My brief residency review

[SmallBird]

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Thank you too everyone who has helped me with ideas for residency training, I appreciate the advice. As an IMG it has been difficult to gain an impression of the quality of training I am likely to receive. However, I have attempted to do so in this attached file. If anyone is interested, do comment as to your perceptions of its veracity. The idea is not to argue about an "8" vs a "7", but rather to let me know if I have gotten something horribly wrong🙂. I also hope that the some of the info may be useful to others.

Please also let me know if there are any good programs I should add to the list!

 

[markglt]

and these are the programs ur applying to??

 

[235750]

Wow, these are all very excellent programs. Did you apply at any middle-tier sites?

Also, I'm not a big fan of the south either, so I enjoyed your jab against Tennessee 🙂

 

[SmallBird]

Wow, these are all very excellent programs. Did you apply at any middle-tier sites?

Please, please, please, advise me as to which programs would constitute middle-tier sites. I am only applying next year, and although I have a decent application I would be more than happy to attend a solid program with good teaching and research opportunities. But when I go beyond my list, I start to find programs like Nebraska, Morehouse, etc., which (in my admittedly limited view) appear to have very limited research and other opportunities. What constitutes the middle ground? I would have thought programs like MUSC, Brown, George Washington, Upstate, North Western would constitute middle tier? Thanks for your help.

 

[notdeadyet]

Please, please, please, advise me as to which programs would constitute middle-tier sites.

Good luck with this. Sincerely. Finding which programs are competitive and which aren't, which ones are quality and which are less so, isn't too difficult for a U.S. based student's immediate area, but gets very hard to do when it's a few states away. Doing so as an IMG is challenging.

I can't help, as I'm on the left side of the country and your only listing is for UW, a very competitive program.

 

[billypilgrim37]

In general, if you want the best "bang for your buck," just look relatively away from big cities on the coasts. There are a lot of very good programs that are relatively less competitive because they are more than a day's drive from the Pacific or below the Mason-Dixon line on the Atlantic, or only an inch or two away from the Mississippi on a full page map of the US.

 

[235750]

Please, please, please, advise me as to which programs would constitute middle-tier sites. I am only applying next year, and although I have a decent application I would be more than happy to attend a solid program with good teaching and research opportunities. But when I go beyond my list, I start to find programs like Nebraska, Morehouse, etc., which (in my admittedly limited view) appear to have very limited research and other opportunities.

Sorry, I'm a medical student myself, so I have no experience ranking residencies! I am told which sites are the best, middle-tier, etc, and I have no backing except 's/he told me so'.

That said, I do know of a few 'hidden gems' either through my last job or through my current research. Wake Forest and Wright State (or Boonshaft, whatever it's called now) I thought were awesome places that no one really pays much attention to. I'm sure if you asked around, maybe PMed a few people, you could come up with more

This country is full of excellent residency programs. Just go on the ACGME website, find places where you/your family would be willing to live, and start from there

Good luck

 

[peppy]

MUSC, Brown, George Washington, Upstate, North Western would constitute middle tier? Thanks for your help.

MUSC has bragged in prior years about how they don't have to go much beyond their first 12 picks in the match (and they have 12 spots). Charleston is considered a desirable place to live and they are known for their work in addictions. They also have a reputation for good work hours (night float instead of normal overnight call).

Brown is an Ivy League school. I don't know much about their program, but a lot of people just want to have an Ivy league name on their diploma, so I'd wager it is in demand just for the name regardless.

Northwestern is considered one of the strongest programs in Chicago, and Chicago programs are all competitive because so many people want to live there.

As a general rule, any program located in a desirable city (major metro area, the Pacific coast or New England area) or connected to a well known university/med school/medical center will be competitive regardless of the quality of the actual program. In general, research also raises a program's prestige so the heavyhitters in research are also usually somewhat competitive.
If you're concerned about simply matching, I'd definitely try to focus on places "off the beaten path" and not worry a whole lot about research.
Residency is what you make of it, and if you're really motivated you can find what you need at almost any program. Even no-name community programs often will have at least some faculty that have an interest in research.