Contingency plans for applying to competitive specialities

[Cauchy]

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[dpmd]

If there is a specialty that you would be content to switch too should you fail to match your preferred specialty I suggest applying for it as a backup and just taking those positions lower than the ophtho ones.

 

[Piebaldi]

Hello all,

First off, I appreciate any input from residents who have gone through similar thought processes or any others. I'll also say that I am speaking with advising at my school about my plan, but I just wanted to get additional input if possible.

I am planning to apply to a competitive speciality (ophthalmology), and while my stats are right at the published average for accepted applicants (as far as I can tell), I am still concerned for the possibility of falling through the cracks and failing to match. If that happens, I want to have a good idea of what the next step should be.

Options I have been considering in cases of not matching are either to defer graduation and switch specialities that I will apply to, apply to a post graduate research fellowship, or take an preliminary year position (if I match one), then apply to an advanced program from there. I think I understand the pros and cons of research fellowships or deferring graduation to reapply, but I am curious to hear more about taking a preliminary program and trying to apply for an advanced spot. Are applicants from prelim programs significantly disadvantaged when compared to senior medical students? Does anyone have some sense of how often this happens, and if it does, what specialities are open to this type of applicant (I would primarily be interested in IM or radiology)?

Taking a prelim year is important as you'll need one anyways, however if you don't want into Ophtho it will be more difficult but not impossible to match as an intern. Obviously if you can make a connection at a prelim program, or get some additional extra on your app that's good, but finding time to interview is challenging (i used up my time off) between interviewing as a Radiology PGY-1 for interviewing so depending on your program it may or may not work. Obvioously if u did not match the first time think what is "missing" in ur app which isprobably the most important thing to look at.

If I were u I'd think about what's more important - doing Ophtho at all cost vs. potentially matching to something else if you don't match Ophtho. Keep in mind that it's not that simple to match neely weely into something else - you have to have some sort of background in something else - you can't have a bunch of Ophtho and then say hey I love Anesthesia or Radiology! simply bc u didn't match.