Mentioning location as a factor for interest in a program?

[elementals]

Curious what people think here... for med school apps and interviews, it seemed like a pretty big no-no to say you were interested in a certain program b/c of location because it could come off like you picked a program off a map rather than thoroughly researching it. In fact, I clearly remember the director of admissions of a school chewing an applicant out during the intro session for mentioning he was applying at least in part b/c of location.

However, I've been getting the sense that location is a MUCH bigger factor in people's decisions for residency. Ironically, for me it isn't -- I'd be happy to be an ophthalmologist, and I'd train in Antarctica to do it -- but there are definitely programs where the location is a nice bonus to all its other benefits. So my question is, if there are some programs I'm genuinely interested in for both academic/professional reasons AND for location reasons, should I mention location?

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[ophthope]

In fact, I clearly remember the director of admissions of a school chewing an applicant out during the intro session for mentioning he was applying at least in part b/c of location.

Well, that's absurd and that admissions director sounds like a completely out-of-touch human being. Anyone in any career considers location when they are choosing jobs or training locations. Everyone knows military life is hard because soldiers get moved around a lot. A lot of people go to an in-State medical because it's well.. in their home State. Location just matters to people and it's idiotic to presume that it shouldn't.

If location is in issue for you being interested in a residency program it should be fine to bring it up. In fact what I found was that if you were interviewing far away from your home State or medical school the question would always come up "Would you be happy being this far from home?" In residency you'll be working a lot. They need people who can work a lot. Having family or friends nearby means you have some sort of outside support network that may enable you to work better or be more stable. Ophthalmology program directors tend to be a fairly down-to-earth group in my admittedly limited experience, and I don't think interest based partially on location would be a downside given that you of course have other reasons for being interested in the program. Caveat here - everybody is at least a little bit full of crap about that issue because the reason many of us applied to program X or Y is because we wanted to apply to 50 programs and we had to pick some based *purely* on location while knowing nothing about the program until we got an interview invitation.

That's just my take on the issue, but in all my far-away interviews I felt like I had to defend myself a little bit by saying the location so far away from my home wasn't such a major downside to me. So I think rather than being a negative, location interest seems to be a positive point.

 

[DrZeke]

Curious what people think here... for med school apps and interviews, it seemed like a pretty big no-no to say you were interested in a certain program b/c of location because it could come off like you picked a program off a map rather than thoroughly researching it. In fact, I clearly remember the director of admissions of a school chewing an applicant out during the intro session for mentioning he was applying at least in part b/c of location.

However, I've been getting the sense that location is a MUCH bigger factor in people's decisions for residency. Ironically, for me it isn't -- I'd be happy to be an ophthalmologist, and I'd train in Antarctica to do it -- but there are definitely programs where the location is a nice bonus to all its other benefits. So my question is, if there are some programs I'm genuinely interested in for both academic/professional reasons AND for location reasons, should I mention location?

Location can be mentioned if there is a compelling reason for you to like that location. For example, you have a connection to that location, or family there, etc... But usually I did not bring it up. In general found myself letting the conversation flow in interviews and using key moments to steer things or offer more information about myself.

I did not grow up in the USA so I would often mention location in the context of patient population/diversity. If asked about location I would relay my past experiences with moving around and moving away from home and my adaptability and excitement about living in Different places.

If people mention location in the context of "yeah party city " or "the beach is sweet" it's annoying. Maybe the admissions director that flipped out got upset over those types of comments. Most med schools/residencies in destination locations know they are in cool areas. Hearing how awesome it is from an applicant as their only reason for being there sounds lame...

 

[elementals]

Thanks for the votes so far, and the well thought-out responses! I'm glad to hear that most of you think location is a positive. I sort of thought it should be, particularly when "location" for me basically means "I'm from this area" and/or "I have family and close friends here". But I wasn't completely sure, and that memory from med school interviews has haunted me!

That said, now that I look back, this:

If people mention location in the context of "yeah party city " or "the beach is sweet" it's annoying. Maybe the admissions director that flipped out got upset over those types of comments.

is probably what happened. It wasn't quite as egregious, and thus I didn't quite get why it was so bad at the time, but in retrospect -- yeah, the unfortunate student that got stomped on said something along the lines of "I applied here because I think city X is an awesome place to be!" And I can definitely see why that would be annoying to a PD/adcom.