Residency Planning
Choosing a Specialty and a Program
It is a challenging process for many students to choose a specialty for residency training based upon experiences prior to or during medical school. It is important to get as much information from as many sources as possible. Factors to consider when deciding include the following:
- patient population(s) you will work with (gender, age-range, etc.)
- kinds of disorders your patients will bring to you
- the way you will make diagnoses
- the kinds of treatment interventions available to you
- the settings for the delivery of care (primarily outpatient vs. inpatient e.g.)
- hours, flexibility, etc.
Obtain information from the Student Affairs Deans, your faculty advisors, and departmental mentors. Fellow students and recent graduates are also invaluable sources to consider. Results of previous matches are always available in the Office of Student Affairs to facilitate contact with those graduates.
Online sources of information are also available that provide information about specialties and programs. The following have been helpful to students in the past:
- FREIDA: Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database
- American Board of Medical Specialties
- ACGME: Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
