Weight of Prestige in Residency App (Top 5 vs Top 20)?

[Anonymous.2]

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Hi, from those who have gone through the residency match process or are planning on applying the upcoming cycle, was wondering what your thoughts were on how much prestige plays a factor in getting interviews and successfully matching to your top ranked program?

Incoming M1 and having a hard time deciding between UCSF (huge name recognition, I know matches very well) and UCSD (COA would be $80,000 cheaper). Family is in SoCal. Want to do something procedural. Ideally want to match in SoCal and practice there (SD weather and location can't be beat!). Would this be easier coming from a powerhouse like UCSF (given Step 1 P/F) and is that name recognition and pass/fail clerkship worth 80k?

 

[Sriddymopboi]

Man if you want to match in San Diego then why don't you just go to UCSD?

 

[Anonymous.2]

Trying to maximize my chance to match into a competitive specialty and while UCSD has a home program for everything, they won't take every UCSD student who wants to stay, esp for specialities with only 3-4 spots. If 10 people want to stay at SD, don't know if the probability of matching is higher being one of those 10 people or being one of the few from UCSF trying to come to SD vs another top tier CA residency (i.e. UCLA/UCSF/Stanford)

 

[deleted965528]

Not applying to residency but just wanted to offer my opinion: I think UCSF will be better if you plan on doing a competitive residency anywhere else other than UCSD. You're right that they won't take all their own UCSD students, but if you look at their match list, there is clearly a favorite. UCSF won't close doors either.

I'm not saying to choose UCSD. I'm just saying I think home program >= UCSF if you're talking about matching into a home program.

 

[eyejust]

Just go to UCSF.

 

[djiboutiman]

For ROAD to happiness, you want to go to the highest ranked school, especially for Derm and Eyes. UCSF is the more prestigious of the two.

 

[hailbate]

Agree with most others here. UCSF is gonna open the most doors to places other than SD.

 

[Isoval]

If ROADS is very important to you, I would go with UCSF.

It is well established that the bigger name gets you to bigger places. Look at it this way: in ten years, if you don’t match your preferred specialty in your preferred location and end up “settling”, will you be okay looking back and saying “you know, I made the right choice saving my money tbh”? Answer to this question is different for everyone.

With that being said, there’s no guarantee that you would match those specialties even coming from UCSF.

 

[Pepe18]

You would be fine matching a competitive specialty from either school.

The main decision should be what your actual debt would be. If it’s $100K vs 180K, I would choose UCSF. If UCSF is going to be over $300K (and definitely if it’s over $350K), I would start thinking more about UCSD

 

[jessicajonesharvard]

UCSF has pretty good education.
Today, MS1s had a back-to-back lecture with EiC of JAMA Derm and EiC of JAMA Neuro, both of whom are UCSF clinicians!
It's cool learning from the leaders of fields and network with them for residencies.

 

[Anonymous.2]

If ROADS is very important to you, I would go with UCSF.

It is well established that the bigger name gets you to bigger places. Look at it this way: in ten years, if you don’t match your preferred specialty in your preferred location and end up “settling”, will you be okay looking back and saying “you know, I made the right choice saving my money tbh”? Answer to this question is different for everyone.

With that being said, there’s no guarantee that you would match those specialties even coming from UCSF.

Do you think if I'm trying to match to San Diego area it would be easier coming from UCSD cause of the home program advantage or would it be easier coming from a big name school like SF?

 

[Pluto98]

Do you think if I'm trying to match to San Diego area it would be easier coming from UCSD cause of the home program advantage or would it be easier coming from a big name school like SF?

its always easier to match at your home program. Always

 

[Isoval]

Do you think if I'm trying to match to San Diego area it would be easier coming from UCSD cause of the home program advantage or would it be easier coming from a big name school like SF?

At UCSD-specific residencies, I think it would be easier coming from UCSD. Any other non-UCSD-affiliated residencies in SD, the answer is (probably) UCSF.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

If you want to be in San Diego, go to San Diego. Most schools end up keeping a bunch of their own students for residency. That is one of the points of making a med school, to pipeline doctors to your community. I think my school kept like 35% of their graduates, and very, very few of those who wanted to stay (like legit wanted to) couldn't do so.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[G'rish24]

@MedSchoolTutors I'm in a similar situation, so you're saying that home program advantage > med school name brand? Even with a school as big of a player as OP's?

 

[Isoval]

@MedSchoolTutors I'm in a similar situation, so you're saying that home program advantage > med school name brand? Even with a school as big of a player as OP's?

this is accurate. Even Harvard has a disadvantage against a home program’s students.

 

[getdown]

@MedSchoolTutors I'm in a similar situation, so you're saying that home program advantage > med school name brand? Even with a school as big of a player as OP's?

The benefit of trying to match at your home program is that you're a known quantity. You have 2-4 years to get to know and work with the faculty and residents, both who play large roles in deciding who to take into their class. Remember, residency is a JOB not classwork. Unlike in medical school, you're actually expected to do things, interact with people, show initiative and carry a lot of responsibility. Your attendings and senior residents will have to rely on you for patient assessment and making sure things get done. Knowing someone can follow through on those things is easier after you've gotten to know them and see them work in person compared to some random applicant that looks good on paper. Think about it. WOuld you rather work with a person you've known for years or some dude that simply went to a good school, got good grades?

 

[datboi_58]

The benefit of trying to match at your home program is that you're a known quantity. You have 2-4 years to get to know and work with the faculty and residents, both who play large roles in deciding who to take into their class. Remember, residency is a JOB not classwork. Unlike in medical school, you're actually expected to do things, interact with people, show initiative and carry a lot of responsibility. Your attendings and senior residents will have to rely on you for patient assessment and making sure things get done. Knowing someone can follow through on those things is easier after you've gotten to know them and see them work in person compared to some random applicant that looks good on paper. Think about it. WOuld you rather work with a person you've known for years or some dude that simply went to a good school, got good grades?

Absolutely agree. Never underestimate the power of networking / relationships.

 

[jessicajonesharvard]

Actually, I would argue that it is easier to match to UCSD residencies coming from UCSF than UCSD.
The reason why you don't see a lot of UCSF matching into UCSD is that UCSF students generally try to match into either (1) UCSF programs or (2) more parallel programs. I would suggest going to UCSF and do an away rotation at UCSD.

 

[jessicajonesharvard]

You can always go back to UCSD after medical school.
Try something new for 4 years!

 

[Lucca]

Echoing folks that if the most important thing to you is to live and practice in SoCal long term then just go ahead and move to SoCal right away by attending UCSD. That said if you want to widen your horizons or see your preferences changing in the future / you have an aspiration for academic medicine then go to UCSF. If that doesnt sound like you then it sounds like UCSD is a better fit for you.