residency that is far away? will it be difficult?

[roca88]

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[vtucci]

Good numbers will never hurt you in the process.

You can look at FRIEDA which has all the residency programs in the country by specialty. In the spring of your third year, you will apply for an away rotation at your preferred hospital/site. The application will usually be available on their department web site and you can look at the requirements. The number of away rotations you can do is med school specific but is usually somewhere around 3.

Programs accept students from all over the country so even if you can't arrange an away rotation there, it is not a total loss.

 

[Brainsucker]

i'm a little concerned because i may likely want to do my residency in a specific area of the country (i.e., i'm on the east coast right now, but i may want to do my residency specifically on the west coast to be closer to family). is this very difficult to do if i have no academic/working connections to any school/hospital there? do they have much higher numeric standards, etc., like the way it is for applying to med schools because i'm farther away?

i've heard things like you need to have done a rotation at a school during 3rd or 4th year for them to even consider you for the interview if it's really far out of the region. in that case, my question would be how do you even land that first rotation at a school all the way across the country? any info. or resources on this would be appreciated.

I hear that it helps if you write letters explaining that though you're in med school in the East, your family is West and you want to go back. Once they know you have regional roots, they'll probably be a little more likely to think that you're worth interviewing.

 

[Gut Shot]

i've heard things like you need to have done a rotation at a school during 3rd or 4th year for them to even consider you for the interview if it's really far out of the region.

Patently untrue. One of my good friends from (east coast) med school actually had better luck getting interviews from programs out west, including California. Many programs like attracting people from far and wide, it shows they have some drawing power. Besides, regional influence can definitely be a double-edged sword. Coming from the opposite coast may add some mystery and allure to your app.

 

[Gut Shot]

I hear that it helps if you write letters explaining that though you're in med school in the East, your family is West and you want to go back. Once they know you have regional roots, they'll probably be a little more likely to think that you're worth interviewing.

An excellent point. Programs will be much more likely to offer an interview if they know you're serious about ranking them highly, and family ties are generally quite convincing evidence that you're willing to (re)relocate.

 

[roca88]

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[Gut Shot]

and ok, so does the 'difficulty' of getting into certain places for residency hold up like it was in applying for med school (i.e., the california public schools being very difficult to get into out of state)? thanks for your info.

That's a very complex question. There are certainly no formal IS vs. OOS preferences built into the process. Still, certain desirable locations in the country (such as California) will be generally more competitive than, say, Iowa.

The real factor will be how competitive the specialty happens to be. It's pretty easy to land internal medicine spots, for instance, and they are quite plentiful. Unless you're about the worst MD in the nation, you should be able to match into IM somewhere in Cali. Might not be UCLA, might not by UCSF, but somewhere.

If you're applying to something like derm or ENT, however, be prepared to get geographically shafted.