Basic Anesthesiology Residency Info Needed....

[Topoli]

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Hi All,

I'm a MSIV wanting to apply for an anesthesiology residency ,but am totally lost. I know I can either apply to categorical or do a prelim year in internal medicine.
My question is this:
If I apply to my prelim year in internal med do I also need to apply to advanced programs at the same time? Also, what if I get an interview for the prelim IM rotation but no interview's for the advanced programs?

Any help would be very appreciated!

 

[Bertelman]

You will need to apply for the advanced positions this year, along with your prelim year.

Got a prelim interview w/o advanced?
a) use it as leverage, contact anesthesia program and let them know you will be interviewing for prelim- would they be willing to consider you?
b) cancel prelim
c) keep prelim, if you are willing to do the prlim year at this program different from the advanced program that you (hopefully) matched at.

Point is, you can do a prelim year anywhere. Plenty of people do a prelim year in one location, then move on for the advanced. Different motivations. Maybe you stay at your home school for the prelim, or maybe you do it at a great location.

Technically, you don't have to apply for the advanced year now, but it is your best chance to match. Besides, you are presumably applying for categorical spots as well.

 

[Mman]

You don't have to do a prelim year in medicine. I mean you could, but you could also choose to do surgery or a transitional year somewhere.

When it comes time to ranking for the match, you will have 2 separate lists. The first list will be for anesthesia residency programs and will contain both categorical and advanced spots ranked #1 through whatever in the order that you want to go to them (including 2 spots for programs that offer both). The second list will solely be comprised of internships (medicine, surgery, transitional, etc) and will only be used if you match at an advanced match on your first list.

As for applying for just applying for the intern year this year, I would not suggest doing that. You'd then have to go outside the match for a spot as a CA-1. The people that match into Anesthesia in March of 2008 are all matching to start as a CA-1 in July of 2009. They are also matching to start as an intern in July of 2008.

Does that make sense?

 

[bubalus]

You may actually have more than 2 lists. When you rank an advanced program, a secondary list will come up where you will rank your prelim years. For example, your rank list could look like this:

1. Wash U categorical
2. Wash U Advanced which now brings up a list for prelim years
a.. Wash U medicine prelim
b. Stanford medicine prelim
3. Stanford categorical
4. Stanford advanced which now brings up a list for prelim years
a. Stanford medicine prelim
b. Wash U medicine prelim

This is not to say that the above programs have categorical or advanced positions, it merely serves as an example how the rank order list is put in.


The multiple rank lists for prelim years is important because people may want to do their prelim year in the same city as their anesthesia program (as in the above example), or on the other hand, they may want to go somewhere else. I wanted to do both at the same place because the most time you'll have to move is between med school and internship. You'll have a lot less time to move between internship and anesthesia. You'll also be busier during your intern year, making it more difficult to get ready to move. If you jettison all your stuff it's not quite such a big deal, but if you're married with a home, it's a much bigger deal.

Categorical positions will include all 4 years. Advanced positions are only for the 3 anesthesia years, and you will also need to apply for and match for an internship. You can apply for whatever you wish, but if you apply for an advanced position, you also need to apply for a prelim year. In my opinion, if a program offers both categorical and advanced positions, you should strongly consider applying for both.

Applying only for an internship would be a serious mistake. Most of the 2009 CA1 spots are going to be given through the match which means you'll either have to find a spot outside the match (doable, though possibly difficult) or go through the match again and have to take a year off to start your CA1 year in 2010.

 

[Topoli]

Thank you all for your help. I understand how it works now. Now all I have to do is try to get an interview! 🙂 Good luck to those in residency!! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions VERY soon 🙂 OH here's one :

When do you think is too late to be sending out applications to programs for this years match? I am still waiting for my letters of rec to be scanned into the system and am worried that it is getting a little late. Should I send in whatever I have to the programs or wait for everything to be complete before sending anything?

 

[lord_jeebus]

Thank you all for your help. I understand how it works now. Now all I have to do is try to get an interview! 🙂 Good luck to those in residency!! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions VERY soon 🙂 OH here's one :

When do you think is too late to be sending out applications to programs for this years match? I am still waiting for my letters of rec to be scanned into the system and am worried that it is getting a little late. Should I send in whatever I have to the programs or wait for everything to be complete before sending anything?

You can submit with letters pending and I see no reason to wait.