<p>What do ya'll think about adding a new sub-forum or perhaps replacing a rarely used medical sub-forum with one where we could post about residencies? Preparing, choosing, applying, interviewing, there is a lot to know and it is important.</p>
<p>I don't know about the rest of you, but my med school kid is an adult handling all this stuff quite well, but she still enjoys having someone to talk to about these decisions and the more I educate myself about it all, the better resource I can be. More than anything I don't want to be guilty of giving common sense advice that is not correct for the medical student situation. In the same way you can read an LOR that sounds good, if it is missing the magic Dean's code words, or worse inadvertently uses the code word for something bad when they meant something good. I don't want to be that guy ;)</p>
<p>Perhaps a good way to get started would be:</p>
<p>Anybody have any questions about residency applications?</p>
<p>I have several, specifically about the advantages and disadvantages of combined residency-fellowship programs. (Aside from the fact they’re more competitive for match/admission.)</p>
<p>Hey, Wow:</p>
<p>Hmm, I know more about the application process than choosing combined versus not combined. I believe the biggest advantage to choosing a combined program is that they can combine certain training and make the entire experience a year less. Not having to interview again is nice, but in the same way I would not steer my kid to a 6 year UG-MD combined program just to save the hassle and expense of reappplying, I would not choose a combined just so eliminate the re-application.</p>
<p>The biggest disadvantage is having to choose now your future sub-speciality.</p>