Decisions
Realistically, I don't have to make any career decisions for a bit. Practically though, I should probably start thinking about it. I guess that's part of the reason I signed up for med school...maximal procrastination with regard to career decisions.
Working in the ER the past week, I'm finding myself more and more drawn to the field. Between that, eliminating fields I can't stand, and figuring out which ones I'm okay with - I'll eventually come up with a specialty choice. It's kind of scary, not really knowing what field I'm supposed to go into, especially since I'll be interviewing for residencies in less than two years.
What's more scary to me is the matching process. Matching is the way that residencies fill their programs. Programs make a ranked list of interviewees and med students rank programs they interviewed at. Through wizardry, the two lists are compared and applicants are best matched to a program based on the lists. Sounds simple and not so scary. What I'm not a fan of is the obligation to go wherever you're matched. There's no direct choice in where you go.
On that note, I've been wondering what cities I'd be okay living in. I wouldn't be averse to chilling in NYC, Boston, Philly, or DC for a few years. Truthfully though, I'd love to stay in Chicago. EM isn't as competitive as plastics, ENT, or derm but it's still pretty competitive to get into. Board scores are above average, but still not absolute rock star-ish. Since it's more competitive, wisdom would dictate applying to a large number of programs. As mentioned previously though, I'm not really wanting to leave Chicago. Especially when it's not of my own direct volition.
So basically, the question is: is staying in Chicago worth the risk of possibly not matching into EM? Answer TBD. A decent amount depends on board scores. Hopefully not so much on extracurriculars, because those are pretty much nonexistant. And I guess I may like some other specialty that's not as competitive. Until then though, I'm pretty tight with one of the attendings at the UIH ED, so I'll probably be picking her brain at some point in time. Either way, I think I found my motivation to rock boards.
4 comments:
Unless things have changed, they use an algorithm for solving what's called a "stable marriage" problem to do the matching. Basically, they pair residents and programs up such that each pair is stable (i.e. there is no unpaired resident & program which would prefer each other to their current partner). In terms of a marriage, if there was a man and woman who were not married, but preferred each other to their spouses, the marriages would not be stable.
What's interesting is there are multiple ways to do this, and they used to do it in a way that caused the residency programs got their best pairings possible, and the residents got the worst pairings possible. It was still stable, but basically each resident was guaranteed to get the worst possible stable match. They've since changed the matching to favor the residents instead.
Heh, if none of that made sense, suffice it to say they've changed the system over the years to make the matching better for the residents.
What you're saying lines up with what I've heard. I knew a little bit about the match, but mostly just generalities. Obviously, nothing on the level of algorithms or anything. I did know that the match favored us, one of the few things I did know for sure. But it's definitely nice to know a little more about the whole process. Or in my terms, the wizardry.
My main issue is whether to rank only Chicago EM programs and risk not matching, or rank more EM programs and risk not being in Chicago. If you don't match, you go into "the scramble." You and some friends set up shop in some office and start calling any and all residencies to see if they have open spots and if they'll take you. There's still some time before all that gets real though - until then, I'll figure out ways to keep busy.
Heh, good catch. I actually did look into Seattle and wouldn't mind it there. Only thing is, there's just one EM program there. And if it's anything like UW med school, those spots are given priority to residents of WWAMI and/or their med school grads. (WY, WA, AK, MT, ID). Damn "in-state" preferences (e.g. CA).
Who knows though, I might do an away rotation there sometime in fourth year. You might be getting a call if that happens.
Yeah, it's kind of shitty that the medical profession is very different than almost any other in terms of actually getting a job. In some ways, I understand it, but that doesn't really make it suck any less.
You should come out to Seattle, though. All the cool kids are doing it.
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