Residency questions

[Suey]

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I am not familiar with how residencies work. I know that all US med students are guaranteed a residency through the Match program. So when you apply for residencies, do you exclusively only apply to 1 specialty? Or can you apply to several different specialties if you're interested in living in a specific location?

Since derm and ophth are the most competitive residencies to get, and say you apply for only 1 specialty and since you're guaranteed to get in somewhere, how are those fields competitive then?

It seems like when people talk about intern yr, it's hell, but I've only heard horror stories of ER internships. So what if you go into another specialty where it's not as chaotic and doesn't seem as time consuming as ER, is intern yr still hellish and have 80 hr shifts? Basically, in any specialty you enter into, are you doomed to have a horrible intern yr?

Also, if you're a CA resident and go to out of state med school, would you have a harder time getting accepted to a CA residency?

 

[CalBeE]

You're not guaranteed to be matched anywhere. However, because there're more residency spots than applicants, if you ended up not matching anywhere, you can still hunt for one of these empty spots (usually in primary care areas)

 

[docmemi]

yes, i was bout to say...hey, u r not guaranteed anything. from what a current ms told me, you can apply to multiple programs. but they might second question u if they found out.

i dont know if its hard to come back to cali (maybe depends a little on your schools match traditionally), but if youre in cali then u have a good chance of staying if u want to.

also, like calbee said, if u dont get into the competitve specialty you can scramble (after u find out u didnt match) for a primary care spot and most likely get it since there are so many pc spots.

 

[jlee9531]

yeah no guarantees...especially for the money making residencies right now...

im glad i wont be going into any of those residencies or worry about having to scramble.

go peds!!

 

[Suey]

Thanks guys for your responses. So what about intern year?

 

[exmike]

Originally posted by Suey
Thanks guys for your responses. So what about intern year?

you do an intern year if you're doing certain specialties during your PGY-1 years. Optho, derm, rads, otolaryn come to mine.

 

[Adapt]

Originally posted by Suey
Thanks guys for your responses. So what about intern year?

Your intern year is basically your first year of residency. Calling it your intern year makes things confusing.

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by Suey
Also, if you're a CA resident and go to out of state med school, would you have a harder time getting accepted to a CA residency?

Not neccessarily. For example, I was looking at U of Chicago's matchlist from last year, and quite a lot (Well at least more people than I expected) matched to UCSF Med Center. There are also quite a lot matched to various California locations.

The school's reputation helps, and your board score, obviously plays a big role.

 

[No Egrets]

Originally posted by Suey

Also, if you're a CA resident and go to out of state med school, would you have a harder time getting accepted to a CA residency?

From what I understand, many schools will allow you to do an off-campus rotation at a different school during your 3rd and 4th years to give you an opportunity to check out their program and get your foot in the door. I met a 3rd year at Wash U in St Louis who was going to do a surgery rotation at UCSF because she wanted to match there. I'm not sure what schools exactly allow this or if everyone does. But I've heard of it more than once.

 

[mrbfour]

Here's my two cents...

I agree with what most people have said here, no student has a residency guaranteed. The most important factors of a students profile is their board scores, letters of recommendation, whether or not they did a rotation at the institution they are applying at, if they have done some research in the specialty they are applying for, and their interview. That said, a lot of hard work must be put in by the student (just like med school applications) to get into the residency program of their choice. I am not trying to promote or encourage potential gunners out there, but just being honest. If you love FP or IM and want to do your residency in that than theoretically you don't have to do as well as others on your board test and grades...however, most people who are in medical school are pretty driven individuals and hopefully have learned while in school the enormous responsibility of their profession and will work hard no matter how hard they "have to" to get the residency they want. IMO

I think that most CA med students stay in CA for their residency because they choose to. they have come to like the area or the weather or any other factor and have decided that they want to stay. I think that if you do well at an out of state school you should be able to get back into CA for your residency...just be forewarned that it will be difficult, not because of going out of state for schooling but just because of the sheer number of students applying for a limited number of positions available. In this case however, your schools reputation may come into play if you are even with a student who is applying for the same position as you.

I guess I'm trying to say that if you do well in med school, apply yourself, and choose a school that you can thrive in (regardless of state) you should be able to have a pretty good shot at doing your residency where you want to.