Difference between CATEGORICAL and PRELIMINARY residency spot.

[Favoritefarm]

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This happens so much. People take some low tier MD school or even a DO and look at their match list which is filled with preliminary spots and compare it to another schools match list which has more categorical spots. Match lists dont differentiate a categorical from a prelim spot. A prelimary Gen surg spot at a big academic center like ucsf is not the same as a categorical spot at a lesser known residency spot. One is a career and the other is a one year job where you get used and abused. For this reason you can't compare match lists.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Most match lists actually do distinguish prelims/TYs from categorical spots. However, only some list alongside them if that person has a PGY2 position lined up as well while others will list the PGY1 and PGY2 positions separately, which is what makes it difficult, as you wouldn't know if an applicant in a prelim spot has a PGY2 position lined up.