3+3 Accelerated Primary Care Program: Worth it?

[adamantine]

SO! I was super fortunate to be offered admission to a tuition forgiveness + stipend primary care program. It's a great opportunity and I'm very excited.

My issue is whether or not I should ask to be considered for their 3+3 program as well. It's a subset of the scholarship, so I'm not concerned with that part. My issue is if I'm functionally locked into a FM/IM residency with my home program, and since I want to work with children in addition to adults, FM locking off the option to specialize if I so choose after practicing for x number of years as a generalist. I'm not fully opposed to being a generalist! In fact, I like undifferentiated patients & the primary care physician relationship. I think I'm frightened of the commitment, however, if I choose to go FM. The full program has the option to go Med/Peds, which I would pick over FM for breadth. Then again, FM offers the option to do a surgical OB residency and be a true birth-to-death physician, which is appealing.

I'm also a little older than average, and I like the idea of starting or saving for a family at 33 instead of 35 or older. I'm female, so time is a concern for me.

Any advice would be helpful. I'm especially hopeful someone will know if residency programs have a bias against 3 year graduates, meaning I'd really be locked into my home program.

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[Mr.Smile12]

We posted

Three-Year Medical School? All About Accelerated Medical School Programs - SDN

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[Hollow Knight]

I'm on the primary care train like yourself. If you're unsure at all, just do the full 4 years. The year of pay and debt saved is absolutely not worth picking the wrong specialty.

Now, I'm currently dead set on FM, but even so, having breaks in there somewhere is soooo nice..... I'd probably still do the 4 years. But that's a personal preference.

 

[cj_cregg]

Honestly, unless the financial aspect is VERY appealing I would just go to medical school like regular and apply to residency when the time comes. SO many people change their specialty choices during clinical rotations, even folks who felt very sure about their initial specialty choice. If you do end up sticking with primary care, IM/FM/peds are not hard to get into for US grads and it's only one extra year for the traditional path. Also, speaking as a rural/full scope family doc myself, I personally found my fourth year elective rotations really useful. It gave me a chance to do a deeper dive into things like palliative care, sports medicine, etc. that really benefited me (even in practice to this day!), as well as getting experience in different FM clinics and programs to help me determine what type of FM residency/training was best for me. Also, can't speak to primary care jobs for other specialties, but a lot of FM jobs offer loan forgiveness.

 

[adamantine]

Honestly, unless the financial aspect is VERY appealing I would just go to medical school like regular and apply to residency when the time comes. SO many people change their specialty choices during clinical rotations, even folks who felt very sure about their initial specialty choice. If you do end up sticking with primary care, IM/FM/peds are not hard to get into for US grads and it's only one extra year for the traditional path. Also, speaking as a rural/full scope family doc myself, I personally found my fourth year elective rotations really useful. It gave me a chance to do a deeper dive into things like palliative care, sports medicine, etc. that really benefited me (even in practice to this day!), as well as getting experience in different FM clinics and programs to help me determine what type of FM residency/training was best for me. Also, can't speak to primary care jobs for other specialties, but a lot of FM jobs offer loan forgiveness.

The loan forgiveness program I've been accepted to is primary care focused, so I'd have to go to a primary care residency (my options are IM/FM/Med-Peds) anyway. I think my biggest fear isn't committing to primary or even FM too early, but rather committing to an in-house residency. As a full scope physician, do you feel FM residencies are less likely to accept someone who's graduated from an accelerated 3y program rather than a traditional year 4 senior?

In addition, and I know this is a different question so forgive me if it's outside your knowledge, how likely is fellowship if I practice for 3-4 years after residency? Bc that is also required by the loan forgiveness program.

 

[cj_cregg]

The loan forgiveness program I've been accepted to is primary care focused, so I'd have to go to a primary care residency (my options are IM/FM/Med-Peds) anyway. I think my biggest fear isn't committing to primary or even FM too early, but rather committing to an in-house residency. As a full scope physician, do you feel FM residencies are less likely to accept someone who's graduated from an accelerated 3y program rather than a traditional year 4 senior?

In addition, and I know this is a different question so forgive me if it's outside your knowledge, how likely is fellowship if I practice for 3-4 years after residency? Bc that is also required by the loan forgiveness program.

Got it. I helped review applicants for my residency and really did not come across anyone from a 3 year MD/DO program, so it's hard for me to say how that would affect your chances at external programs. I will say the programs that prepare you well for full scope practice tend to be the most competitive for US grads. FM programs tend to value perceived commitment to the specialty and fit for the program above all else, so you wouldn't be hurt there.

For IM fellowships- I have no idea. For FM/OB fellowships - all of the OB fellows at my program during my time were straight out of residency, but that's just my program. It would probably behoove you to go to a program with good enough OB training for you to at least do prenatal care and nonoperative deliveries straight out of residency, and hopefully return for an operative/high risk OB fellowship in the future if that's what you want. I haven't known any sports med fellows who were in practice first either to give another example. Other/less competitive FM fellowships may be more flexible but I am not sure.

 

[adamantine]

Got it. I helped review applicants for my residency and really did not come across anyone from a 3 year MD/DO program, so it's hard for me to say how that would affect your chances at external programs. I will say the programs that prepare you well for full scope practice tend to be the most competitive for US grads. FM programs tend to value perceived commitment to the specialty and fit for the program above all else, so you wouldn't be hurt there.

For IM fellowships- I have no idea. For FM/OB fellowships - all of the OB fellows at my program during my time were straight out of residency, but that's just my program. It would probably behoove you to go to a program with good enough OB training for you to at least do prenatal care and nonoperative deliveries straight out of residency, and hopefully return for an operative/high risk OB fellowship in the future if that's what you want. I haven't known any sports med fellows who were in practice first either to give another example. Other/less competitive FM fellowships may be more flexible but I am not sure.

to avoid pinging everyone else in the list, would it be alright if I DM'ed you a few more questions about this?

 

[cj_cregg]

to avoid pinging everyone else in the list, would it be alright if I DM'ed you a few more questions about this?

Yes!