Returning to California for Internship/Residency

[IClaudius]

Long time lurker, but I created this account to ask a question. I'm a California native, and went to undergrad here. I was recently accepted to an unranked allopathic school out of state. While I'm ecstatic that I'll be fulfilling my lifelong dream of being a physician, I'm also concerned about returning to CA for my Internship/residency.

I've heard spots for CA residencies are really competitive; I realize this is specialty-dependent. I just hope to be able to return home, and just wanted to know how hard it is to land a CA residency, especially graduating from an OOS unranked school.

Thanks a lot guys.

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[smq123]

Moving to the allopathic forum.

 

[GladifImakeit]

What is an unranked school? You mean outside the U.S,?

 

[IClaudius]

What is an unranked school? You mean outside the U.S,?

No, US MD school.

 

[Asp]

There was a paper on residency selection in California looking at some of the numbers but I forget the reference. I think it was specific to radiology. The overall gist of which was there is a huge shortage of med school spots relative to population in California, so many kids are in your shoes -- California natives who have been exiled, and are desperate to return. However, there is smaller gap between number of jobs in California and number of residency spots, so it should be easier to obtain residency in California versus getting in for med school.

There is huge variation in how competitive the California programs are. The coastal university programs are very competitive. On the other hand, the more inland community type programs are probably no more or less competitive than a big city academic program elsewhere. So landing a spot in California is not a big issue, however if you have your heart set on UCSF or Stanford, that is an uphill battle.

Good luck!

 

[drizzt3117]

I know a lot of 230-240 top 1/3 ppl from CA that weren't able to match to even mid tier IM programs like uci, USC, etc. I'd say it's quite hard to get a spot in Metro LA, OC, SF, SD.

There was a paper on residency selection in California looking at some of the numbers but I forget the reference. I think it was specific to radiology. The overall gist of which was there is a huge shortage of med school spots relative to population in California, so many kids are in your shoes -- California natives who have been exiled, and are desperate to return. However, there is smaller gap between number of jobs in California and number of residency spots, so it should be easier to obtain residency in California versus getting in for med school.

There is huge variation in how competitive the California programs are. The coastal university programs are very competitive. On the other hand, the more inland community type programs are probably no more or less competitive than a big city academic program elsewhere. So landing a spot in California is not a big issue, however if you have your heart set on UCSF or Stanford, that is an uphill battle.

Good luck!

 

[IClaudius]

Thanks a lot Asp and drizzt3117

Looks like the best course of action for me is to make sure I get good grades and do well on Step 1. Far easier said than done, but I'll try my best.

 

[meister]

Do well in school and you'll be fine.

 

[2008orbust]

Several people in my class (in Michigan) were from Cali and matched in Cali when they were done. Do well in class and do away rotations in Cali.