AMG with Surgical Prelim

[SwimB86]

I am an AMG and ended up scrambling into a surgical-prelim program this year after failing to match in ENT. My program advised me, given our history of getting prelims into competitive subs after pre-lim years to do this (although I realize that they can't possibly do this on a regular basis). I know that my odds of matching will now be a lot more difficult than they were when I applied as a 4th year. My plan right now is to reapply into ENT next year, but also be realistic and broaden into another specialty - Anesthesia, Radiology, General Surg, IM, EM, whatever. Any objective data on people successfully matching categorical after a preliminary year into these things? A small part of me is concerned that I will just never get a job after my preliminary year despite otherwise having scores, grades and letters that would have made me highly competitive in these other fields I might end up applying to.

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[Noegrus]

You'd be a good candidate for anesthesia. In fact, you might want to try and match into an anesthesia R0 position in the next match. They have same year (i.e. for next match July 2014) start so you don't lose any time whatsoever. Else, applying to categorical or advanced anesthesia positions in the next match would be quite realistic. All that, provided you are genuinely interested in being an anesthesiologist, which frankly, is close to ENT in many ways.

 

[Law2Doc]

I am an AMG and ended up scrambling into a surgical-prelim program this year after failing to match in ENT. My program advised me, given our history of getting prelims into competitive subs after pre-lim years to do this (although I realize that they can't possibly do this on a regular basis). I know that my odds of matching will now be a lot more difficult than they were when I applied as a 4th year. My plan right now is to reapply into ENT next year, but also be realistic and broaden into another specialty - Anesthesia, Radiology, General Surg, IM, EM, whatever. Any objective data on people successfully matching categorical after a preliminary year into these things? A small part of me is concerned that I will just never get a job after my preliminary year despite otherwise having scores, grades and letters that would have made me highly competitive in these other fields I might end up applying to.

If you are looking at advanced positions like radiology, applying for the match means you'd have to figure out what to do for a year, since they match two years in advance.. IM makes less sense because your surgery prelim year wouldnt count for anything -- you will do two intern years. I see no reason you shouldn't look at Gen surg or EM (especially the small handful that require a prelim year) especially if you had the stats of someone who realitically thought they had a shot at ENT.

 

[deleted116380]

If you are looking at advanced positions like radiology, applying for the match means you'd have to figure out what to do for a year, since they match two years in advance.. IM makes less sense because your surgery prelim year wouldnt count for anything -- you will do two intern years. I see no reason you shouldn't look at Gen surg or EM (especially the small handful that require a prelim year) especially if you had the stats of someone who realitically thought they had a shot at ENT.

Yale holds a spot every year I believe for someone to apply and start as a PGY2 after intern year for cases like this so that is a possibility. Some other programs may do that as well.

 

[reapp ent]

I also, unfortunately, did not match into ENT, scrambled into a prelim surgery spot at my home program and am trying to figure out what to do next.

I actually posted in the Otolaryngology forum earlier this evening, I was trying to actually figure out at how much of a disadvantage we would be as reapplicants. I was originally a good candidate for ENT, except for research, which I am currently working on, and was hoping that there wasn't too much of an immediate disadvantage for reapplicants.

Haven't been able to find other people's experiences with this, aside from the lucky few who pick up vacant pgy-2 positions.

I'd love to know if there is anyone who knows someone who reapplied to ENT and how their application was affected by that


Good luck with the whole process, I feel you.

 

[Law2Doc]

I also, unfortunately, did not match into ENT, scrambled into a prelim surgery spot at my home program and am trying to figure out what to do next.

I actually posted in the Otolaryngology forum earlier this evening, I was trying to actually figure out at how much of a disadvantage we would be as reapplicants. I was originally a good candidate for ENT, except for research, which I am currently working on, and was hoping that there wasn't too much of an immediate disadvantage for reapplicants.

Haven't been able to find other people's experiences with this, aside from the lucky few who pick up vacant pgy-2 positions.

I'd love to know if there is anyone who knows someone who reapplied to ENT and how their application was affected by that


Good luck with the whole process, I feel you.

Every persons journey is going to be different, and every match is a little different, so hearing someone made the jump successfully won't have great bearing on you. You biggest hurdle is going to be to find windows in which to interview during intern year.

 

[Buzz Me]

All that, provided you are genuinely interested in being an anesthesiologist, which frankly, is close to ENT in many ways.

Uh...how so?

 

[st0w]

Uh...how so?

Uh.. Because they stand close to each other in the OR. And there are many ways to stand. Ergo, close in many ways.

 

[Law2Doc]

Uh...how so?

They both drive American cars. Obviously.

 

[Buzz Me]

They both drive American cars. Obviously.

Really? Would have guessed one group drove primarily German cars, while the other tended to pick Italian.