Residency After AD

[pathognomonic]

For those of you who served as a GMO/FS and then got out to apply to a civilian residency...did you feel like the time between PGY-1 and applying for PGY-2 affected your competitiveness (other than scheduling interviews)? Will you have to repeat PGY-1 if you're not going into a specialty that requires a prelim year? For example, if you did a transitional or preliminary PGY-1 year at a military hospital and then applied to a civilian IM or GS residency after getting out would you have to repeat PGY-1? Thanks in advance.

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[orbitsurgMD]

For those of you who served as a GMO/FS and then got out to apply to a civilian residency...did you feel like the time between PGY-1 and applying for PGY-2 affected your competitiveness (other than scheduling interviews)? Will you have to repeat PGY-1 if you're not going into a specialty that requires a prelim year? For example, if you did a transitional or preliminary PGY-1 year at a military hospital and then applied to a civilian IM or GS residency after getting out would you have to repeat PGY-1? Thanks in advance.

I can only tell you that in ophthalmology, it didn't really make much of a difference. In my program, one person from the year before my start was ex-Army HPSP and I was ex-Navy. I had a decently competitive application and LORs from professors in that program, so I wasn't a complete unknown. But elsewhere, I don't think I was as competitive with fourth-year students with recent elective time. A lot more depended on my interviews.

I wasn't able to do any research as a GMO since I was remotely assigned. In that respect I probably was not as competitive as some still in med school. As for my PGY-1, which was in GS, I don't think that mattered (but it did matter to my oculoplastics fellowship preceptors who did like the fact that I had done GS rather than an IM or transitional internship.)

 

[i want out]

For those of you who served as a GMO/FS and then got out to apply to a civilian residency...did you feel like the time between PGY-1 and applying for PGY-2 affected your competitiveness (other than scheduling interviews)? Will you have to repeat PGY-1 if you're not going into a specialty that requires a prelim year? For example, if you did a transitional or preliminary PGY-1 year at a military hospital and then applied to a civilian IM or GS residency after getting out would you have to repeat PGY-1? Thanks in advance.

It really depends on what kind of program your applying to, not just what specialty, but location, politics etc.

I felt like having been deployed and some of the places that I could talk about from my deployments probably made me that much more competitive.

Of course, it didn't help me get any interviews at big name programs, but had many people express their thanks for my service, and a couple mention that they didn't have any spots, but that if any came up they would put my app on top of the pile.

i want out