MS4 regrets not applying for Family Medicine - Advice needed!

[DaBears318]

Hello everyone,

I'm a longtime SDN lurker but first-time poster - firstly I want to thank you guys for providing great advice over the years. Now to my situation, I'm a MS4 at an osteopathic school who was always torn between Family Medicine and Neurology as a specialty. I decided on Neuro after having two neurology rotations at the very beginning of fourth year, before ERAS opened. Therefore, even in hindsight while I had slight qualms about doing so, I applied to Neurology only.

I will admit I have an extra academic interest in Neurology - but I find all areas of medicine interesting, even clincally - which ultimately led me to only going that route. I've had enough interviews in Neuro where I should be able to match. However after performing a variety of rotations this year -ER, Peds endocrine, ICU, Maternal Child Health, Gastroenterology - demonstrates to me that nothing beats the variety of family medicine in clincal presentation and variability of practice settings. Continuity of care is also important to me. I'm a person who enjoys many different interests/hobbies and my tendencies within medicine are similar - I enjoy inpatient medicine/CCU, enjoy working with kids in an outpatient setting, like procedures, and enjoy psychiatry and women's health also. I'm a non traditional student who's also worked in various healthcare and nonhealthcare settings and feel as if my qualms are not made in haste.

Ultimately, my question is, broadly - should I remain in the match and try to match Neurology? If so, should I reapply for Family Medicine next year? Should I withdraw from the match and reapply next year for just Family Medicine? I'm posting my stats below - I'd ultimately want to go to an unopposed program in the Midwest with solid inpatient training - preferably in Chicago - am thinking Illinois Masonic or West Suburban? Utlimate goal is private practice (group or solo) doing inpatient and outpatient medicine with hopefully opportunities for low-mid risk OB. Any advice anyone may have is much appreciated!

Stats:
USMLE I - 201; USMLE II -229 no failures; COMLEX I -467 Comlex II 494 COMLEX PE Pass
No failures in coursework
Solid performance in MS3
Great letters of rec's in many specialities

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[primadonna22274]

Is ERAS totally closed for this season? I know it's quite late but we are still interviewing--just saw 2 folks today. We ended up taking 2 people in the scramble last year--not planned but both have turned out to be awesome residents.
Still, you don't want to have to scramble if you can help it. Why not send off a few more applications to FM programs and follow those with emails of interest to the program coordinator--you never know, you may just get a chance to interview somewhere before rank lists are due.

 

[DaBears318]

Thanks for the reply. ERAS is closed for all of the programs that I'm interested in - which is a ton. Wasn't sure if there is a resource to find open slots or which programs were filled during the scramble period. Kinda in between a rock and hard place on this.

 

[DrMidlife]

In your shoes I think I'd pull all the stops to get February/March rotations at your programs of interest, such as 2 weeks at each of your faves. If that doesn't pay off immediately, it gets you perspective and sets you up for a longer term play. And the more relevant PD's you have access to, the better.

Make sure you know what SOAP is and how it works. The scramble is a thing of the past.

Best of luck to you.

 

[primadonna22274]

That does suck. I see 2 options: match to neuro, do your prelim year and apply again to FM next year; or don't rank neuro and don't match hoping to scramble into FM (very bad idea IMO, please don't risk it).

 

[DaBears318]

Thanks primadonna and Dr MidLife, I'm aiming towards taking the match in Neuro and then reapplying to FM during Intern year, letting my PD know of my intentions. Was just hoping this isn't looked down upon - I feel if I'm upfront and honest about my intentions, it shouldn't be much of an issue. thoughts?

 

[organdonor]

Thanks primadonna and Dr MidLife, I'm aiming towards taking the match in Neuro and then reapplying to FM during Intern year, letting my PD know of my intentions. Was just hoping this isn't looked down upon - I feel if I'm upfront and honest about my intentions, it shouldn't be much of an issue. thoughts?

Well I doubt your PD is going to be too happy about it. After all your spot could have gone to someone who planned to stay at the program for their entire training. It puts them in the awkward position of having to fill an open second year spot next year.

SOAP is an option if you don't care about location. As others have said SOAPing is far from ideal and is a huge gamble.

I would go ahead and write up a new personal statement and call some programs TOMORROW. I know my program has a couple open interview dates due to cancellations and could imagine interviewing someone like yourself but our interviews are done in less than 2 weeks.

Also be aware that the default assumption will be that you didn't get interviews in the specialty you wanted and FM is your backup last ditch Hail Mary just barely better than nothing option. You'll need to be comfortable explaining why this is not the case.

 

[lja182]

As someone switching into family medicine from another field, I would say doing a year of residency in a field you already plan to leave is a big deal in terms of the time and effort that will go into it. I have had to explain the residency switch on every interview, which makes sense because it is a job interview and I already had a job. Telling a PD you are ditching a program is also a relatively big deal for them (i think you would try to do it early in the year to get their letter of reference for your app... you'd have to be able to get away for interviews too, interns are quite busy but this seems doable for local interviews). I am not posting to scare; I just wouldn't want to see you stuck in a field you feel is not the right one.

I would talk to your medical school mentors, especially those in family medicine ASAP, and see what their advice is. Mine were so incredibly helpful.

 

[SLC]

Remember too, that the funding duration for your residency training is based on the program you initially match into. I.E.: if you match Neuro (4 years) and switch after intern year to FM, you could still finish before the funding ran out. But if you switched after 2nd year then you'd only have two years of funding left for a 3 year program.

Something to keep in mind.

 

[DaBears318]

lja82 and SLC, would it be okay if i private message you both? would love to hear your advice about a possible switch. Thank you so much.

 

[DocBlin]

Here is a real life story of switching residencies. In the 2010 match my son applied for FM, GS. He scrambled into a 'prelim' GS year. The GS PD stated to us this was only a 1 year contract with a slim possibility of a 2nd 'prelim' year or a cat. position. My son was clear to the GS program he was going to re apply for FM in 2011match. In Sept/Oct 2010 he had 5 interviews with 8 requests. At all the FM interviews he did he either was offered prematch (which I know does not really exist today) or very very favorable , "we want you options". He pre matched FM for 2011. Funny but he worked his ass off in GS year and they offered him a cat position in GS, even to the week before he left they kept offering him to stay. It was his decision to move on to FM, which he does or has not regretted. He was the liaison for the committee of interns and residents at his FM program for 2 years, Administrative chief resident in 2013/14. Became licensed in three states, boarded in FM at end of his residency. Has great position in Urgent Care as senior attending physician and faculty at major hospital in NY. So changing to a specialty you really love can work out..

 

[SLC]

lja82 and SLC, would it be okay if i private message you both? would love to hear your advice about a possible switch. Thank you so much.

By all means...not sure how much actual advice I would have since I'm just an MS4, but I'd try to help however I can.