Can somebody tell me if most schools have a transitional or preliminary year that accompanies their ophtho residencies? Also, are these transitional or preliminary years guaranteed to those who match in their ophtho programs?

I am a woman in her second year who is considering ophtho very seriously, but because I have a husband with a career, I don't want to go somewhere for a transitional year and then have to pick up and relocate for my ophto residency. It would be nice to find a place to settle for 4 years or more so that he could get established in an area.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

I-eye

Most schools don't make such an offer. A handful of schools require the pgy-1 year (usually a prelim year) to be taken there such as Utah, Rush, LSU, Beaumont, and Mississippi.

There are some other schools that offer guaranteed transitional spot for matching residents including MU South Carolina and I believe Kentucky. There may be others.

Having said that, you can also choose programs in cities that offer transitional year programs either at the same or different hospital. You can find a list of all the TY programs here: http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/about/transitionalyear.pdf

Finally, if all you care about is being in the same city for all four years, I can't imagine a situation where you couldn't get a prelim spot somewhere in the same city. If you can match in ophtho you should be able to pretty much choose where you want to go for a prelim year. Perhaps I'm wrong, however, as I only applied to TY programs :D

baylor guarantees spots in their transitional year if you match there.

Wisconsin will get you a prelim spot in medicine outside the match if you want.

The people in Iowa made it seem like there was a prelim medicine spot there if I wanted it.

my two cents . . .

U Washington in Seattle guarantees a PGY-1 with a nice schedule that eases you in to Ophto with 3-4 of ophtho/research at the end of your intern year, if i remember correctly....

Thank you all for your posts.

I wish you all the best of luck.

I-eye