Poll:What factors influenced your ROL?

[Soupbone]

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The Match is coming....

In the process of applying to hospitals, what factors were most important to you. Since match week is only a week away,, I thought it would be interesting to see what mattered this year to our class. Wheter it is prestige of the program, location, lifestyle, family/spouse considerations, etc. What was the major determing factor in putting together your "certified ROL"

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

There was a great study on this in Academic Radiology for those applying to rads programs. They sent out questionares to 500 applicants with a list of 25 possible reasons for choosing a residency and asked them to give each reason a weight from 1-5. This was done post ROL, but pre-match day. They found that the three most important reasons were location (70% rated this a 5/5), academic reputation (prestige), and perceived happiness of the residents.

The article can be found at <a href="http://www.academicradiology.com" target="_blank">www.academicradiology.com</a> in one of the last 3 months issues (I forget which one).

 

[neutropeniaboy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Whisker Barrel Cortex:
•There was a great study on this in Academic Radiology for those applying to rads programs. They sent out questionares to 500 applicants with a list of 25 possible reasons for choosing a residency and asked them to give each reason a weight from 1-5. This was done post ROL, but pre-match day. They found that the three most important reasons were location (70% rated this a 5/5), academic reputation (prestige), and perceived happiness of the residents.•••••That's pretty unfortunate that a top 3 answer (and in my opinion top 1 answer) wasn't quality of training.

I sense this across the board: people picking specialties and locations based on lifestyle over quality of training and clinical/academic pursuits. Sad.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

It's unfortunate that even in your own poll you didn't include quality of training, which doesn't necessarily jive with "prestige."

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Soupbone:
•The Match is coming....

In the process of applying to hospitals, what factors were most important to you. Since match week is only a week away,, I thought it would be interesting to see what mattered this year to our class. Wheter it is prestige of the program, location, lifestyle, family/spouse considerations, etc. What was the major determing factor in putting together your "certified ROL"•••••

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I think one major problem with the whole residency application process is that you cannot really tell the quality of training from just the information the program gives you, the interview day, and talking to the residents. Unless you spend a month rotating there, it is nearly impossible to tell for sure what kind of teaching goes on daily. That is why academic reputation is a big factor. People assume that this indicates good teaching. This is probably true in many cases. However, the smaller programs with great teaching get left out in the cold.

 

[AnnK]

I have a question about the competetivness option on this poll. Isn't it true that the position that the applicant ranks a program has no effect on acceptance? So,if you ranked program X 10th and your first nine didn't pick you but program X did, my understanding is that you would be just as likely to get matched at X as if you ranked it first.
Does that make sense?

 

[Soupbone]

Neutropeniaboy,

I guess it is a matter of definition....

You are probably right that prestige "doesn't necessarily jive" with quality of program exclusively. Yet, I never thought to be so cynical in the making of an Internet poll. In making this poll I thought that "quality of program" would also be inferred. As with some of the other options on this poll, I wanted broad inclusive choices that I have seen in themes seen on this forum.

After interviewing at 10 Internal medicine programs, I realized that about 5-6 porgrams were really indistinguishable in terms of quality. They had different 'styles' of doing things, but on the whole they were all the same. In Internal medicine, it is not hard to interview and match at a good program with great training. In my case, I have 5 programs on my list that I would LOVE to spend the next 3 years[knock on wood]. In reading a lot of the posts on this board, I felt that was the sentiment of a lot of my peers in other specialties on thie site.

Hopefully, that frames the poll for you. Sometimes entertainment is meant to be enjoyed&#8230;.not analyzed :wink: .

Cheers,
S0upb0ne
UASOM MS-IV

 

[Soupbone]

Annk

I have friends in Rads. and Anesthes. That had dilemmas dealing with ranking their prelim programs and PGY2 programs. A have a friend in the early match who matched in a moderately competitive program, but is stressed about his transitional year because transitional year at the very same hospital is very competitive. From conversation, I gathered that a lot of thought given by some on their prelim year and some did not consider it a factor.

S0upb0ne

 

[Soupbone]

Sorta interesting...

&lt;...plus I never thought my 'sh*ts and giggles' poll would be subjected to such peer review&gt;

It seems that prestige&lt;however you define it&gt; and location counted considerably in process for some people &lt;42 people and counting&gt;.

To those in super competitive matches (derm, ortho, etc.) how much is location and house staff a factor in making your list? Where there some places you would not live? Would you rather scramble than match at some of the places you interviewed? I ask this because unlike some of the less competitive specialties...a good number of unbelievable sharp applicants &lt;rads and anes this year will be a slaughter of innocents&gt; this year will go unmatched.

It is an incredibly amazing thing to be part of the match. Something I thought beforehand was a pretty uniform exercise...creates a myriad of diverse dilemmas. The early match candidate worrying about their prelim position in the main match. The super long ROLs of derm, ortho, etc applicants to assure a match and avoid the possibility of changing career plans. Candidates struggling with the consequences of choosing academic programs vs. community.

A lot of things can be said of the match....it cannot be said that it is not rich in experience and drama.

A couple more days ...til' Match week!!

Cheers,
S0upb0ne