applying to new field at same program

[jamonserrano]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi,

I submitted my ERAS apps for a field I thought I really wanted to do, pathology. Now I'm having serious doubts. I won't bother you with the details of why, but basically, I want to now apply for IM.

My question is, since I've already submitted numerous apps for path, at university programs, is it safe to now submit apps at those programs for IM? I know there are still plenty of community IM programs I can apply to, but I really want to maximize my chances at a good or great IM program, such that I can get a competitive fellowship later on.

Would it be wise to withdraw my apps at these universities for path, so I can apply for IM? Would it be appropriate to just go ahead and apply at those programs even though I have already submitted path applications? Is there anything else worth doing to somewhat alleviate the fact that I sort of jumped the gun on path with ERAS?

Thank you.

 

[Saluki]

I guess I think it's unlikely that if you withdrew from the path programs now that the IM programs would find out that you had previously applied there for pathology.

It seems though like this is a pretty sudden decision. Are you sure you want to withdraw all of your pathology apps and apply to all of those places at IM? Maybe it would be worth doing half and half and then having some more time to mull over the decision.

Best of luck.

 

[mlw03]

I'm a pathologist, and I can tell you that many path programs will be very wary to rank you if they determine you've applied to another specialty. Path is extremely different from clinical medicine, and every year residents leave during PGY1 due to not knowing if path is right for them or not beforehand. This is not a good thing from a PDs perspective (schedule issues, looks bad, etc), and many will try and avoid the chance of this by not ranking candidate whose committment to pathology they are unsure of.

That said, unless the path and IM PDs happen to discuss you (or one sees you touring the hospital on your other interview), there's no intrinsic mechanism in the system for PDs to know you've applied to other specialties.