on residency

Thought I'd take a shot at answering some questions you may have about residency.

What is a residency?

• Residency is required after medical school in order to become a licensed physician who can practice medicine independently. It represents a training period in which recently graduating doctors can practice under the supervision of licensed physicians.

What is an intern?

• 1st year residents are referred to as interns

How long is residency?

• It depends on the specialty, but ranges from 2 - 6 years. (6 years for some surgical specialties).

What are the work hours during residency?

• The maximum allowed is 80/week. My experience from observing our residents is that many do work this many hours, especially during the 1st year.

What is the application process like?

• It is very similar to the process of applying to medical school. You submit an application consisting of a mission statement/essay, your medical school academic record with standardized test scores. After an initial screening process, they invite you for an interview process. Afterwards, there is a "match" process whereby schools and applicants alike rate their applicant and school preferences. This information is used to assign applicants to existing residency slots. Each year around 15,000 US students apply for around 16,000 residency slots.