Applying for PGY2

[cak]

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Hey everyone. I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice about changing residencies. I am a current surgery resident and would like to apply for a CA1 position for 2005. I know there were some other threads started that were similar, but I have a few other questions.

For those of you who have done the same thing, what was your application experience like?

Do anesthesia programs always require a letter from you current PD? (They don't know I'm leaving yet and I'm afraid to tell them!!)
And did anyone use letters from surgery to apply for CA1 positions?

Is there a way to specify on ERAS that I would like a spot for 2005 and not 2006?

If anyone applied outside the match, how did you get your school to release your ERAS info (USMLE scores, Dean's Letter, etc.)?


I have many other questions, but these are my main ones. Any advice any has would be greatly appreciated!

thanks

 

[sean wilson]

"Do anesthesia programs always require a letter from you current PD? (They don't know I'm leaving yet and I'm afraid to tell them!!)"

Yep, it's needed and it's a touchy thing, especially switching places in the OR.

You do need a letter from gas; surgery won't work.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

My experience was a little different: I transferred from internal medicine and did not inform my program until I felt sure that I wanted to make the change.

I did NOT get a letter from my PD (he was/is anti-gas as he has lost many residents in the past to gas). I got letters from two cardiologists and a pulmonologist as well as letters from my original medical school faculty that wrote me LOR's. This varies from program to program but I wanted to make sure that programs I applied to knew that I was a strong resident before those that required a letter or call from my PD got that letter. You will have to gauge what your PD's response will be. I knew beforehand that my PD would not be receptive to losing another resident to anesthesiology.

What you need more than anything else are good letters of recommendation, more so than LOR's from anesthesiologists. I will repeat that applicants for CA-1 positions last year sent in letters that were borderline or outright critical of their clinical or personal attributes. Unlike applications through ERAS, you don't have to state whether or not you have read your letters. Read them if the faculty is willing to allow it and decide if they are letters you would want sent to a prospective program.

I applied outside of and inside the match. Some programs allowed me to apply within the match but knew that my primary interest was for a position in the immediately upcoming academic year. Others wanted an application outside of ERAS for a CA-1 position. In your position, I would do both. You would then have two general options: You could get a CA-1 position outside the match in the upcomng academic year (05-06) or match through ERAS for a CA-1 position in 06-07.

Getting your med school info released should be a relatively simple process of putting in a written request with a list of programs that you would like to have the information sent to and/or having that information re-released to ERAS if it has already been deleted by ERAS.

 

[cak]

Thanks for sharing your experience. As you can imagine I'm very nervous about telling my program. I don't want to make this year harder for me than it already is...

Is there a website, like in surgery, that lists all the open positions in Anesthesiology?
Some of the programs I already contacted told me that they have saved one or two positions for people to match into for 2005 through NRMP. Does anyone know if this is possible?