“There are three steps to the process of selecting a residency program. The objectives of the first step are identifying the factors that are most important to you in the decision-making process, beginning researching programs and identifying those that you want to learn more about. Your research and the decision-making process should focus on collecting objective information, such as community size, region, call schedule, etc. The Web sites of individual residencies, online and published residency directories, and suggestions from others will be important sources of information for this phase in process. Don’t be afraid to attend local, regional or national meetings to help you.
The second step of the process begins after you have completed your due diligence in phase one. The objectives of the second phase are to collect subjective information, identify pros and cons for each program that interests you and prepare a preliminary roster of high priority programs you want to visit for interviews. To get this information, talk to community physicians, alumni from the residency and classmates who have completed electives at those programs. Also, plan to attend conferences and residency fairs. The face-to-face interaction at these events is a good touchstone, without the pressure of an interview or elective, for reconciling your interests with the pros and cons of a program. These events are also an efficient way to compare many different programs at one time. An example of a national meeting that lets students visit with many residencies in one location is the AAFP’s National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students, held each summer in Kansas City, Missouri.
The third step includes interviewing at a carefully selected group of programs and placing each program in a rank order based on pros and cons for each program. After interviewing, you should have a considerable amount of information about each of the programs in which you are interested. Creating the rank order list is your final task. In this final phase, students often find it helpful to use a logical tool such as modified decision table to help quantify the pros and cons for each program. Decision tables give students a systematic way of assessing and comparing each program by the factors that are most important to them.”
Copyright © 2009 American Academy of Family Physicians
Article courtesy of aafp