question about allergy/immunology from MS1

[AndyDufrane]

Hi,
I am finishing up my first year in a US med school in Philly, and I am a bit lost when it comes to what I can do at this stage of the game that might help in the future, I am interested in Allergy/Immunology, among other IM specialities, any suggestions?Is there a place that ranks the residency programs for a partic field?Thanks

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[Kalel]

Regarding the "rankings", there is always US news and world report. Someone was nice enough to copy this and last year's rankings of IM programs in a separate thread in this forum. I wouldn't put too much weight into that though, particularly since you are interested in Allergy. I'd say that the most important thing that you can do as a first year is to try your best to do well academically so that you can get into a strong IM program. Also, this summer, I'd strongly reccomend looking into doing allergy research. If your school, like most schools, doesn't have an allergy department, you may need to go away for this. I know that many residents here go to the NIH to do allergy research, but the NIH is in Maryland, where my school is too. Research is important for getting into allergy, and it will be nice, although not neccessary, for your CV to show an early dedication towards allergy plus you increase your chances of being published. This may also help you build a faculty connection as well. Of course if it's at all inconvenient to find an allergist to work with, I'm certain that there is a lot of immunology research and research involving asthma that your pulmonary division is running that will be just as good for allergy/immunology and internal medicine residency purposes. Good luck!