r/greysanatomy • u/cloud-blue-100 • Mar 26 '23
Was there ever an explanation as to why Jackson chose an internship at Mercy West rather than a more prestigious institution? FIRST TIME WATCHER
I’d have thought with his famous name and mother’s connections, he’d have had more doors open to him at more prestigious institutions.
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u/unlisshed Lucky Pencil ✏️ Mar 26 '23
He specifically says he chose Mercy West despite his grandfather guaranteeing him a spot at Mass Gen (I think?) because he didn't want to get by on his family name, he wanted to be recognised by his own merits. It's why he was so disappointed when everyone found out he was Harper Avery's grandson. It changed people's perception of him.
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u/pacrat292 Mar 27 '23
I think OP meant why not Seattle Grace? Like you said, Mass Gen had a spot secured for him cuz of his family, but he went to Mercy West. A decent program, not top rated though.
Seattle Grace was the #1 teaching hospital in the country the first few years. So why not there? Or idk Mayo, Hopkins, UCLA, etc. Out of so many prestigious hospitals - not only Mass Gen - did he go to Mercy West?
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u/ZA-02 Mar 27 '23
My guess would be that he specifically picked one that didn't have any ties to the Averys, or as few as possible. Harper knew Dr. Webber personally, and probably high-up doctors at all the other "big" hospitals too. So even if Jackson didn't tap professional connections to get there, he might've been worried about his grandfather involving himself in his residency after the fact. So he picked Mercy West.
Once the merger happened, he was already halfway through his residency, so he bit the bullet and hoped for the best rather than try to rematch, which would be far harder to do at that point. I'm not sure where you are in the show, but other characters who switched residency hospitals mostly had extenuating circumstances or were shown to have a hard time doing so.
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u/pacrat292 Mar 28 '23
I've seen the show completely. The show never says switching halfway through residency is hard or usually is through extenuating circumstane. So many people transferred for little to no reason. Callie switched. Thats why she shows up in S2, not 1. No reason was given, nothing major for sure. That Wright kid switched easily from mayo cuz he was like in love with Bailey. I can't remember his name but the black intern in lexie class that showed up throughout S05 was a transfer, he's the one who taught them how to learn on each other's bodies. I can't even think of one person who switched that was cuz of a big reason besides these new interns from the current season that failed or were kicked out of their programs.
I get what you mean. That's pretty likely, but I just figured he got matched into a random mediocre program cuz Jackson never really struck be as being accepted into #1 hospital. When mercy west was first introduced it was kinda introduced as a good respectdd hospital but nowhere near the same pedigree as the best.
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u/ZA-02 Mar 28 '23
The show never says switching halfway through residency is hard or usually is through extenuating circumstane
Ben mentions that one of his obstacles in connecting with the other Grey-Sloan interns (Jo, Stephanie etc) is that the only reason he was able to join their residency class late in the first place was that Heather literally died in a freak acident and opened up a spot. It's also implied that while Penny Blake would've been willing to try changing hospitals a second timeto appease Meredith post-Derek's death, it would've been difficult, but it never came to that since Meredith told her to keep working at GSM.
It's also never stated that Callie was a transfer from elsewhere, and S1–S3 are all the same residency year anyway, so her being offscreen in S1 (which was only six episodes and a few weeks in-universe) isn't super relevant. And Wright's transfer was in the post-COVID era where everything was kind of in shambles anyways, right before the entire residency program got shut down, so that's not really a good example.
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u/pacrat292 Mar 28 '23
Why is so much of it marked off as spoilers? This stuff happens years ago.
Yeah Ben's circumstance is different. He wanted to specifically match at Grey Sloan at a specific time. The residency class was full, there was no open spot at that specific time, so Heather dying opening up a spot. That's it. It never implied Penny trying to switch would be difficult. It didn't actually imply anything. She was willing to do it, and that's it. The biggest annoyance and hassle would be falling behind from so much time out of work waiting to match. In this program people don't even want to take a day off cuz they fall behind, she's waiting weeks to match, just to decline it to wait some more. Plus she's from a hospital that shut down, prob due to being poorly run and negligence, she's not a candidate many programs are jumping to take.
Callie switched from Miami, she was not a part of Bailey's intern year. Nobody knew her when she first came about in mid-S02, she was the new girl. That would have been her 3rd year there if she started with Bailey's class. This show is f'ed up with the timeline, but it wasn't a few weeks, she came in like 20+ episodes into the series. S01 was 9 episodes and she doesn't come until mid-late S02 around E17-18 or something. That's a long time. It was at minimum several months where nobody knew her- especially considering the fact that after like 20 episodes of airing then afterwards went through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New years before she even shows up. Her dad even comes to take her back after finding out about her sexuality and tells Richard to transfer her back to St. Mary's.
I guess I'll take Wright out, but still no 'extenuating' circumstance needs to happen to transfer. Callie did transfer, that black intern from S05 also did, George even put in for a transfer to Mercy West - he didn't even need to give a reason, he said 'personal' they were like 'ok cool' he was gonna transfer after the intern exam - perfect time, cuz that's when spots are available.
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u/ZA-02 Mar 28 '23
Why is so much of it marked off as spoilers? This stuff happens years ago.
Because this thread is tagged "First Time Watcher"? You've seen everything but other people scrolling the thread have indicated that they haven't. It's polite LOL.
And yes, I did forget that Callie was mentioned to be at St. Marys. That said, that doesn't really negate what I'm saying. Obviously it's possible to switch partway through, people do it, but it's less convenient. You mentioned that Ben was looking to move to a specific hospital at a specific time and that's what delayed him, but there are only so many hospitals in a given city, meaning that most people would have to either pick from a couple of hospitals or be willing to relocate, which is its own hassle. And George was different because, like you said, he applied at basically the perfect time to switch.
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u/pacrat292 Mar 28 '23
We've been at this convo for so long I totally forgot OP was First timer. Thanks for reminding me!
George did apply at the perfect time to switch, but many people transfer for small reasons or little reasons, even things like - I want to go to a new hospital, in a new city. It's inconvenient, bu that's not necessarily same thing as huge circumstance. That's George, Callie, S05 intern, Wright, Ben, etc - all transferred for not huge reasons. I'm saying most of the examples of transfers for the show aren't for big reasons. Ben wanted specifically to go to Grey Sloan, had he just put Seattle Metro area. He'd get a spot soonish.
Either way, good chat. I'd out after this.
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u/ladysaraii Mar 27 '23
He may not have matched there
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u/pacrat292 Mar 28 '23
Seattle Grace was #1. To get matched you had to be the best
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u/ladysaraii Mar 28 '23
Not to be daft but what does SG being #1 have to do with whether or not Jackson matched?
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u/pacrat292 Mar 28 '23
Jackson not getting matched to the #1 hospital in the country that in itself doesn't necessarily mean anything - people who did match to the #1 imo means they were the top, maybe not academically, but they were great in one way or another where the #1 school wanted them.
Jackson not getting matched to a top rated hospital (hopkins, mount sinani. etc) , imo, could mean he wasn't one of the best.
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u/caretvicat Mar 26 '23
All the reasons you listed is WHY he went there. He wanted to show that he was good at what he did without using those connections. If he took the better offers, there would probably always be that doubt in his and everyone around him that he wasn't really a good doctor he only got where he is because of his name. I can appreciate that for sure
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Mar 26 '23
[deleted]
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u/cloud-blue-100 Mar 26 '23
No need to be rude. From his comment that the standard of teaching at Mercy West it seems like it wasn’t a good hospital, and whilst he didn’t want everyone to know him as Harper Avery’s grandson, I’d have thought he had better offers, so it would have been weird to just choose a bad programme for the sake of anonymity which wasn’t guaranteed.
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u/_beachy_head sometimes love comes back around Mar 26 '23
I don't feel like Mercy West is such a bad program. I know people from Seattle Grace badmouth it, because they're kind of rivals, and it's not the most prestigious, but it's not the worst either?
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u/Impressive-Project59 Mar 26 '23
Yes, you're correct. He did say in a later episode "we never learned that Mercy West" or something like that. Which is weird to say if you specifically chose an inferior teaching hospital.
This is something April could say but not Jackson. I get what your point.
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u/cloud-blue-100 Mar 26 '23
When Minnick is hired by Bailey to replace Richard, Jackson leads the coup and he makes the comment you mentioned about Richard teaching them things they never learned at Mercy West. And in the flashback, he’s exposed for being an Avery in the intro ice breaker on the first day so he was about as anonymous as he would have been at any other teaching hospital. He could even have lied about his identity if it meant that much.
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u/ajh_iii Mar 26 '23
Nobody ever said it was a good plan. But Jackson specifically chose to go to a lower-tier residency program because he wanted to prove that he was talented in his own right and not given preferential treatment due to his name. Obviously it blew up in his face, but that was his goal, as literally stated in the show.
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