Programs geared toward hospital/private practice

Started by postbacpremed87
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postbacpremed87

postbacpremed87

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What programs in the Midwest and Southeast would you recommend to do a DO with a Step 1 of 239 (taking Step 2 CK also and predicting a 250+ effort)? I want a program with a big enough name to be recognizable in the Pathology community. My goal is community practice, either hospital, PP based, or a combination. I'm not interested in Academics.
 
This is a bit of an oxymoron: Big name, reputable programs are the ones who encourage their graduates to go into academics & research. It's the smaller, less reputable ones who have more grads stay in pp. e.g. St. Barnabas is probably more geared towards a career in pp vs academia, and they most likely have a higher ratio of grads in pp:academics vs Hopkins. But obviously Hopkins is a more recognizable name. Having said that, there are plenty of grads from big name institutions who go the private route.
 
postbacpremed87 said:
What programs in the Midwest and Southeast would you recommend to do a DO with a Step 1 of 239 (taking Step 2 CK also and predicting a 250+ effort)? I want a program with a big enough name to be recognizable in the Pathology community. My goal is community practice, either hospital, PP based, or a combination. I'm not interested in Academics.
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Should look at it more in terms of which program is going to make you the better pathologist, regardless of whether you go PP or academics. The more you see and the more you're exposed to, the better off you'll be.
 
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octopusprime said:
Should look at it more in terms of which program is going to make you the better pathologist, regardless of whether you go PP or academics. The more you see and the more you're exposed to, the better off you'll be.
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Yeah but do the bigger name programs look down on those who want to do PP?
 
postbacpremed87 said:
I thought they asked these things at the residency interview
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You don't have to be truthful about where you want to end up during your residency interview. Tell them what they want to hear to get into the best program, then when it comes to job searches do whatever you want.
 
seriously, even if you genuinely WANT to do academic, you may end up hating it...who the he// knows what their career, much less medicine, is going to look like in 5 yrs. just tell them what they want to hear...it's not for them to decide how you fulfill your career anyway.
 
postbacpremed87 said:
Yeah but do the bigger name programs look down on those who want to do PP?
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Only because the academic peeps are jealous of the amount money in PP and community practice. They convince themselves that it is better to do predominantly useless research to climb their academic ladder making 100(s)k less than "selling out" to do PP. Idiots indeed.
 
My advice is always to go for the best program you can get into first and foremost. Otherwise, pick a program in the geographic area you want to be in for your career, as they'll have the strongest ties to jobs in that area. People from big name academic centers go into private practice all the time.
 
A dirty secret of hiring is that folks really care about your most recent diploma. So the most bang for your buck would be a fellowship at a brand-name institution.

But as far as giving you the real-world skills needed to do PP, small residency programs may actually do a better job than the ivory tower places. Partly because they have to.
 
Your post-residency/fellowship job experience will be (MUCH) more strongly influenced by the contacts you have made/who you know than where you did your training.
 
If you have a desired geographic location where you want to end up, do your training in a nearby program. You are more likely to develop your own contacts and your program is more likely to have ties to get you a job.
 
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I recommend you go to a different field. This field is doomed to commoditization thanks to Big Academia.
 
postbacpremed87 said:
Unfortunately I like Pathology and cannot see myself in clinical medicine.
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I agree. I couldn't do clinical medicine, as clinic is beyond boring to me. As long as you are not a d-bag, can speak English, and are not geographically restricted, you will be able to find a job as a pathologist.
 
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