Too risky to scramble to transitional year?

[BattMan09]

Hi,

4th year here. I am applying to PM&R programs in the DO match. I am also applying to PM&R in the MD match AND Family Medicine in the MD match as a backup.

My plan is to go into the DO match and rank any PM&R program I interview at.

If I do not match there I will rank all the PM&R programs I interview at in the MD match and Family Medicine thereafter.

I think this will give me a pretty good chance of matching PM&R. Got a bunch of interviews for both lined up already.

PM&R is an advanced residency so I will need to do a prelim or transitional year.

I would like to do a DO transitional year. BUT in the event I do not match PM&R will matching in a transitional Rotating internship eliminate me from being eligible to match Family medicine in the MD match?

If I wait and see, will it be difficult to scramble into a prelim or TRI come mid march? Or are these opportunities readily available at that time?

Thanks.

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[hallowmann]

I'm not 100% understanding what you're saying, but maybe I'm slow

I'm just going to write this out, to make sure I'm understanding you right:
If you match AOA PM&R and a TRI, you're fine. If you match AOA PM&R and no TRI (don't know if this is possible), you can scramble into a TRI and should be fine. If you match AOA TRI and ACGME PM&R, you're fine *provided your TRI has ACGME pre-accreditation status. If you don't match AOA PM&R or a TRI, you'll go on to rank ACGME PM&R and FM, and if you match FM, you're fine. If you match ACGME PM&R (and not a TY), you can probably scramble into a TRI *provided that the TRI program will have ACGME pre-accreditation status, and you'll be fine. So those are all the cases where you'll be fine.

The issue is, if you match AOA TRI, but not an AOA PM&R or ACGME PM&R, will you have an issue ranking/matching a categorical ACGME FM? Is that what you're asking?

It is my understanding that if you are applying for an advanced position ("Option 2") in the AOA match, you will not be in a situation where you'll get the first year and not the rest of the residency. This is based on the following from the Natmatch website:

"Option 2: The OGME-1 year consists of a prerequisite preliminary year of training, providing a designated curriculum for the specialty, but no residency credit is given for the OGME-1 year. Option 2 specialty programs will make arrangements for the OGME-1 preliminary year for their students. In the Match, students will match to one program that incorporates both the specialty residency program and the prerequisite OGME-1 year. Thus, for purposes of the Match, there will be no practical difference between Option 1 and Option 2 specialties. Option 2 specialties are Diagnostic Radiology, Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine and OMT, Ophthalmology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pathology and Radiation Oncology."

and

"Option 2 specialties will arrange for the prerequisite OGME-1 year for their students prior to the Match, so that the OGME-1 preliminary year and the specialty residency training starting in OGME-2 will be combined and offered together, as a single program in the Match. The program will be represented by a single, unique Code Number in the Match, and will be ranked by the students as a single program in the Match. While in most cases the OGME-1 and subsequent specialty training will be in the same institution, this will not necessarily always be the case; a program could include an OGME-1 preliminary year at a different institution that is affiliated with the institution offering the specialty residency. In this case, the program will be listed in the Match under the institution that offers the specialty residency training, but the institution that provides the OGME-1 training will be identified in the description of the program."

As far as I understand it, this is NOT the case with the ACGME match (i.e. it is possible for you to match an advanced position without a TY/pre-lim year match). In my opinion, if you don't match AOA, I would apply ACGME like you plan to, and in the event you get an ACGME PM&R PGY-2, you can scramble into a TRI after that (but again, you will have to make sure your ACGME program will recognize the TRI, if the TRI has pre-accreditation status, it should, but if not, you may have to work with your PM&R program to figure out what you can do).

Now, according to this info, when you submit your ROL for the AOA match, you will submit the TRIs+PM&R as one rank/program, so you should not be ranking TRI programs by themselves.

If anyone with more experience with the match sees anything incorrect in my post, please correct me. Thanks.

 

[twocentnews]

How about scrambling into a ACGME preliminary after matching ACGME PGY-2 position? Is that possible? Are there programs left?

 

[hallowmann]

How about scrambling into a ACGME preliminary after matching ACGME PGY-2 position? Is that possible? Are there programs left?

You mean SOAPing? Possible, but it might not be easy. Pre-lim surg is always available, but who wants that? I believe some pre-lim med programs are available in the SOAP. Don't expect to get a TY though.

In that situation, you honestly might be better off scrambling for an AOA TRI, but make sure you go somewhere that gets ACGME pre-accreditation status.

If that's not an option, consider contacting the ACGME advanced program and explaining to them the situation. They may be able to make some calls or might even have a pre-lim spot. Do this after you match at said program, obviously.

EDIT: There were ~80 unfilled pre-lim med spots, ~450 unfilled pre-lim surgery spots, and ~35 unfilled TY spots in 2014. As far as the AOA match goes, there were 325 unfilled TRIs, but it's hard to tell how many were left by the time the ACGME match ended. I have a feeling it was ~100 spots or so, if not more.