Applying for Residency

How did your SO and you decide what programs to apply to? I realize location is key. I'm just thinking, having never been there how do you narrow down a list to ones you'd consider? There are lots of places I think "oh, that could be fun to live there" but how do you find out more about the city and such to ultimately make a decision?

I guess, this sounds vague but like for instance, I was casually looking at the list and saw Colorado. I've never actually been to Colorado but it seems like a nice place and could be fun to live there for 4 years. However it freaks me out not knowing anyone else who actually lives there so how would know if it was even something that would fit us or not?

[SuzySunshine]

We started with programs rather then locations. DH applied to just over 20 programs (competitive specialty) and we went from there, we really didn't look at how the location would fit us until after interviews and we were doing our rank lists.

Right, my DH has picked the specialty he wants. I'm just curious how you decided which 20 to choose over the others?

[Tenacious_D]

We wanted to be in the northeast and be near family. We were more adventurous with locations for med school since we didn't have kids. Once we had kids family and great training programs dictated where we wanted to look.

[Deebs]

We narrowed our location to be within 9 hours driving distance to our parents (both sets live in the suburbs of Chicago). Then, we looked at length of program (EM can be 3 or 4 years, but I told DH that he wasn't allowed to make the 6-figure mistake of taking on the extra year, so there were only 2 programs he looked at that were 4 year), and the programs themselves. From there, it kind of fell into place.

[diggitydot]

Excel spreadsheets can be helpful (and maddening) for logging and weighing details for each prospective program.

[Deebs]

Also, I knew that I would need a job, so I encouraged him to look at programs at larger institutions, providing me more job opportunities).

[SuzySunshine]

Right, my DH has picked the specialty he wants. I'm just curious how you decided which 20 to choose over the others?

I guess I wasn't clear - he picked what he considered to be the 20 best programs in the country based on his specialty. We didn't consider location at that point.

[bokelley]

Applied to a ton of places. Location was not really a factor, we just hope to match. I know Colorado is a hard place to match at, since everyone wants to go there. For instance, we got interviews at top tier programs and not Colorado. He went to a Midwest med school, in certain programs they seem to be more region based. Or at least we found that to be more true than not. Only places we did not apply to ( and there were not many) were places we could not afford to live. NYC, places like that. Applying and getting an interview, two very separate things. Our rank list is more where we would like to be(location) based. But even that takes a back seat to the quality of program.

Depending on the field, you can be more choosy. For us in rads, it is anywhere that will take us.

[ides]

Location was important for us. I pretty much did a boatload of research. I used the Freida program as a starting point. I chose his speciality then all the states w/locals we were willing to consider & ran the program. I then built a spreadsheet and worked through the list one by one inputting details. Next I looked through their websites & added more info & impressions to the spreadsheet. It was really helpful. As we worked down to the programs we were applying to I started to research locations. There were plenty of places he applied to & interviewed at that I had never been to. You have to be somewhat willing to relocate to some locals unseen. It's just the reality of the situation. Good luck figuring out your list!

[scarlett09]

How did your SO and you decide what programs to apply to? I realize location is key. I'm just thinking, having never been there how do you narrow down a list to ones you'd consider? There are lots of places I think "oh, that could be fun to live there" but how do you find out more about the city and such to ultimately make a decision?

Yes, location is key. But there are a lot of other factors that can come into play, as the others have mentioned. For your DH, there will be things like what types of rotations they offer, how much teaching/hands-on experience he gets to have, if research is (or is not) a requirement, fellowship statistics, if away/rural rotations are offered, how many procedures he gets to do, call schedule, benefits package, and a ton of other tangible factors. There will even be other things less concrete, such as the "feel" or "vibe" he gets from the city/hospital/residents/fellows/attendings/etc. For you, since you have a child, you may look at things like cost of living, parks, schools, public transportation, crime rates, housing availability/cost, call schedule, benefits package, etc.

I'm sure I'm probably forgetting some of the factors you and your DH could be concerned about, but my point is that there are a wide variety of factors to think about and different ones will have varying levels of priority for each individual family. You and your DH will make decisions as to where to rank programs based upon your own individual set of criterion. There is no right or wrong way to make a rank list (except for not ranking enough programs). You will make the decision that is best for your family and then after that, everything is decided by a computer algorithm aka the Match gods.

Is your husband still interested in peds? I could share how we made ours, but it is pretty boring since I pretty much let him make all the decisions. So far we are pretty happy with how it turned out.

ETA: Crossed-posted with Ides. FREIDA is a great resource, as it allows you to compare the various facets of different programs. It is great for taking a look right now to get a feel, but don't get too caught up in it. The information you see now will probably change by the time you guys make your Match list.

[MDPhDWife]

We pretty much did exactly what Ides did. Location was key for us, but we had to apply broadly (70 programs!) due to the competitive nature of my DH's specialty. Since we had to apply so broadly, the only places I excluded were those where the cost of living was too high.

Once the interviews start coming in, then you can consider joining your DH for them to get a better feel of the location to determine if it would be a good fit. Then you can make your rank order list accordingly.

Scarlett,

Thanks! Could you post a link to this Freida program? I'd love to check it out. I just have the link to the site that lists where programs are offered depending on which specialty.

He thinks he's pretty much set now on doing PM&R. He did an internship with them this past summer and plans to add it to his list of clinical rotations too. He was kind of all over the board as to what he thought he'd like to do but he enjoyed the work and also loves their hours.

[Vanquisher]

PM&R? How long have you been spying on our board? I have no idea how competitive or not PM&R is, but I think it's the best secret in medicine. I often wish dh had done it. Piles of Money and Relaxation - sounds awful doesn't it?

Good luck. If he does do it, you'll have to come back here with the horrid reality that it sucks like all the other residencies.


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[poky]

PM&R? How long have you been spying on our board? I have no idea how competitive or not PM&R is, but I think it's the best secret in medicine. I often wish dh had done it. Piles of Money and Relaxation - sounds awful doesn't it?

Good luck. If he does do it, you'll have to come back here with the horrid reality that it sucks like all the other residencies.

And now you see just how quickly and easily they can change their minds, especailly this early in the game. Just a couple weeks ago, it was med peds and he was only going to apply locally, right? Welcome to the ride.

I don't know about how competitive or how sucky PM+R residencies are, but DH has said the PM+R attendings he's worked with have been the most relaxed and happy doctors he's worked with. He's still convinced he'd rather do EM, though. Oh, well.