Navy 50 more people than residency spots

[NavyMedStudent2016]

Navy sent us out the numbers for intern spots and they have 50 more students than Navy residency spots. Every intern spot has more applicants than spots (minus FM and transitional) and the excess 50 are expected to take deferments in select residencies (along with loss of pay and benefits).

Is this typical?

Taking a deferment seems like a raw deal as well with loss in benefits.

They told us to put family medicine as a backup residency, is this a good idea to compromise on what you really want to do?

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[WernickeDO]

Navy sent us out the numbers for intern spots and they have 50 more students than Navy residency spots. Every intern spot has more applicants than spots (minus FM and transitional) and the excess 50 are expected to take deferments in select residencies (along with loss of pay and benefits).

Is this typical?

Taking a deferment seems like a raw deal as well with loss in benefits.

They told us to put family medicine as a backup residency, is this a good idea to compromise on what you really want to do?

NO. The mil cannot force you to do any specialty you do not want to do. DO NOT rank FM unless you actually want to do it.

Deferment may be a blessing in disguise. If you are deferred to a civilian residency, that means you will more likely go straight through and finish your training, rather than get pulled out after intern year and sent to fleet, as the Navy is wont to do. As for losses, you may get paid less, but you should still have access to benefits via your institution.

 

[colbgw02]

Deferment for residency is usually a good thing. Exceptions would be someone looking to stay for retirement, or perhaps someone with a large family that would prefer the higher active duty salary.

Just getting an internship deferment sucks, I think. It means you have a very high likelihood of being a GMO, but you get no adjustment period to active duty as an intern. It also means it'll be more difficult to get in touch with assignments personnel.

 

[NavyMedStudent2016]

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[NavyMedStudent2016]

26 applicants for the 18 spots. Slightly biased, but I do consider myself an above average grade wise student (90s percentile on my peds shelf) and much stronger with my clinicals.

I have an SO who is also a medical student, but off a year. So stability wouldn't be the worst thing and if I did this we would finish at the same time. Still the dream and goal is a navy pediatrics residency, I just have been trying to plan ahead and there is so little truthful information out there.

 

[DrMetal]

Navy sent us out the numbers for intern spots and they have 50 more students than Navy residency spots. Every intern spot has more applicants than spots (minus FM and transitional) and the excess 50 are expected to take deferments in select residencies (along with loss of pay and benefits).

Is this typical?

Taking a deferment seems like a raw deal as well with loss in benefits.

They told us to put family medicine as a backup residency, is this a good idea to compromise on what you really want to do?

No, its a terrible idea. Dont put it down unless youre really interested, in it. Apply for the specialty of your choice , list the Navy programs in order desired, list your 4th choice as a civilian deferrment in said specialty, apply for the civilian match. Yes, it would suck to be a civilian and miss out on the active duty pay and benefits...,but as a civilian resident youll go straight thru and probably receive better training. You dont want to pick a specialty that youre not interested in--the active duty pay and benefits are NOT worth it. This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life!

 

[colbgw02]

They're not offering deferments in internal or pediatrics (my main interest), instead of FM backup with hopes of deferment, would you suggest take the transitional year do my time and get out?

If I do and move onto a civilian residency, would I repeat my transitional year? I imagine our transitional year doesn't translate well.

18/26 are decent odds, even if all applicants were equal. It's even better if you consider yourself an above-average applicant.

There's no real reason to put FM as a back-up over transitional unless you're okay with completing an FM residency. If you were to do your time as a GMO and separate, then very little of either of those internships (if any) will transfer over to a civilian pediatric residency.

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

26 applicants for the 18 spots. Slightly biased, but I do consider myself an above average grade wise student (90s percentile on my peds shelf) and much stronger with my clinicals.

I have an SO who is also a medical student, but off a year. So stability wouldn't be the worst thing and if I did this we would finish at the same time. Still the dream and goal is a navy pediatrics residency, I just have been trying to plan ahead and there is so little truthful information out there.

I was in your exact shoes. My year there were 32 applicants for 19 slots. I was right int he middle of my med school class and my board scores were solid but not really impressive. Blow your audition rotations out of the water. I did 2 ward sub-Is (one in Portsmouth and one in SD). I also interviewed with both transitional slots. If I hadn't matched into Peds, I was going to go TY and try for DMO.

Grades matter, but peds is a small community and how you do on your rotations is a big deal. Hopefully you already have those scheduled. If not, get on the phone Monday.

Good luck. It's possible. I've been there.

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

You sure you can't just get the field you want? I'm a surgical resident, but I don't get the impression that Peds is that competitive. Medicine maybe a little moreso.

You're completely wrong. The Navy doesn't need a ton of pediatricians so the few slots they have are very competitive. And they don't give deferments for straight peds.

 

[NavyMedStudent2016]

I was in your exact shoes. My year there were 32 applicants for 19 slots. I was right int he middle of my med school class and my board scores were solid but not really impressive. Blow your audition rotations out of the water. I did 2 ward sub-Is (one in Portsmouth and one in SD). I also interviewed with both transitional slots. If I hadn't matched into Peds, I was going to go TY and try for DMO.

Grades matter, but peds is a small community and how you do on your rotations is a big deal. Hopefully you already have those scheduled. If not, get on the phone Monday.

Good luck. It's possible. I've been there.

Thanks as always big, always appreciate your insight on this board. I have them scheduled between San Diego and Bethesda, but may try and switch one to Portsmouth (keep hearing good things about there).

Just as a planning for the future kind of thing if I go GMO, are there any good resources for honest perspectives of what FS, GMO (in general), or Dive Medicine is like?

Why were you thinking DMO?

 

[Homunculus]

Interesting. I knew they didn't need many Peds, but I figured that would also correlate to less interest among HPSP/USUHS students. Guess I was wrong.

surprisingly (to me at least) interest in peds the last few years has been near historical highs.

--your friendly neighborhood people like the babies caveman

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

Why were you thinking DMO?

So, my goal was to be a pediatrician. Once I matched into Peds intern I didn't even apply to flight or dive because they're 3 years out of training.

FS or UMO interested me, but I don't think I could've done flight surgery. I played defensive tackle in college and am a big guy. Even though (at the time) my body fat was in the mid teens I was still heavier than the limit for flight (I think 245 - which I hadn't weighed since high school). I'm a pretty good swimmer and dive seemed interesting to me. I also would've like to become a certified diver-not sure if you dod that in dive school, but you come close. That's where the "big" in my screen name came from.

But again, none of that happened and I'm happy with my choice not to apply now.

 

[Handinhand]

Curious is people have heard anything about AF?

I heard a bit about peds being very popular in AF as well, and quite a few kids were civilian deferred, even ones that didn't want to be.

In a situation like this, if someone was interested in civilian deferral and ranked it #1, they would be likely to get it?

 

[Gastrapathy]

Its very important to understand the distinction between a 1 year deferment and a full deferment. 1 year deferment is basically a lost year and then onward to a GMO tour. Those folks are not competitive for PGY2 training before GMO. They also almost all decide to do their GMO tour and GTFO. It isn't the worst outcome. The pain is that you have to prepare a parallel application on the civilian so you can find a prelim year somewhere, spend the money and then potentially not need it.