Since Mr. is now thinking he wants to specialize in Ophthalmology, I have been charged with finding out what in the world this early match stuff means and what he needs completed by when.
First, I went to SF Match, where I learned:
- You register online no earlier than June and pay $100
- You're applying to start PGY-2
- You also need to go through the regular match for a transitional year
- Each individual program has its own due dates for the application sometime between June and December
- Your match list is due in the beginning of January (for the class of 2009 it's January 8, 2009)
- You learn your match results in January, before you submit your match list for your transitional year.
Awesome. So next I wanted to find out where the top ophthalmology residencies are. Unlike college or even medical school, figuring out residency rankings seems to be a little tricky. So far I've looked at NIH to see which residency programs received the most awards, and then I looked at the top hospitals for ophtho in US News & World Report. The first is flawed because it's three years old and purely based on monetary awards. The second is flawed because its referring to hospitals, not residency programs and thus doesn't focus on teaching, research, etc. (not to mention most residents rotate through a handful of hospitals within a single program). If anyone has other listings, let me know!
Anyway, using those two lists, I created a spreadsheet with 35 ophthalmology residency programs and am going through right now listing the city, state, region, NIH ranking, US News ranking, US News reputation score, CAS deadline, interview time frame, number of positions available each year, contact information, and the website.
I'll ask Mr. if he wants me to add anything. Suggestions welcome!
2 comments:
For us, the most important part of our decision-making process was going to the interviews. We visited some "top-ranked" FP programs, and found at the interview that they really weren't what we were looking for at all.
Make a list of things that are the most important to you- things you're looking for in a resident program. What's important for people who rank programs might not be what's most important to you and Mr.
Then, when the program takes you out to dinner with other residents, grill them about these questions. Residents in our experience were more than happy to "spill" the pros and (probably more importantly, the cons) of their program. Remember that the program is interviewing the candidate, but you also have the opportunity to interview them.
As a spouse, I highly encourage you to go to as many interviews as possible. It's expensive, but it's worth it. While Mr.'s getting a feel for the hospital, you can get a feel for the city, the housing situation, what the city has to offer you, etc.
Thanks for your advice! I've made a new spreadsheet, this one for orthopedics, with different worksheets on prestige, lifestyle, and city, just to get an idea of what we're looking at.
There are 40 programs on the list so far, and I imagine we'll add a few more. :)
Once he starts doing away rotations and interviewing, he'll hopefully have a better idea of his priorities and what he likes and doesn't like about certain programs.
Thanks again!
Post a Comment