Is GI fellowship IV location dependent?

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GiGiMD

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Hi everyone!

A little background about myself. I personally have extended family members and friends back in California but haven't really lived in SoCal since I was 10 (parents have been moving every 3-4 years due to job relocations so no real regional ties). I've been slowly trying to move myself back west but I've always chosen better schools vs location. I went to college and medical school in the East Coast and now matched into residency in the Midwest. I chose to go to Midwest vs going back to SoCal because the programs I had in SoCal were not UCLA or UCSD (leaving me with weaker academic/community programs). I have a strong desire to match into GI so I suppose career >>> location again.

The program I'm currently at is a large academic center that will give me better chance of matching into GI, but eventually I would like to go back to CA. I was looking at the match list for fellowship at my current program, and not a lot of people ended up outside of the Midwest. I'm wondering if there is a selection bias of the applicants? Or are the SoCal programs not extending IV's to residents from the Midwest? I would be just as happy at a community program in SoCal such as Scripps, Cedars, or Kaiser if I can go back.

I'm also wondering if anyone has any advice about what I need to do in the next 2+ years to ensure better chance of obtaining IV from CA fellowships?

Thanks in advance!

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My feeling is that the reason why residents from certain regions matches mostly in the same regions is a combination of two reasons. First residents in one region probably want to stay in that region, and second, programs do have a regional bias. Programs can only invite X number of people, and ideally for the program, that X number of people want to rank their program #1. Location is likely to become a bigger factor in fellowship, so a program knows they would be wasting their time inviting someone who is unlikely to want to come to their program. There is also a large component of residents doing fellowship at their home program. Given the competitiveness of GI, the home advantage can be very significant.

How to improve your chance at IV in Cali? Same as getting IV anywhere else, do an awesome job in residency, be productive in research, network with people, ideally you can find someone who is friends or knows someone at a Cali program.
 
My feeling is that the reason why residents from certain regions matches mostly in the same regions is a combination of two reasons. First residents in one region probably want to stay in that region, and second, programs do have a regional bias. Programs can only invite X number of people, and ideally for the program, that X number of people want to rank their program #1. Location is likely to become a bigger factor in fellowship, so a program knows they would be wasting their time inviting someone who is unlikely to want to come to their program. There is also a large component of residents doing fellowship at their home program. Given the competitiveness of GI, the home advantage can be very significant.

How to improve your chance at IV in Cali? Same as getting IV anywhere else, do an awesome job in residency, be productive in research, network with people, ideally you can find someone who is friends or knows someone at a Cali program.

Yikes! Did I make my homecoming even harder by choosing to go to the midwest then?

My "strongest programs" in SoCal matched 6 into GI last year (with 4 going into home institution), which honestly I would be very happy if I could stay. I just thought with almost 60 residents, being the top 4 to stand out would be very difficult especially if most of the residents there wanted to specialize (the sense I got when I interviewed). My thought process was that the reputation of the residency program would help more than the location... I guess I was immature? :/

If there are residents at my program that have matched into California programs in the past (from as far as I could see there were only 1 or 2 in the last few years), are they resources that I can potentially reach out to?
 
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Yikes! Did I make my homecoming even harder by choosing to go to the midwest then?

My "strongest programs" in SoCal matched 6 into GI last year (with 4 going into home institution), which honestly I would be very happy if I could stay. I just thought with almost 60 residents, being the top 4 to stand out would be very difficult especially if most of the residents there wanted to specialize (the sense I got when I interviewed). My thought process was that the reputation of the residency program would help more than the location... I guess I was immature? :/

If there are residents at my program that have matched into California programs in the past (from as far as I could see there were only 1 or 2 in the last few years), are they resources that I can potentially reach out to?

You weren't wrong with a strong reputation of a residency program will help. I think that is a better way to secure GI fellowship period. Its a good idea to reach out to prior residents who are in California. It certainly won't hurt. I think if they can help you network, all the better.
 
You weren't wrong with a strong reputation of a residency program will help. I think that is a better way to secure GI fellowship period. Its a good idea to reach out to prior residents who are in California. It certainly won't hurt. I think if they can help you network, all the better.

Thanks for the reply! I think the older I'm getting the more location is starting to hit me I will definitely try to reach out and work my ass off in residency!
 
There will always be some regional bias depending on where you trained. These programs don't want to interview too many people, and Im sure they have statistics on people tending to stay in their home region.
 
There will always be some regional bias depending on where you trained. These programs don't want to interview too many people, and Im sure they have statistics on people tending to stay in their home region.
That is very true, but for people who don't want to stay where they're trained, do you have any advice on how to get noticed from the west coast programs and get IV from them?
 
That is very true, but for people who don't want to stay where they're trained, do you have any advice on how to get noticed from the west coast programs and get IV from them?

The stronger you are, the more transplantable you are.

The more borderline you are, the more I think regional bias comes into play.
 
Instead of starting a new thread, I'll hop onto this one. I am currently still trying to figure out my rank list, but not completely sure if I could become "Strong" enough to swing back to the west coast if I desire to do so. If we cannot become "strong" enough, should we stick with the community LA programs?

Rank list for what? Med school? Im confused
 
If you are about name then why do you care about CA unless it's big name. That's the question you have to answer and be honest with during your interviews.
 
Just went through the match, applied broadly including on both coasts. The short answer to the question is yes it does matter. I think this has more to do with convincing programs that you will transplant yourself from somewhere else to the coast, otherwise why should they waste an invite on someone who is less likely to move. I think even if you are strong there may be programs who see you as too qualified and unlikely to move so may not extend an invite. For top tier programs, candidate geography isn't as much an issue. I think it is a problem you can work around, but will need to reach out to these PDs and have your letter writers do so as well if possible, and really let them know about your ties to the area.
 
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Having just gone through the GI match, location is a major factor. I would argue right up next to letters and research.
 
How much though? Like If you want GI in California would Harbor (no in house GI fellowship) be better than like Hofstra out east which is considered academic? Or do the interview invites come raining in just simply from choosing the "Academic program"?

I would tend to lean heavily toward the latter: Interviews are MUCH much easier to come by if you are applying from an academic residency.
 
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