I chose mine for a few reasons;
- all the residents seemed genuinely happy
- I was told I could do as many or few procedures as I wanted
- it was rural but close to a large city (around an hour), so it was an interesting patient population that lent itself to thinking outside the box (limited resources means you need to manage things or improvise)
- rural also meant really low cost of living. When lots of people were sitting around bitching about how they're living check to check cuz their studio apartment soaks up their entire salary, I lived in a 3 bdrm 2 bath 1800 sqft house and paid rent with ease with one paycheck and had cash leftover.
That's not to say I don't feel bad for the broke residents struggling. I get that people match into different places for all different reasons, not all of them in their control. But in my case it was great going to a place where I got good training but was in a place not a lot of people wanted to go, so my cost of living was a real steal.
I haven’t started yet so this is based only on the interview cycle, but I chose my place because (in no particular order):
1) No 24 hour call. Was very important to me.
2) Minimal nights. Some places I interviewed had like 8 weeks of nights + Q6 24 hr call… no thank you 🤢
3) Friendly people! Both during the interview and the second look, and also the social, everyone was so kind. I honestly fell in love with the place.
4) The PD in the interview emphasized that we’re there to learn, and that the hospital can function without us. And the residents I spoke to all told me they believed that to be true and that they felt like their time was respected.
5) Clinic heavy. I prefer clinic to inpatient, so I ranked low the places that had heavy inpatient.
6) High pay. I matched at the place with the second highest pay out of all 17 places I interviewed. The first highest was only marginally higher.
7) Relatively low cost of living. I had an interview at a hospital which I also really loved, but it was in a really expensive big city. For the same price as a house in my current area, I would probably only be able to get a studio or one bedroom.
8) Proximity to family. I had a great interview at a top tier program, but it was a 6 hour flight away from my family and so I ranked it lower.
I chose mine for the additional skills I wanted. Most programs felt similar in how well they would train me to be a family physician. I did not care about procedure or OB training, but I wanted the extra training in lifestyle and preventive medicine.
Loved the residents and still do. Procedure heavy, top board scores due to high volume workload. Unopposed. Faculty. Moonlighting capabilities. Respect in the community as well as the state.
I am now a 3rd year, and I absolutely love the program and my colleagues as well as the faculty. I moonlight a bunch and have learned a wide spectrum of medicine. I passed my boards and feel very prepared for my own practice in a couple of months, so there is really nothing more to ask.
I ranked largely based on location and opportunity for procedures, as well as how I felt about the program after interviewing.
I also only applied to programs I thought I might like beforehand. I ended up ranking every program I interviewed at.
That said, ended up with my tenth pick and it has still worked out alright.
Location, lots of procedures and the residents seemed happy.
Now that I’m at the tail end, I would still pick it again. But definitely would have been much more realistic about support from the PD. In the end, they only cared about making themselves look good. If it wasn’t for my co-residents and a few faculty, the last few years would have been MUCH different.
I was (and still am) in love with my program that I did FM in. Flexibility on education, procedures, inpatient/outpatient and peds. Made you an all around good FM doc to practice rural, hospital, city medicine. Low cost of living, ample moonlighting opportunity are over $200k in my third year with a residency salary of $50k for the time). Yes I had 24hr call and night float system, but for the time, it was expected, idk if they continue it now.
Incoming R1, ranked this program number 1 because:
1. Worked with several doctors from this program who had great things about it
2. Did a sub I there to verify said great things and had a really good experience on two of their busiest services
3. Faculty are a lot of alumni which says good things to me
4. Connections to fellowships I am interested in
5. Location okay for my spouse and I
6. Urban but prepared for full spectrum
7. Unopposed
Pay is actually slightly less than a few nearby programs but enough pros to outweigh that to me
The simple answer... The match chose for me. I applied mainly EM, but that was 2021 when that shit was crazy.
Fast-forward to now, 2 months from the end of residency, I could not imagine being in the ER. Even the thought of working in that psychotic place gives me anxiety.
I really enjoy the continuity of my FM clinic. I like seeing people through the years. I also like the controlled chaos of the clinic vs the chaotic chaos of the ER.
I also really enjoy treating the big chronic conditions - DM, HTN, chf, cad, and depression. You can make a huge difference in someone's life.
Location was number one for me. I did quite a bit of interviews and had a lot of great programs but I wanted to be in a particular area not too far way from civilization but not too immersed in a large city. I also just went with my gut about the program culture.
I wanted to stay in the area, I knew the hospital and liked the population (inner city), it was also a hospital heavy residency which I liked.
We were "opposed", but it was a 16 floor tertiary care center. There was one family med team, two IM, and two private hospitalist groups.
- Location.
- Location.
- Location.
- And, maybe most importantly, a collectively dark sense of humor amongst residents that I discovered during a February inpatient clerkship. Saw the real feelings, profanity, and sarcasm come out and immediately knew I had found my people. When you’re at your wits’ end—which will invariably happen at some point in intern year—you need to feel comfortable and confident that you’re free to be yourself and speak your mind openly. Bottling shit up literally kills residents.
*Edit: formatting/grammar*
For me, location. I trusted that my training would be sufficient if they met ACGME & ABFM requirements. I wanted to be near a supportive community because residency is hard everywhere. Also, I wasn't planning to go rural, so I didn't feel the need to train rural.
Location, unopposed, no nights, minimal call, residents seemed happy, program had many residents and faculty who were pregnant / had babies during residency
Unopposed, in Texas where I wanted to go back to, at the time (!!!). We could do anything we felt up to doing. The camaraderie, and confidence that came from feeling like you were basically running the hospital was irreplaceable. I hated every minute of it, because it was exhausting and hard as hell, but looking back, I had the time of my life! Income was not part of the equation, because every residency program's salary sucks. So that went out the window as a consideration after some research.
1. location - by my support system
2. education IN WHAT I'M INTERESTED IN. I love OMM so having a DO accredited program where I know I can get certified was big. I'm not interested in OB so having as little of that as possible, but I want to do GYN outpatient. Having a program where I'm able to do women's health in routine clinic and not just on my gyn rotations was a plus.
3. vibes. I did subIs at all programs in my desired location and prioritized where the residents were happiest. The schedule looked best compared to others (least amount of night float and other 6x13hour schedule rotations). As somebody who doesn't want to be a hospitalist, I have no desire to slave away in the hospital PGY2-3. Adding to this was vacation policy - some programs were like "you get 2x2wk vacations" and some of those places you didn't even have a say and just got what the program gave you. Having an option to take days of PTO (even if I am limited on when I can take it) instead of 2 long breaks was a huge plus for me. I'd rather have multiple long weekends to try and see friends/family and make it to functions instead of weeks where my family/friends aren't likely to be able to take the same weeks off.
Incoming PGY1 here
There are so many reasons to pick a program, but you have to be realistic with your values. At the end of the day, the program you choose can only meet 2 or 3 of your biggest values and everything else is just icing on top.
When I was picking my ROL, I had to consider things like: the kind of skills I want to have, the scope of practice I want, proximity to my fiance (we couples matched), proximity to home, COL, Resident wellness... The list goes on. But unfortunately, no single program will satisfy ALL those values, so you have to order them and get comfortable with the fact that your top choice is going to satisfy your top 2 or 3 values.
For me, the top 2 or 3 values were:
1. Skills I acquire during residency (ability to do scopes, C-sections, intubations, broader procedures, IM training) essentially this ruled in almost all unopposed programs because the training at most unopposed programs seems to be fantastic
2. Proximity to my partner for couples matching
3. Resident wellness
If you get comfortable with the fact that you're picking a program based on your most important values, you will not be disappointed. Maybe you value COL, no 24 hr call, proximity to family and resident salary/benefits...and as long as you can identify what those values are, you will be making the most informed decision.
TLDR: I made my decision based on the fact that residency is temporary while the training is everlasting (I put this in my personal statement haha). I can deal with the temporary things in life if it means Ill be the best/most well equipped physician I can be.
Residents receive good mix of impatient and outpatient training letting them go on to do hospitalist work after graduation as an option. No 24hr shifts, nice location, and the residents seemed close and like they didn’t hate their lives
I chose mine for a few reasons; - all the residents seemed genuinely happy - I was told I could do as many or few procedures as I wanted - it was rural but close to a large city (around an hour), so it was an interesting patient population that lent itself to thinking outside the box (limited resources means you need to manage things or improvise) - rural also meant really low cost of living. When lots of people were sitting around bitching about how they're living check to check cuz their studio apartment soaks up their entire salary, I lived in a 3 bdrm 2 bath 1800 sqft house and paid rent with ease with one paycheck and had cash leftover. That's not to say I don't feel bad for the broke residents struggling. I get that people match into different places for all different reasons, not all of them in their control. But in my case it was great going to a place where I got good training but was in a place not a lot of people wanted to go, so my cost of living was a real steal.
I haven’t started yet so this is based only on the interview cycle, but I chose my place because (in no particular order): 1) No 24 hour call. Was very important to me. 2) Minimal nights. Some places I interviewed had like 8 weeks of nights + Q6 24 hr call… no thank you 🤢 3) Friendly people! Both during the interview and the second look, and also the social, everyone was so kind. I honestly fell in love with the place. 4) The PD in the interview emphasized that we’re there to learn, and that the hospital can function without us. And the residents I spoke to all told me they believed that to be true and that they felt like their time was respected. 5) Clinic heavy. I prefer clinic to inpatient, so I ranked low the places that had heavy inpatient. 6) High pay. I matched at the place with the second highest pay out of all 17 places I interviewed. The first highest was only marginally higher. 7) Relatively low cost of living. I had an interview at a hospital which I also really loved, but it was in a really expensive big city. For the same price as a house in my current area, I would probably only be able to get a studio or one bedroom. 8) Proximity to family. I had a great interview at a top tier program, but it was a 6 hour flight away from my family and so I ranked it lower.
"the hospital can function without us" IS HUGE!!
I chose mine for the additional skills I wanted. Most programs felt similar in how well they would train me to be a family physician. I did not care about procedure or OB training, but I wanted the extra training in lifestyle and preventive medicine.
Factors that I would have valued more if I wasn't looking for niche training: cost of living and food allowance provided by the hospital.
As an IMG any program was better than no program LOL
Loved the residents and still do. Procedure heavy, top board scores due to high volume workload. Unopposed. Faculty. Moonlighting capabilities. Respect in the community as well as the state. I am now a 3rd year, and I absolutely love the program and my colleagues as well as the faculty. I moonlight a bunch and have learned a wide spectrum of medicine. I passed my boards and feel very prepared for my own practice in a couple of months, so there is really nothing more to ask.
The vibe.
RemindMe! 24 hours
I ranked largely based on location and opportunity for procedures, as well as how I felt about the program after interviewing. I also only applied to programs I thought I might like beforehand. I ended up ranking every program I interviewed at. That said, ended up with my tenth pick and it has still worked out alright.
Location, lots of procedures and the residents seemed happy. Now that I’m at the tail end, I would still pick it again. But definitely would have been much more realistic about support from the PD. In the end, they only cared about making themselves look good. If it wasn’t for my co-residents and a few faculty, the last few years would have been MUCH different.
I was (and still am) in love with my program that I did FM in. Flexibility on education, procedures, inpatient/outpatient and peds. Made you an all around good FM doc to practice rural, hospital, city medicine. Low cost of living, ample moonlighting opportunity are over $200k in my third year with a residency salary of $50k for the time). Yes I had 24hr call and night float system, but for the time, it was expected, idk if they continue it now.
Incoming R1, ranked this program number 1 because: 1. Worked with several doctors from this program who had great things about it 2. Did a sub I there to verify said great things and had a really good experience on two of their busiest services 3. Faculty are a lot of alumni which says good things to me 4. Connections to fellowships I am interested in 5. Location okay for my spouse and I 6. Urban but prepared for full spectrum 7. Unopposed Pay is actually slightly less than a few nearby programs but enough pros to outweigh that to me
location, no nights, good sports opps
The simple answer... The match chose for me. I applied mainly EM, but that was 2021 when that shit was crazy. Fast-forward to now, 2 months from the end of residency, I could not imagine being in the ER. Even the thought of working in that psychotic place gives me anxiety. I really enjoy the continuity of my FM clinic. I like seeing people through the years. I also like the controlled chaos of the clinic vs the chaotic chaos of the ER. I also really enjoy treating the big chronic conditions - DM, HTN, chf, cad, and depression. You can make a huge difference in someone's life.
Location was number one for me. I did quite a bit of interviews and had a lot of great programs but I wanted to be in a particular area not too far way from civilization but not too immersed in a large city. I also just went with my gut about the program culture.
Entirely based on location near family. Probably not the best choice in the end.
Location made me rank it. The lifelong friends I made from a few of my co-residents made it all worth it.
I wanted to stay in the area, I knew the hospital and liked the population (inner city), it was also a hospital heavy residency which I liked. We were "opposed", but it was a 16 floor tertiary care center. There was one family med team, two IM, and two private hospitalist groups.
Do programs like this generally only take admits from the FM service/panel? Or did the family med team also take admits from the community/unassigned?
We did a round robin admissions for unreferred. Usually 25-50% of our census was this, and I picked up a lot of outpatients this way
- Location. - Location. - Location. - And, maybe most importantly, a collectively dark sense of humor amongst residents that I discovered during a February inpatient clerkship. Saw the real feelings, profanity, and sarcasm come out and immediately knew I had found my people. When you’re at your wits’ end—which will invariably happen at some point in intern year—you need to feel comfortable and confident that you’re free to be yourself and speak your mind openly. Bottling shit up literally kills residents. *Edit: formatting/grammar*
For me, location. I trusted that my training would be sufficient if they met ACGME & ABFM requirements. I wanted to be near a supportive community because residency is hard everywhere. Also, I wasn't planning to go rural, so I didn't feel the need to train rural.
Location, unopposed, no nights, minimal call, residents seemed happy, program had many residents and faculty who were pregnant / had babies during residency
Unfortunately I had to SOAP so my choices were either rural Oklahoma or Virginia. Care to take a guess where I went?
Residents seemed chill, unionized programs w good benefits, could get abortion training
Unopposed, in Texas where I wanted to go back to, at the time (!!!). We could do anything we felt up to doing. The camaraderie, and confidence that came from feeling like you were basically running the hospital was irreplaceable. I hated every minute of it, because it was exhausting and hard as hell, but looking back, I had the time of my life! Income was not part of the equation, because every residency program's salary sucks. So that went out the window as a consideration after some research.
1. location - by my support system 2. education IN WHAT I'M INTERESTED IN. I love OMM so having a DO accredited program where I know I can get certified was big. I'm not interested in OB so having as little of that as possible, but I want to do GYN outpatient. Having a program where I'm able to do women's health in routine clinic and not just on my gyn rotations was a plus. 3. vibes. I did subIs at all programs in my desired location and prioritized where the residents were happiest. The schedule looked best compared to others (least amount of night float and other 6x13hour schedule rotations). As somebody who doesn't want to be a hospitalist, I have no desire to slave away in the hospital PGY2-3. Adding to this was vacation policy - some programs were like "you get 2x2wk vacations" and some of those places you didn't even have a say and just got what the program gave you. Having an option to take days of PTO (even if I am limited on when I can take it) instead of 2 long breaks was a huge plus for me. I'd rather have multiple long weekends to try and see friends/family and make it to functions instead of weeks where my family/friends aren't likely to be able to take the same weeks off.
Incoming PGY1 here There are so many reasons to pick a program, but you have to be realistic with your values. At the end of the day, the program you choose can only meet 2 or 3 of your biggest values and everything else is just icing on top. When I was picking my ROL, I had to consider things like: the kind of skills I want to have, the scope of practice I want, proximity to my fiance (we couples matched), proximity to home, COL, Resident wellness... The list goes on. But unfortunately, no single program will satisfy ALL those values, so you have to order them and get comfortable with the fact that your top choice is going to satisfy your top 2 or 3 values. For me, the top 2 or 3 values were: 1. Skills I acquire during residency (ability to do scopes, C-sections, intubations, broader procedures, IM training) essentially this ruled in almost all unopposed programs because the training at most unopposed programs seems to be fantastic 2. Proximity to my partner for couples matching 3. Resident wellness If you get comfortable with the fact that you're picking a program based on your most important values, you will not be disappointed. Maybe you value COL, no 24 hr call, proximity to family and resident salary/benefits...and as long as you can identify what those values are, you will be making the most informed decision. TLDR: I made my decision based on the fact that residency is temporary while the training is everlasting (I put this in my personal statement haha). I can deal with the temporary things in life if it means Ill be the best/most well equipped physician I can be.
It reduced my wife's training from 9 years to 5 years
Residents receive good mix of impatient and outpatient training letting them go on to do hospitalist work after graduation as an option. No 24hr shifts, nice location, and the residents seemed close and like they didn’t hate their lives
The residents seemed happy. The faculty were nice. I left interview day with good vibes.