Moving for Fellowship

Re: Moving for Fellowship

Heidi, you are right on.

Yes. It is the same in Canada too. DH's "home" med school would have been Vancouver, the only one in the province, but it is so incredibly competitive and he did not get in. To go to a school in a difference province is almost impossible, like trying to get into a state school when you are out of state. Then once you leave Canada, the web of red tape builds up and you can't get back for residency, unless you want to do family med way up north, with a return of service commitment.
Hence, the major out of country moves that have followed....
And, he can't even get a job in his home province once we are done, because they don't recognise US residency as equal. So, I am a little bitter too. Jack will never live close to any of his grandparents.



To answer the question though, I am 90% sure we will dodge the fellowship bullet, unless we decide being in BC is the most important thing, then he will have to do one.

[poky]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

In Utah, there is one medical school. Said medical school has probably the highest admission standards of any public state medical school in the country. [] So, we went where he got in. As there are literally almost no other medical schools in the Western US that accept out of state applicants...

I could have written this; change out "Utah" for "Oregon". Unless you're in CA, if you're in the west and want to stay in the west for medical school...good freaking luck!

ETA: I guess that's still true in CA, too, to an extent, but with the sheer number of schools, you've got to have a *slightly* better chance, I would think...

Re: Moving for Fellowship

I got three hours of sleep last night, and I'm not sure I picked the right option (moved for res & fellshp).

In any case, we moved for fellowship. Far.

Here's our moving history:

- lived with DH's parents in their basement for 2 months
- moved to an alley bungalow for a year til I finished college
- moved to another city in the state for med school, years 1-2
- moved to yet another city in the state for med school, years 3-4
- moved IN-CITY to our first owned home for a 4-yr residency
- moved to an entirely foreign state w no friends & family nearby for a 3-year fellowship
- PLAN to move back to our residency city to settle "permanently"

We're looking at fellowship as an adventure, an extended family vacation. Trying to make the most of what may be our only opportunity to experience a different state.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We could have stayed in KS for medical school, DH got in and was one day from starting when he got into SU. However we could not have gone home for residency if DH had any hopes of a good fellowship and academic job afterwards. The one neurosurgery program at home is NOT a good residency program and last year were actually telling applicants to go somewhere else b/c they didn't know what was going to happen to them. For that same reason going home for a job isn't an option either.

[JaneDoe]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

In Utah, there is one medical school. Said medical school has probably the highest admission standards of any public state medical school in the country. [] So, we went where he got in. As there are literally almost no other medical schools in the Western US that accept out of state applicants...

I could have written this; change out "Utah" for "Oregon". Unless you're in CA, if you're in the west and want to stay in the west for medical school...good freaking luck!

Dh tried to get into OHSU for medical school. Denied! Heidi is spot on about western medical schools accepting out of state students. It just doesn't happen unless you are from certain states that don't have medical schools, like Wyoming or Alaska. So, he left for the east coast for medical school. He tried to match at Casey Eye, OHSU, for residency. Denied! Dh was able to stay at the same location for residency, so we didn't have to move then. That really helped us out financially!

We dodged the fellowship bullet. We did move across the country for Dh's real job. I don't plan to move for a very, very, very long time! I hate moving.

[DCJenn]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

He's tossing about wanting to do another fellowship- to which I basically said, 'fine, see you on weekends.'

Unless the Army sends us someplace, there's NFW I'm moving. and even if the Army sends us somplace, I'm coming back here. I should change my name from DCJenn to SAJenn because they will be carrying me out of my house in a pine box.

I 'heart' my house. (someone remind me of this the next time something huge breaks)

Jenn

[mommax3]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We moved (about 45 miles)from the town where DH did undergrad for med school and bought our first house. Courtesy of the Air Force, we moved from Indianapolis to San Antonio for residency, far from any and all family, and bought our second house. We moved after residency (also courtesy of the Air Force) six hours north of San Antonio to Wichita Falls, TX and bought our third house. (Our original assignment was Mountain Home, ID, and I was very stressed at the thought of driving there six months pregnant with two pets and and two little boys. DH got a chance to trade assignments with someone, so he did. Still don't know if we made the right choice :huh: ) We moved back to Indiana following DH's military payback (bought our fourth house) and plan on staying in Indiana, although we will be moving into our new house (#5) next summer. We plan on staying in this next house for a good long time!

For most of the time that I had little kids, I was two days' drive from any family. It sucked. I hate that very few of my current friends knew my kids when they were small. I hated that when we brought #3 home from the hospital, we didn't know anyone well enough to celebrate/show off our new little guy. I would love to have stayed in one community during the time I raised my family, but that is not the way things turned out for us. Probably our distance from friends/family had a lot to do with us not having a fourth child, as well as the demands of DH's job/the three kids we already had.

DH never had much interest in doing a fellowship, thank GOD! I don't think I would have been real supportive.

Sally

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We did not move for residency. We started dating midway through M3 and I told him that he could move anywhere he wanted for residency but I would not follow. We stayed in Chicago for intern/residency. We moved for fellowship, two years in Denver. We've moved again now that he's all done.

[houseelf]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We moved far away for residency, an hour-ish away from our hometown for fellowship, and may move again for the job. I'm really over moving.

Honestly, if the place we did residency offered a fellowship in DH's subspecialty, I would have been all over him to take it. Not that I was in love with that place, but moving is stressful, expensive, and incredibly disruptive. I would have rather moved when it was all said and done ONE TIME on someone else's dime. I think that I would have been a lot more on board for fellowship if this was the case.

Kelly

[scarlett09]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

I selected moving for residency and moving for fellowship, although I have no idea how that will all pan out. The other half's interest in doing a fellowship are variable; it depends on how he is feeling about school, about life in general, the wind direction, etc. :P

What I do know is that there is a 95% chance that we will be moving for residency. At the end of next year, we will have been in the same town for 8 years (4 years of undergrad & 4 years of med school). We've decided that, although we will miss our urban/college town very much, that we need a change of scenary. He is still applying to his school for residency, but I don't think we'll wind up there.

We will be (hopefully) staying on the East Coast and expect to be anywhere between 3 - 8 hours from our immediate families. I think that will be rough, but I feel blessed that we would still be, at most, a looooong car ride away from loved ones. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be so far that it is days in a car or only doable by plane.

I can't say much for a fellowship at this point. Plenty of things in our lives could change 4 years down the road.

Re: Moving for Fellowship

I hear you, *SA*jenn. Don't even talk to us about moves.

We're moving for fellowship (he's in the midst of applications right now and trying to persuade me that this is actually FOR the fam. . .it's an investment in our future. . .) but I have limited his applications to 3 states. You would love our conversations right now:

me: Why are you going to send an application to Cleveland? We are not moving there.
him: Well, I could still go and interview there if I get an interview.
me: Why would you waste money and time because we are so NOT moving there.
him: Well, . . .

Re: Moving for Fellowship

me: Why are you going to send an application to Cleveland? We are not moving there.
him: Well, I could still go and interview there if I get an interview.
me: Why would you waste money and time because we are so NOT moving there.
him: Well, . . .

We moved for med school, stayed in the same wonderful city for residency plus one year of post-doc, moved for fellowship - where we are now, and will Most.Definitely. be moving for The Job.

[ides]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We moved for Medical School and for Residency. Dh will be doing a fellowship and we want to stay here for it and beyond. There is a good chance we can stay but you never know. Neither of us lived close to family when we met, got married, etc and have no desire to either. It's mostly that we feel at home in nyc and want to stay here long term.

[Michele]

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We moved for residency b/c I wanted out of Gainesville.....there are no fellowship options here (Shreveport) so we will be moving again (FOR ONE YEAR!) and then moving again for "good" back to Florida. I've been trying to get out of him where the fellowships (Cornea/Anterior Chamber - as if they eye isn't specific enough!) are located, but he's not talking. I know that the program in Dallas has been very friendly to the residents here. I laugh b/c we knocked Tx off our list for residencies and didn't apply and ended up in a place SOOOO close to Tx that my hairdresser is there!

Re: Moving for Fellowship

We moved to Chicago from Cali for medical school. Then for residency, I was crushed that we had to go to Baltimore. For fellowship, we are moving back to So Cal and I am a bit torn. Though family and friends are back there, I have a great group of moms here that are my lifeline and I will miss them. So not looking forward to moving cross country again...