geography vs program

[Sammich81]

Hey guys.

Two questions:
1. Do you think going to a top 10/top15ish program will make you a substantially better anesthesiologist than going to another place that is more middle of the road? Not talking a small community program here; a place that does 25-30,000 cases a year.
2. I fell in love with a program that is a little over 2 hours away from where my boyfriend is doing his residency. It would be four years long distance. Is this insane?

Weigh in, give me more to obsess over

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[Venus21pam]

It is hard to give advice on relationships but I will put in my 2 cents:
I would probably choose the better program/the program I like more
and be long distance. After all, your education is for life and a boyfriend
might not be. Plus, if the relationship lasts you will know that he is the one for you.

And honestly, 2 hours is not bad at all. Close enough when you can see each other every other weekend or so.
When I was in med school my boyfriend at the time was 4,000 miles away. We did it for 4 years and now we're happily married. It can be done. All depends on how much you are willing to put into it.

Good luck, it's a tough decision.

 

[aredoubleyou]

Hey guys.

Two questions:
1. Do you think going to a top 10/top15ish program will make you a substantially better anesthesiologist than going to another place that is more middle of the road? Not talking a small community program here; a place that does 25-30,000 cases a year.
2. I fell in love with a program that is a little over 2 hours away from where my boyfriend is doing his residency. It would be four years long distance. Is this insane?

Weigh in, give me more to obsess over

It doesnt matter how many cases a program does. It does matter that you do all possible kinds of cases. Any tertiary academic center will do lots of various cases on really sick people. The so called rankings are based on research and reputation of the institution as a whole, dont confuse the issue. The only thing you have to decide is if you like the program, does you like the city, and will you have exposure to a wide variety of cases, not just routine but on the people private and community centers wont touch. That was my take on it, so I picked the places that met those conditions, and ranked based on how much I liked the program and city after that.