ARMY HPSP Transitional Question

[caarmymed]

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I wanted to thank everyone for their advice on this forum as it has answered many of my HPSP questions. I have another one for those with some knowledge on residency. My wife and I are both 3rd yr HPSP, the GME office knows about us, and I dont completely understand the transitional year program. I am hoping to pick up an EM residency, but I know that there are only three hospitals. So for the military, I indicate transitional year in "something" for the last two slots, correct? So lets say I get the transitional year, do my first year of training, and then what? Does one re-apply for their desired residency slot, or, are they instantly converted to a GMO? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[st0rmin]

I wanted to thank everyone for their advice on this forum as it has answered many of my HPSP questions. I have another one for those with some knowledge on residency. My wife and I are both 3rd yr HPSP, the GME office knows about us, and I dont completely understand the transitional year program. I am hoping to pick up an EM residency, but I know that there are only three hospitals. So for the military, I indicate transitional year in "something" for the last two slots, correct? So lets say I get the transitional year, do my first year of training, and then what? Does one re-apply for their desired residency slot, or, are they instantly converted to a GMO? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

In the military match you would list the three EM programs in the order you wanted them, then two transitional programs. It doesn't have to be transitional in "something", (those slots are for anesthesia, ophthalmology, etc), just a transitional year (meaning I haven't made up my mind yet and I want a broad experience during internship). If you do not match in EM then you will re-apply the next year to EM. If you do not match to EM during the second application then you will probably have to do a GMO tour. Hope that helps.

 

[icarus8]

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I'm curious to hear from people in the know what the story is with transitional years in the Army. I was told people attempting to match a more competitive specialty who dont match are allowed to do a transitional year and then reapply into the second year of the specialty program they wanted the first time around. Can anyone speak to this?

I got this information after a question regarding GMO tours, and I was told that you would do the transitional year if you didn't match (or you might pick a different program in a different specialty that didn't fill). I was told that very few people do GMO tours in the Army.

 

[xax]

Are there really only 15 transitional slots? It seems odd that the chart on MODS shows only 15 slots with a very low applicant per slot ratio every year. It seems that almost everyone would have a transitional year ranked on their list, because most programs have less than 5 slots. When you read web sites of army med cens and add up the totals of transitional slots they claim to have, the total should be higher than 15.

 

[icarus8]

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I'm curious to hear from people in the know what the story is with transitional years in the Army. I was told people attempting to match a more competitive specialty who dont match are allowed to do a transitional year and then reapply into the second year of the specialty program they wanted the first time around. Can anyone speak to this?

I got this information after a question regarding GMO tours, and I was told that you would do the transitional year if you didn't match (or you might pick a different program in a different specialty that didn't fill). I was told that very few people do GMO tours in the Army.

No one knows anything about transitional years in the Army and can help me verify this information?

 

[psychbender]

Ok, with the Army match, you are required to fill your top 5 with all of the locations for your specialty of choice. If you goal specialty has less than 5 locations, then you fill the remainder with various transitional internship locations (or, one transitional internship, and then locations for a second, backup specialty). If you fail to match into your specialty of choice, you will likely be sent to a transitional internship program. During your internship, you can reapply for residency, but will be evaluated by the JSGMEB, and may be competing against returning GMOs for the very few spots that are reserved for Medical Corps officers. So, you will likely be sent on a GMO tour, afterwhich you will then be allowed to reapply, or spend your remaining time in GMO-land, then get out and train in the civilian world.

Regarding the number of transitional slots: many/most of those transitional spots at the various MedCens are actually prelim spots, rather than true transitional spots. By that, I mean most of the people taking up those spots are already pre-selected for given residency (Anesthesiology, Radiology, PM&R, etc) and are just fulfilling their PGY-1 requirement before going to what will be their home insitution. Also, few people apply just to transitional programs, hence their reported low applicant:acceptance ratio.

 

[icarus8]

Thanks for the response. So when they tell me that after a transitional year you usually get the specialty you want, and very few people do a GMO tour, is that baloney? Or is it relatively accurate? How many people are getting stuck with GMO in the army (as opposed to the other branches which I know have more) nowadays?