How Prospective Residents Learn About Residency Programs They Rank

Q: How did you go about deciding which residency programs you would eventually rank? How much did in-person interaction (externship, visitation, rotation) have an impact?

A:

Marika Jackson, DPM shares that her research into this decision began very early in her educational path, even before beginning podiatry school.

“I knew what states I was open to living in, so that narrowed my search tremendously,” she explains. “I began my research with program information … on the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine website. I also went directly to the website of each program I was interested in and began reading about the hospital, the doctors associated with it and the program itself.”

Dr. Jackson says she began visiting programs during her second year of podiatry school, attended numerous residency roundtables/fairs and utilized the American Podiatric Medical Students’ Association externship survey as a resource.

“I kept a journal about my experience at each program that I externed at and visited,” she adds. “I also made a checklist of my interests and what I wanted from a program and used it in my rankings.”

Tiffany Cerda, DPM, MS began her residency planning with a systematical list of factors she felt were important, then combining it with her personal interactions programs.

“These interactions would eventually help me narrow down my rank list,” she says. “Through my externships I was able to visualize myself at prospective programs.”

Amanda Niester, DPM also placed herself in a resident’s shoes, ranking programs where she felt she would be happy training.

“For me, that meant attendings passionate about teaching, a good balance between clinic and surgery and hands-on, autonomous training, to name a few,” she explains. “I found it helpful to check off those boxes based on my priorities. I elected to only interview with programs I externed at, so I had a good feel for the program culture. My ranking of programs was heavily weighted on my experience externing.” 

Dr. Jackson stresses the importance of in-person interaction in deciding which residency programs to rank.

“Having the experience of being in a particular hospital or around attendings, hospital staff and residents is vital in the decision-making process,” she notes. “I was able to get a snapshot view of what it could be like being a resident at a particular program visiting for a month or even a day. Externships were extremely helpful, giving more time to see the dynamics of a particular program for a full month. Every day is not the same at a particular program, therefore numerous days of visiting was beneficial in gauging how I would fit within that group of individuals and/or organization.”

Q: Were there any non-in-person ways in which you learned about programs that you might eventually rank?

A:

All of the panelists cite word-of-mouth and program websites and social media as valuable resources that did not require in-person interaction. School residency fairs and other virtual events were also helpful options that arose over the past year or so.

“I was an extern at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which many programs would host academic sessions online through Zoom and welcomed prospective student attendance,” says Dr. Cerda. “This allowed students to show interest and learn about some of the program’s dynamic.”  

Dr. Niester adds that in addition to the above, she found meetings with her academic adviser valuable. Dr. Jackson points out, though, that in her experience, although useful, non-in-person interaction is only part of the picture.

“Everyone has different expectations and temperaments, therefore word-of-mouth and other non-in-person ways of gathering information should be supplemented with face-to-face interaction,” she says.

Q: Do you feel that as a student you had adequate ability/time to get to know every program you wanted to learn about? If not, how do you feel this could improve?

A:

Dr. Niester shares that she was fortunate that the COVID-19 pandemic did not disrupt her schedule as much as some of her classmates, so she did feel she was able to get to know programs she was interested in. 

Clerkship months were the most illuminating, according to Dr. Jackson, but she shares a few of her scheduled months were cancelled due to the pandemic.

“I did take a few days to visit those programs,” she relates. “I will say that a one-day visit was not enough to get a full feel of the program and subsequent visits may allow one to get a broader view of the program. Having some of the residents’ phone numbers to ask additional questions was also helpful.”

Dr. Cerda did feel she had adequate opportunities to learn about programs, sharing that the programs she interacted with were open to visitation and answering questions.

“If a student finds themselves in a situation where they would like to know more about a program I would recommend reaching out to a resident or director early on,” she advises.  

Q: What do you feel residency programs could do to provide information on their program to prospective residents?

A:

The panelists agree that attendance at residency fairs, updating websites and creation of social media accounts are all ways that programs could effectively reach prospective residents.

“Programs can utilize their websites to give up-to-date information about their program and what they have to offer,” adds Dr. Jackson. “Programs can take the extra time to post highlights of academics, research, community outreach event involvement and other information that could be helpful.”

Dr. Cerda points out that flexibility towards students who may not have completed an externship could be beneficial as well.

“I feel that the recent increase in online meetings have made it a lot easier for residency programs to share information with prospective residents, and they can use that to their advantage and broaden their outreach,” says Dr. Niester.

Dr. Jackson is a first-year resident at Jackson North Medical Center in North Miami Beach, Fla.

Dr. Cerda is a first-year resident at Mercy Hospital and Barry University in Miami, Fla.

Dr. Niester is a first-year resident at UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pa.