Army GS up or out?

[sonofva]

Hey all. Just have had a bunch of conflicting information handed to me, and I figure I'd see what the real scoop is. Is Army general surgery an up or out type of system? Or is it categorical? A few people have told me that they take way more first years for GS than there are slots, then they weed people out. If this is the case, what happens to you if you get cut? Thanks in advance.
-c-

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[bleeker10]

Yea it's a pyramidal system. Some places may take, say 4 interns and keep the 3 best. When I was at BOLC, the GS residents said it was more of which intern didn't fit in the best and it was easy to tell. At the WRNMMC open house a couple weeks ago, we were told the interns have to reapply for the GS spots. So I'm not sure which system it is. As far as after that, I'll let more seasoned posters explain that because I'm not too sure.

 

[colbgw02]

Unless it has changed for this iteration, I believe general surgery remains the only Army specialty without continuous contracts (categorical). So, yes, it's an "up or out" system, although I've never heard that verbage used before.

 

[xpert787]

you reapply for year 2-6 training, each location cuts one intern per year. Your options if cut are, 1. being picked up at another location for continuous training, if they lost more then 1 intern. 2. going GMO and reapplying. or 3. switching to a different specialty.

 

[sonofva]

thanks for the replies!

as a follow-up question, did this not worry you when you were applying? or is it one of those things that you just have to go all-in and hope for the best?

what sort of criteria do they use when deciding who to cut? i know someone earlier had mentioned "good fit." thoughts?

 

[xpert787]

Yes it worried me, but what is the alternative? I was not in a position to defer. The way I look at it is that I have given my best to my program, if they cut me then I will deal with it, but I would feel bad if I gave less then 100% and had regrets.