Applying to Advanced Neurology Position (pgy2) After Transitional Year?

[Detective SnowBucket]

Went unmatched but got a TY. The acgme website says that in order to be eligible for a neuro residency your pgy1 year must include: "Eight months in internal medicine with primary responsibility in patient care; or, Six months in internal medicine with primary responsibility in patient care and a period of at least two months comprising one or more months of emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics"

I think I can schedule my TY year to meet either of those requirements, so do many neuro residencies accept TY's if they meet those requirements? Can IM subspecialty rotations (GI, Cards) and outpatient rotations (pulm clinic) count towards those months?

Thanks for the thoughts. Being unmatched really is as ****ty as everyone said :/

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[DrStephenStrange]

Sorry you went unmatched man. However, I’m pretty sure IM subspecialty rotations count towards the required IM months. The same rule applies for categorical programs, and at my program, we only actually do 3 months of actual IM, then we have Cards, Nephro, ICU, 4 Neuro blocks, EM, Psych, and sleep medicine, and somehow we still meet those requirements. Not sure how TY vs Prelim IM are regarded though when applying for a PGY-2 neuro spot.

Edit: Either way, I would advise also applying for categorical programs when reapplying because there are usually not a lot of PGY-2 spots in the match, and the ones that are available are usually pretty competitive to get.

 

[Itsarainbow]

Hey man
Your story is very similar to mine. I also went unmatched, found a TY year and then matched a pgy2 spot the next year. If I remember correctly, the IM subspecialties counted for IM months. Best of luck!

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Hey man
Your story is very similar to mine. I also went unmatched, found a TY year and then matched a pgy2 spot the next year. If I remember correctly, the IM subspecialties counted for IM months. Best of luck!

Huge thanks for that. Did you apply to neurology the first time around or did you have to whip up a new application out of thin air in a matter of months before ERAS was due again?
How did you find pgy2 spots that for sure accepted your TY/didn't reject you outright? Did you go with the six or eight months of wards to meet the reqs?
Also, I didn't apply to neurology last time so I don't have three neuro LORs and I'm wondering what you recommend doing to get those in time. The other issue is that I will be reapplying to IR/DR and need to do at least one rads rotation at my new institution to get an LOR from there so that only leaves me with one rotation to do neuro before ERAS is due again.

 

[Itsarainbow]

Neuro and rads are completely different specialities. One requires minimum patient interaction while the other is really heavy in patient interaction amongst other things. You need to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

1. I applied gas the 1st time around and didn't match and didn't reapply the 2nd time. Had to whip up an entire new app. I think I only had one neuro LOR which I got during my elective time in TY year by working with a attending for 2 months.

2. Honestly I applied to every open pgy2 spot. Don't think anyone outright rejected me. I think I had 5-6 total IV? I ranked all them before the categorical spots. I wasn't trying to repeat intern year.

3. I believe 6 but not 100% sure

4. I would recommend trying to get atleast one, have another one from your PD and another from another attending who can write you a good one. I would also spend all if not most of your elective time in neurology electives. You have to show interest and able to talk about in your personal statement. Make your programs don't think neuro is your backup plan