Moving away from home - how has it been?

[noy]

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I know this may be off topic, but I wanted this question to be seen by the right audience.

The question of where to go to school is often one of location, and for someone like myself (went to state school close to home, has young 12 year old brother who I want to see grow up, close to my family), the pull to stay close to home is strong, but there are so many great schools around the country (ohio, california)... Since I am trying for MD/PhD it represents an even longer (7-8 yr) trip for me...

This question is to ask:
For those of you who have always been close enough to get home often, and now moved far away for med school:

How has it worked out?
Did you have time to go home as much as you liked during years 1 and 2? What about the clinical years?
Do you think staying closer to home would have changed your experience for better/worse?

Thanks! I think the decision on where to spend the next 7-8 years will be one of the most important decisions in my life, and I want to take location into account appropriately.

 

[willow212]

Hi,

I moved across the country to go to med school. And it was really hard the first few months, to be so far away from my family (who I had spent most weekends with when I was home) while I was adjusting to living in a new place and learning how to study.

So first year was definitely the most difficult. That said, now that I'm in fourth year and have my group of friends, I actually like it here a lot. I was also lucky that I had some very close friends in the area before I came who were a huge source of support.

During 1-2 year, I went home during major vacations (probably 4-5 x per year), but it is harder to do more than that unless you don't attend class (which is common in 1-2 yr). But I kept in touch by phone/email, so that helped. During 3rd year, it was pretty much impossible to have flexibilty, so I went home 2-3x during major vacation weeks. So sometimes, it was quite frustrating not to be able to attend major b-day/holiday parties/etc. because I couldn't fly across the country so easily.

As to whether you should go away from your family to go to med school, I would keep in mind that most people at a med school are from the area (I'm guessing probably 65-75%). Plus most people (maybe 60-70%) will stay in the area of the med school for residency. Check out where the school's applicants come from and their match lists to get an idea of this...

And you have a better shot at residency in a region where you went to med school, since residency directors know what quality of students comes out of local programs. So if you want to end up around home for residency, you probably have a better shot if you stay local.

That said, am I unhappy that I went so far away for med school? Well, not really. I really wanted to get out of the familiar environs where I had spent most of my life, and experience something different. Though you could probably get that taste of something different by doing a couple of away rotations during fourth year, without having to deal with 6-7-8 years of it!

And does where you go to med school matter? Probably in some ways. Especially if you're planning to go to a super-competitive program or into a super-competitive specialty (where some schools will give you greater exposure to these things). Or if you're really interested in research at a particular institution, as you might be. Other than that, I think locality gives you a great advantage for staying in an area for the long term (both for research positions and residency), as most people like to hire/match who they know...

Best of luck with your decision!