Insights On Boston Prelim Programs?

[medgirl89]

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Hi everyone!

Does anyone happen to know how competitive the preliminary internal medicine programs are in Boston, such as Brigham and Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Mass General? They seem to take a lot of prelims for very competitive specialties...I'm wavering about whether it's worth applying for. I'm a good student, but I didn't go to an Ivy League med school and I don't know whether I'd stack up against people accepted to rad onc or derm. (I applied for Boston U and St. Elizabeth's because their websites actually mentioned PM&R prelims.)

Does the prestige of the prelim year program matter very much in the end, anyway?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[colourmebadd]

Somewhat.
No.

I only applied to MGH because I was couple's matching. Wouldn't have helped my career in the least.

 

[nvrsumr]

I would market that you were "Harvard trained"

 

[gamrag]

I heard the ones in Boston all make you work pretty hard. I think they are competitive because of location. If you moved the same program to the middle of no where, I don't think many people will apply. I doubt your intern year matters much. It's just one year, you have to do it, and it is a headache finding a spot.

 

[RangerBob]

Prestige of a prelim program doesn't matter at all (assuming you match advanced). In fact, I'd recommend staying away from the large university pre-lims if possible--a community hospital pre-lim year will generally not only be a little more relaxed and offer more electives, but you'll see more bread-and-butter cases. Considering you only will have one year of IM training, I think it's better to focus on the basics rather than the zebras that a place like Mass General offers.

But above all, go where you will learn and be happy. I know some PM&R residents that did pre-lim surgery, worked their butts off intern year, and loved it. To each their own.

 

[medgirl89]

Thanks everyone