Help!

[jamdo]

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Hello everyone,

I am a PGY1 in Internal Medicine now and have matched into Neurology beginning in July 2004 at the same institution. I have been excited about beginning my "true" residency until a complication arose. I am still eager to start Neuro, but I dont know if I can do it where I have matched. Its not that I dont want to stay here, but my girlfriend may have to move out of state unavoidably. So i guess it would be safe to say that I dont want to stay here without her. We are quite serious in our relationship, have spoken of marriage, and if she has to move I definitely would consider going with her. In fact, she has asked me to consider doing so. My questions to you all then are as follows:

1) Is it possible to transfer to a different residency program before actually beginning the one originally matched?

2) If not, would it be possible to transfer, assuming there is availability on where to transfer, once the residency has begun?

3) What steps should I take to put this in motion and how should I begin?

Any advice you have would be appreciated. I love this woman very much and see a future for us. She is not planning to go, nor does she want to necessarily, but may be unavoidable. We dont want to compromise our relationship nor my career. Please help.

 

[neurologist]

To answer your questions:

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. First, you need to figure out what's going on in your life. There seem to be a lot of "MAY have to moves" "IF she moves" and "MAY be unavoidables" floating around. Once it is settled that a) yes, she is moving and b) yes, you plan to go with her, you need to:

Find out where she is moving, contact any and all neuro residency programs in the area, explain what's going on, and pray that they have an open spot or are willing to create one for you. You can start by looking on the listing of open slots on sfmatch.org.

Second, if you find a program willing to take you, you then need to tell your current program that due to family circumstances you want to move and need to be let out of your contract. They may not be happy about it, but I doubt they'll create any really big problems for you.

If there are no open neuro slots where you plan to move, you and girlfriend are probably just going to have to deal with an indefinite separation, unless you are willing to change specialties or she ends up not moving after all.

 

[jamdo]

Thanks for your input. Youre right, alot of maybes at this point. We're in the early stages of making a decision and Im beginning to look into my options. I appreciate your help.