internship dilemma

[CHMer]

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Hello everybody,

I have a unique situation to contend with concerning my recent match. I was applying to match into anesthesia and a ty or prelim IM. Throughout the majority of the application process I was focusing my efforts for internship on southern cali, as my significant other was an IM resident there (his pgy3 year will be during my internship).

However, after the bulk of the interview process was over, some unforseen family circumstances arose for my SO and he had to transfer to a program in his homestate in the midwest. Because this happened unexpectedly and late in the game, I was not able to secure many interviews in the area and I ended up matching out west. Now we are a bit stuck, as we have been doing the long distance thing for a while and fear the relationship stress of continuing for another year.

So, I am wondering what my options are for attempting to orchestrate a possible internship switch. Do I just start calling TYs and Prelims? How do I go about getting out of my contract? I know there is a waiver process, but I have my doubts as to whether nrmp will see my situation as imposing ¨severe hardship¨ on me. I´m sure they have worse sob stories than mine that they deny.

I´m freaking out and feel as though time is of the essence and I don´t know how to approach this.

Also, if anyone has any access to the list of or any info about open internship positions in the the midwest (or even elsewhere), would you PLEASE consider posting it here or PMing me? Thank you all for your time and assistance, and I hope you all had better luck than I did in the match.

 

[CHMer]

80 plus views and no one has any insight?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, please...

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I'll take a stab at it.

Both the NRMP and your matched program are going to need to be involved. Which you get involved first is your choice, but both will need to be involved.

In general, this is the type of thing that the NRMP does waive match requirements for, except for the fact that you seemed to know this in advance of the ROL deadline. Hence, they may ask why you ranked cali programs at all,, since you knew this would be a problem.

That being said, and I'm not part of the NRMP at all, but I think that there is a good chance that the NRMP would grant a waiver for you. This would especially be true if your SO's situation has "worsened" since the ROL deadline.

If so, there is no need for you to find a swap for your spot. If there is someone else closer to your SO who also is looking for a waiver, the NRMP should know about that also, so still they seem the best place to start. If the NRMP declines your request, even if you find a willing "swap-mate", and even if both PD's agree, it's still a match violation, so getting the NRMP on your side is key.

Of course, if you get a waiver you may not get a new PGY-1 slot, and may need to apply into the match next year. If you matched into a PGY-2 also, then you will need a waiver for that also.

So, I'd vote for alerting your future PD (the more notice they have, the better) and notifying the NRMP ASAP.