Deferral but Match into something else

[RunwayModel]

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What happens if you get a Navy deferral in a specific specialty and in March you end up matching in a different subspecialty. Only an example, but:

You get a deferral for Anesthesiology, but end up matching in Radiation Oncology (I know weird example, but u get the drift). Are u expected to give up that spot afterwards?

 

[sethco]

Yes. Otherwise, you would have been given a deferral for the second specialty. You see, the military has different needs every year when it comes to how many docs they need trained for X specialty. This is why the military match is done well in advance to the civilian match.

In this case, there are 2 options. One can either try to "scramble" into the 1st specialty (that the military thinks they are going into) or just go into a GMO position for 2-4 years and contact the program that the applicant matched into in the civilian world and see if they would be willing to hold their position for 2-4 years. Some programs will actually say they will.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

 

[IgD]

The military match is binding. If you receive a 1 year deferment for internal medicine even if you match for the entire residency you can only complete the preliminary year.

 

[NavyFP]

What happens if you get a Navy deferral in a specific specialty and in March you end up matching in a different subspecialty. Only an example, but:

You get a deferral for Anesthesiology, but end up matching in Radiation Oncology (I know weird example, but u get the drift). Are u expected to give up that spot afterwards?

If you are given a deferral in a specialty, you are expected to train in that specialty. In fact, you should not be applying to other specialties in the match. If you do not match in the designated specialty, you have until the end of your intern year to secure the proper residency or request that your deferment be changed to another specialty. Failing that, you will be cut orders to active duty as a GMO.

In your example, matching in Rad Onc would almost assure you getting orders as a GMO after intership. The needs for Rad Onc as an active duty doc in the services in near zero (zero in the Navy and we are no longer training in that area) so having the deferral changed would also be very near zero.