Help M4 Considering Switching To Psych From Neuro

filedsearcher · Jan 4, 2008

I'm an M4 who has applied to prelims and neuro, and now am starting to strongly consider psych as an option.

I go with the match, match into prelim and neuro, what are my options. I really don't want to sit out a year? Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

whopper · Jan 4, 2008

If you do a prelim-you can still switch to psychiatry as a PGY-II. Problem there is there aren't too many programs looking for PGY-II's. You should check out the ACMGE guidelines for psychiatry & see the specifics on technical aspects of accepting a prelim into psychiatry.

If you can, do Neurology as a prelim, it'll get that requirement out of the way after you transfer to psychiatry.

Good luck.

TheWowEffect · Jan 5, 2008

Go ahead and do the prelim yearafter you match into it. Keep looking for open psychiatry spots. They keep coming up here and there. Some programs even open additional spots for the right candidate. You will get credit for all the medicine and neuro you do during the prelim year. In addition, you could do a month or two of psychiatry (possibly CL) and you will also get credit for this after you are accepted into a psych program. Important thing now is to match somewhere.

Good luck :luck:

rednucleus · Jan 11, 2008

I think that one advantage to doing the first year of a neuro resdiency is that you can fulfill most of your first year psychiatry requirements. You should be able to get more than enough of the two neuro months, 4 primary care months (IM), and if you could pull doing a psych rotation or two during the year. You can still do a prelim medicine but if you switch to a psychiatry program you will probably have to use up elective time to get all your requirements. Actually having more strength in neuro can really serve you well in psychiatry especially for Boards (usu the section failed on the written exam)

filedsearcher · Jan 15, 2008

Thanks for all the replies. I guess my main concern now is do I rank and try to match into neuro, or just my prelim medicine year. I am concerend if I match into neuro as well, it may be hard to get out of it and into a pgy2 psych position due to program directors siging off, etc, especially if the neuro program I match into is the same one that I am trying to match for psych.

How realistic is it to find a decent pgy2 spot in a nonmalignat psych program outside of the match. I will prefer to stay out west.

allstardoc · Jan 15, 2008

You can definitely find a psych spot outside of the match. There were a several openings posted on resident swap in the last few months. If I recall correctly, there were openings in Hartford CT, UMass, Chicago, and several others

Help M4 Considering Switching To Psych From Neuro

filedsearcher

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whopper

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TheWowEffect

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rednucleus

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filedsearcher

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allstardoc

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