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prestige or happiness
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I'm dealing with similar issues. One thing that's been on my mind a lot lately though is that we can keep playing the prestige game forever. Living life by terms of other people's perceptions, and throwing our instincts to the curb. At some point you need to shed all that nonsense and do what'll make you happy. Because the truth of the matter is: no one gives a damn about you and your perceived prestige.
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I don't know how much you want to stay in LA, but MGH is not an opportunity to pass up
Its up to you in the end though.Rank MGH higher, it's only 3 years and your job prospects will likely be just as good if not better in SoCal going to MGH compared to USC. If you decide to specialize MGH is by far a better choice. Again it's only 3 years, this is a pretty good problem to have.
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Always, always choose happiness! This LONG journey in medicine can eat you up and spit you out, and in the end, no one cares where you've done your training as long as you get to where you planned to go. I'm thinking Residency is going to be tough, and you NEED to be doing it in a place where you will be happy! If you want to practice in socal, then I'd do residency there and make strong networking connections for a job or fellowship afterwards! Anyway, good luck!...I think happiness should trump everything!
it looks you already answered your own question. you also have to remember residency is only a few couple of years, so just cause you do a residency in a certain part of the country, that doesnt keep you set in stone there. and right NOW you're saying you feel like you'll be happier at USC, but you dont know what will happen once you start training. if MGH opens more doors for you, gives you more options, then why not go with that. at least then you have the option to change your mind if you want. not saying you wont get that at USC, but MGH will present you with better opportunities. like you said your plan could change, and it seems like you wouldnt mind keeping your options open.
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I assume your talking about Mass General vs University of so cal? My impression is that unless you are gunning for like cards or allergy your fine at either. Also the east coast blows. especially if you are from California and have gotten used to the west. In addition I think that where you do residency does have some impact on jobs afterwards. It will be a lot easier for you to network and just transition into a job in the area you do residency in, rather than if you lived literally all the way across the country. I opted to do residency at a small community program in the city I want to settle down in rather than living in some crappy town I have no desire to settle in, because I knew I didnt want to specialize. You can actually start living your life, ie buying a house, getting married etc without having that nagging thought in the back of your mind that you are only there temporarily. Docs are great at justifying putting their life on hold for "just another few years". next thing you know you are 35 and have never had a good job, and are still moving every few years.
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What about UCLA? That would probably offer more academic/fellowship opportunities than USC and you could stay in the area.
C
cowme
this is a no brainer. You would be a fool to chase the MGH name if your goal is to do private practice in southern cal. You will not be guaranteed to be set for life. I know plenty of medical students at top tier schools who couldn't match in California. I know residents at top tier programs who cannot find jobs/fellowships in California, even the ones from there.
When people talk about the doors MGH opens, they talk mainly about academics. But even academically, SC would be better connected to UCLA, Cedars, USC than MGH. How on earth would going to LITERALLY the farthest place from southern cal be better for getting a job there?
When people talk about the doors MGH opens, they talk mainly about academics. But even academically, SC would be better connected to UCLA, Cedars, USC than MGH. How on earth would going to LITERALLY the farthest place from southern cal be better for getting a job there?
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Assuming we are talking about IM (specialty makes a big difference), I don't think you will be hurt either way, but I tend to think cowme is right that the local connections might be more helpful in staying local for private practice than the academic reputation of MGH.
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Presumably, if he had interviewed at UCLA he would be listing it here.
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Two words:Song Girls.
Seriously though, USC isn't exactly a crap hole program right? From what I understand, CA especially L.A. can be hard to break into and would guess that going to USC would greatly help that (not that MGH wouldn't hah). Besides, 75-80 degrees year round beats Boston IMO, but I am just a "pre-med".
Seriously though, USC isn't exactly a crap hole program right? From what I understand, CA especially L.A. can be hard to break into and would guess that going to USC would greatly help that (not that MGH wouldn't hah). Besides, 75-80 degrees year round beats Boston IMO, but I am just a "pre-med".
Isn't this type of thinking dangerous?
"It's only 3 years" -> does residency in crappy place and probably less happy than would be otherwise. Maybe misses out on cute SoCal Girl
It's only 3 years" -> does fellowship in crappy place and probably less happy than would be otherwise. Maybe misses out on cute SoCal Girl
It's Only 3-5 years just to pay down some of my debt -> Declines Lower Paying but more pleasant job in better location. Generally Unhappy, has lots of money and prestige though
Wants to leave job but decides has built up too much practice to leave and would take salary hit -> Another 5-10 years. Gets depressed
Finally gets tired of prestige -> hello laides how you doin?
"Eww who let grandpa out of the convalescent home"
Disclosures: I live and go to school in SoCal. Why would anyone ever leave? Life is fun here
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Well in all fairness Boston is a very young person oriented college town with a lot of members of te opposite sex, a ton to do, and gets a ton of applications precisely because it is one of the most popular places in the US to do one's education or training. So I doubt the OP will miss out on women or be very depressed, except perhaps by the weather a few months out if the year. A guy predisposed to being dateless and depressed will still be so in SoCal. Everyone else will find their niche anywhere. Home is frequently where you hang your hat. (basically the movie Doc Hollywood). Frankly most of the people I know who left SoCal for school or training never returned because they found happiness (in terms of job, spouse, changing seasons) elsewhere.
I think California is always hard to break into for fellowship or for a job (even private practice) so I would recommend going for USC. Plus residency is hard and having family/friends around is huge. Unless you want to be a hardcore academic I think that happiness/family/local-job-connections > prestige of MGH on your CV.
Boston is also really cold Could be a tough adjustment...
Boston is also really cold
Could be a tough adjustment...I agree that academic job prospects and national fellowship opportunities may be better at MGH, but local connections play a huge role in finding private practice jobs. California is a different beast compared to other states and plenty of non-Californians try to migrate for for obvious reasons.
This decision would likely depend on what field you are going into. If it is IM (based on your talk of fellowships), I trained in LA, and my perception of USC was an IMG heavy program that did not offer very good training. It was actually the one program in LA that I didn't even bother applying to. Your goal in residency should be to get the best training possible, and for that there are many better programs in California.
I'm tempted to call troll here....it's hard to believe your only two options are MGH vs USC, with no intermediate choice.
I'm tempted to call troll here....it's hard to believe your only two options are MGH vs USC, with no intermediate choice.
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Did you send a picture of yourself without pants to stanford/ucsf/ucla? what happened?
p diddy
California is just competitive
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I do not understand how this perspective came about. Top residencies tend to have better opportunities in BOTH academics and private practice. In fact, many of the top private practices specifically recruit from said residency programs.
I agree with this completely. It really is a no-brainer. Training in California offers you by far the best chance at practicing there. Your attendings will undoubtedly know some of the local private practice guys, and a call from them is going to carry far more weight than going to MGH. You can also personally visit the practices you may be interested in and establish early contact...perhaps even get some locums work in. I work in LA and all the recent new hires in my field trained in the area and most of the referring docs I deal with also came from SoCal programs. There is absolutely a bias for California grads out here. And, oh yeah, I just saw that you're going into anesthesiology. By chance, I know several of the recent grads from SC and many of them got jobs around LA. There is a big-time network for SC anesthesia grads apparently.
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Boston is one of my favorite cities and I effing hate LA, you couldn't pay me enough to live there, but that being said, you're not me. If family and location are important to you, that trumps academic prestige by a mile. From your priorities staying in SoCal makes far more sense. You will work hard at MGH and being miserable in your little time outside the hospital will make for a very long 3-4 years
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Plus anesthesia is probably the least academic field out there (90%+ go into private practice, one of the things that pushed me to IM cuz i love academia) so I really doubt a 'name' program like MGH offers any great advantage over doing residency where you likely want to practice. If it was IM I may argue differently, but in anes I'd rank USC/UCI over any of the east coast programs in your shoes.
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just my 2 cents, it will help to have local connections when looking for a job-esp in SoCal. However, the Harvard name carries a lot of weight, and would no doubt give you more fellowship and academic opportunities. If it were me, I would go for the best training possible.....
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I think if you want to do private practice in LA you would be better going to the local program.
But to do academics coming from there would be much harder than if you go to MGH.
You also don't say if you think you would like Boston at all...
but it will be cold and culturally different.
I think you should not underestimate the difficulty of looking for a job on one coast while living on another coast...
Maybe you should pull out all the stops and get people to help pull strings for you @UCSD? Is that possible?
faculty phone call from prof @your school, to another faculty @UCSD, etc. that type thing
But to do academics coming from there would be much harder than if you go to MGH.
You also don't say if you think you would like Boston at all...
but it will be cold and culturally different.
I think you should not underestimate the difficulty of looking for a job on one coast while living on another coast...
Maybe you should pull out all the stops and get people to help pull strings for you @UCSD? Is that possible?
faculty phone call from prof @your school, to another faculty @UCSD, etc. that type thing
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To the OP:
In my opinion, you need to go where you think you would be happiest, and for you, that sounds like USC. Forget about prestige. Residency is going to be tough, so if you can be in a location that you like, that will make things easier. The important thing is that you get the training you need to be a competent anesthesiologist.
In my opinion, you need to go where you think you would be happiest, and for you, that sounds like USC. Forget about prestige. Residency is going to be tough, so if you can be in a location that you like, that will make things easier. The important thing is that you get the training you need to be a competent anesthesiologist.
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This. It can be more difficult to return to Cali once you leave than people realize (until they try to do it). I'd stick with the general theme of your rank list (ranking by geographic preference) and don't second guess your decision.
I suppose by this time your match list is done.
I a preplexed by your question. You are swimming among sharks.
It seems very odd to ask opinion or suggestion or advice about career choice from a very biased interest group whose main interest is also to get best match.
You are asking this question I assume you have interviewed both MGH and USC. You must very good credentials, some leadership potential and high IQ as well. I would think you must have made what is right for you.
MGH and USC are Not in same league by many means.
I a preplexed by your question. You are swimming among sharks.
It seems very odd to ask opinion or suggestion or advice about career choice from a very biased interest group whose main interest is also to get best match.
You are asking this question I assume you have interviewed both MGH and USC. You must very good credentials, some leadership potential and high IQ as well. I would think you must have made what is right for you.
MGH and USC are Not in same league by many means.
Definitely not in the same league, but I leaned towards happiness over prestige in my rank list and I'm 20 months into residency and am super happy with where I'm at, FWIW.
My rule is if you are single and flexible, go for the best training program. If you're married with a kid like I am, you might have a lot more reason to think about the location of your training program and the happiness of those you get to live with when you're not at work.
I chose a place I knew my wife would be happy with and I don't regret it one bit.
My rule is if you are single and flexible, go for the best training program. If you're married with a kid like I am, you might have a lot more reason to think about the location of your training program and the happiness of those you get to live with when you're not at work.
I chose a place I knew my wife would be happy with and I don't regret it one bit.
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