family for support, being close to family might be beneficial for you. If you're fairly independent and only plan to see your family for major holidays, then maybe following your heart and going to a distant school will be right for you. It all depends on where you're most comfortable. I'm not a fan of change, so I chose to stay where I was, and I can't even imagine going anywhere else for residency. Other people want to change it up. Do some more research into the schools, talk to your family, and attend Second Look if possible so you can get a better feel for the schools.

 

[mcloaf]

Bad idea.

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Agreed.

Unless you are God's gift to medical school you would probably get laughed out of the admissions office if you came back in 2 years after withdrawing your previous acceptance to pursue another degree elsewhere.

 

[BuddyTheElf]

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. I was deciding between a 6 hour drive and a 16 hour drive. I wanted to be further away for the experience of being in a new part of the country... but then I realized that no matter which school I choose it will be a whole new experience for me. Either way I'm moving to a new city and starting medical school. I'm very close with my family and couldn't imagine being a plane-ride away rather than a car-ride away. So I chose the closer school. It's always an option to move far away for residency 🙂
Good luck in your decision!