Noob questions

[The Otter]

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Here is the situation. I'm 26, and have a business administration degree. I have been working for a fire department for 5 years so I've had exposure to medicine. Lately I've wanted more from life and have started looking into med school. I've got a lot more research to do, but here are my basic noob questions.

1. Where does residency take place? IE in the same town as your med school? Same state? Or anywhere in the US.

2. Is it possible to start a family during residency? I am married and my wife and I wanted to have a child when she is 31ish - which makes me 32ish. That would most likely be at the end of med school or during residency. I'm sure this depends on how intense residency is -which probably depends on the chosen specialty.

3. How common are 100 hour weeks in residency? I currently work 24 hours on and have 48 hours off with the fire department.

 

[HrryUpNwait]

Here is the situation. I'm 26, and have a business administration degree. I have been working for a fire department for 5 years so I've had exposure to medicine. Lately I've wanted more from life and have started looking into med school. I've got a lot more research to do, but here are my basic noob questions.

1. Where does residency take place? IE in the same town as your med school? Same state? Or anywhere in the US.

2. Is it possible to start a family during residency? I am married and my wife and I wanted to have a child when she is 31ish - which makes me 32ish. That would most likely be at the end of med school or during residency. I'm sure this depends on how intense residency is -which probably depends on the chosen specialty.

3. How common are 100 hour weeks in residency? I currently work 24 hours on and have 48 hours off with the fire department.

A- Wow. Loaded question- you're going to get a lot of action in this thread.

1- Residency takes place after four years of med school. You apply to residencies your fourth year and you can do it anywhere- it is essentially unrelated to your medical school. So the answer is- anywhere in the US.

2- It is possible, but obviously difficult. The first year of a residency program is the internship when you are an (you guessed it) intern. This is the dreaded year of residency even though all years are trying.

3- Hours vary, but I think 100 hour weeks are now illegal. Someone here will be able to tell you but I think there's like an 80 hour cap.

All of this is assuming you have done your science pre-reqs for med school- you can apply for the class of 2014, then do residency from 2014-roughly 2018.

 

[chief illiniwek]

Here is the situation. I'm 26, and have a business administration degree. I have been working for a fire department for 5 years so I've had exposure to medicine. Lately I've wanted more from life and have started looking into med school. I've got a lot more research to do, but here are my basic noob questions.

1. Where does residency take place? IE in the same town as your med school? Same state? Or anywhere in the US.

2. Is it possible to start a family during residency? I am married and my wife and I wanted to have a child when she is 31ish - which makes me 32ish. That would most likely be at the end of med school or during residency. I'm sure this depends on how intense residency is -which probably depends on the chosen specialty.

3. How common are 100 hour weeks in residency? I currently work 24 hours on and have 48 hours off with the fire department.

1. anywhere in the US.

2. its possible, but i wouldn't recommend it. residency is generally considered the busiest time of your life, so you will have very little time to spend with the family (of course, as you said, this varies depending on the specialty you choose). also, its hard for residents to get settled into a home because some have to move around and you are not making very much money.

3. legally speaking, you will never have 100 hours in a week as a resident (80 is supposedly the maximum). what i am typically told is to expect to work like 80-100 hours per week on the high end, or 60-70 on the lower end.