Prioritizing location for residency?

[ButAtYourBest]

Is it common for people to prioritize the location of a residency vs. the program itself?

Say you are really set on living in an area. Like NYC. Is it common for people to only apply for residencies in that area? And be willing to "settle" for whichever residency you get, as long as you are in that area?

Perhaps you get accepted into med school in a certain area, and you want to buy an apartment there and really "settle" there. I'm a long way away from residency, so I don't really know what's out there, but is it a realistic and feasible goal to really prioritize a location, without having to compromise too much about your career and training, etc.?

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[AMEHigh]

I plan to apply for a lot of residency positions in the location I'm in now.
I really like it here and my husband has a great job.
I've met several residents that went to med school in the area and continued their residencies here and they said they wanted to stay in the area, so they did.

 

[Boxer1]

Most people have an idea where they want to end up and apply there. If you're thinking about places like NYC or Chicago then there are a number of opportunities for residency spots. If you want to go into a field that is less competitive and you are a good to excellent applicant you can do that without much worry. Situations that may make it more difficult to stay in your one desired area are if the area doesn't have many residency options (smaller city) or if you are applying to a competitive or relatively rare specialty. This may require that you apply more broadly and take what you can get.

You're early in your training so there are a lot of unknowns right now. It's not unreasonable to set down roots in the city where you want to stay but there's always the chance you'll need to move to get the specialty/program you want.