Possibly moving to PNW
 

Hey guys! I might be moving to Portland next year for residency and was wondering if the Z can make it all year round. Obviously not much trouble with rain, but is snow enough of a problem that I wouldn't be able to drive (with some random wheels and blizzaks)? Just trying to figure out what to do as one of my other top programs is in AZ (obviously easy to drive year-round). Just looking for some input! Thanks in advance!

Your Z will be fine

Best possible answer! Thanks man!

I don't know all the circumstances here, but, at first blush, I'd say you have things backwards. Figure out where the best place is to do your residency and then get an appropriate vehicle for that area. YMMV

Absolutely. I'm just having a lot of trouble choosing between OHSU and U of A. The problem is that interviews only give you a very tiny snapshot of the program's inner workings. So what ends up happening is that a lot of us are left deciding based on geography, family, etc. I love driving/cars/motorcycles enough that weather being decent is a plus (not a dealmaker or breaker) to consider! Personally liked OHSU more, just wanted to make sure I could at least get around haha.

What specialty are you heading into? Just curious how long the residency is going to be and whether a fellowship will be needed?

Anyway, go with the program that you like, and rest will fit in. Worst case scenario, buy a beater if finance allows.

The Z will be fine. It's you who should be worried. From sunny AZ to a gloomy, moist, wet, grey OR. Oy vey.

I actually really liked Portland as a city compared to Phoenix (where I am now)

And I’ll be going into internal medicine (3 years). I don’t know if I’m gonna do a fellowship yet or not. I think I would like being a hospitalist, but if I’m really interested in something, I’ll do a fellowship (another 3 years usually). I was originally planning on doing ortho, but the culture and the life/obsession those guys had for their work was more than I had and it was gonna be 5 years of residency and a year of fellowship.

Portland is a great city. I live in the Seattle area and a number of people I know have moved from Seattle to Portland and are very happy. Of course, they were already used to the lack of sun 9 months a year. The other three months are fabulous.

Some years its 3 1/2 months of fabulous weather. But just some. LOL!