Applying for two residencies

[durban]

I had already applied by September 1st for IM residencies and have scheduled several interviews. At the end of my senior medicine rotation, I had some serious doubts and applied for another specialty which I had long been on the fence about. I have just received an interview offer in this specialty, which is considerably more competitive than IM. I am a marginal applicant in this area, and this could well be the only interview I receive. I would like to keep IM as a backup. My question for anyone who knows anything about this is what is the deal with applying to two specialties? Is this unwise? Do you just rank programs as usual according to your preference or do I need to go ahead and just drop the IM interviews?

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[cchoukal]

You can interview in as many specialties as you want. I think the only major conflict that comes up is if you interview for both specialties at the same program/hospital and someone spots you, which I suspect would be unlikely. You can even rank more than one specialty, so you can (and should) keep IM as a back up. This is too big a decision to let some vague notion about what you should and shouldn't do stand in the way of getting what you want. I actually interviewed in 2 specialties as well (one quite a bit more competitive than the other) and it wasn't until I went on a few interviews in one that I realized it wasn't for me. For me, it wasn't so much that one was a back up; it was more that I really couldn't decide, so dragging it out thru interview season ultimately cost me a lot of money that, if I could've made a decision earlier, could've been spent on something cooler than bad airport food.

For you, though, I think you have to go for it. Good luck.

All that aside, if your "competitive" interview is at a place where you'll also interview for IM, I'd try to keep a low profile, or, I suppose, consider cancelling the IM interview just at that one program. Still, I think it's unlikely anyone would notice you and make a big deal out of it.

 

[cchoukal]

You can interview in as many specialties as you want. I think the only major conflict that comes up is if you interview for both specialties at the same program/hospital and someone spots you, which I suspect would be unlikely. You can even rank more than one specialty, so you can (and should) keep IM as a back up. This is too big a decision to let some vague notion about what you should and shouldn't do stand in the way of getting what you want. I actually interviewed in 2 specialties as well (one quite a bit more competitive than the other) and it wasn't until I went on a few interviews in one that I realized it wasn't for me. For me, it wasn't so much that one was a back up; it was more that I really couldn't decide, so dragging it out thru interview season ultimately cost me a lot of money that, if I could've made a decision earlier, could've been spent on something cooler than bad airport food.

For you, though, I think you have to go for it. Good luck.

All that aside, if your "competitive" interview is at a place where you'll also interview for IM, I'd try to keep a low profile, or, I suppose, consider cancelling the IM interview just at that one program. Still, I think it's unlikely anyone would notice you and make a big deal out of it.