Match application question

[belfalas]

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I am currently in a 4 year path residency program in my 1st year, and I now realize i've been peer pressured into it and away from what I really wanted to do: psychiatry.

So my question is: Apply this year and try and rush a few interviews while in residency but have 3 years of funding (from the medicare thing). Or wait until next year where I'll be better prepared but only 2 years of funding.

Which one will be better? How bad will it affect my chances of getting interviews being 2 years out of medical school? Preferably I would like to take the year off, study psychiatry and reapply with more time, since I doubt I will get much time to go on more than 4 interviews during residency.

Stats:
Step 1: 245
Step 2: 245
CS: Pass
Step 3: pending

Thanks

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I am currently in a 4 year path residency program in my 1st year, and I now realize i've been peer pressured into it and away from what I really wanted to do: psychiatry.

So my question is: Apply this year and try and rush a few interviews while in residency but have 3 years of funding (from the medicare thing). Or wait until next year where I'll be better prepared but only 2 years of funding.

Which one will be better? How bad will it affect my chances of getting interviews being 2 years out of medical school? Preferably I would like to take the year off, study psychiatry and reapply with more time, since I doubt I will get much time to go on more than 4 interviews during residency.

Stats:
Step 1: 245
Step 2: 245
CS: Pass
Step 3: pending

Thanks

With those board scores, you shouldn't need much more than 4 interviews--presuming you a) interview well, and b) can convince a PD or 2 that you really do want to practice psychiatry. There's no reason to "study psychiatry" to prepare for the match. If you already are certain that this is your career trajectory, don't wait around being frustrated in path.

 

[belfalas]

Thank you for reply!

I meant study to prepare for psych residency, sorry if i was unclear. My other main worry is being able to relocate and start fresh in the one weekend between the end of this residency and the start of the next if i jump right into psych. I also currently do not have any psych letters of rec since I focused on getting path ones, I do have 3 general letters of rec though.

So basically will it hurt my chances a lot taking that year and only having 2 years of medicare funding?

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Welcome to the dark side! Ignoring the “peer pressure” and training in psychiatry is one of the best decisions I ever made. We are fairly used to converts and with your scores; I think plenty of doors will be open. You will have to communicate your intentions to your current PD at some point because his/her summary of your training and standing in your current program will be looked at carefully.

I’m glad to hear that you are worried about moving in one week, as this means you intend to finish your current contract. I’m not sure I’m in complete agreement with OPD. Pulling out of training and waiting for the next cycle would be a mistake in my opinion. I’m sure that your growing path knowledge will not translate much in psychiatry, but leaving would make programs wonder how glad your current program was to have you leave. You are hoping for a sentence that says “we wish him/her well in his/her pursuit of a psychiatry career, but we are sorry to lose him/her because I know he/she will make a very good doctor”. Otherwise….

Interviewer: So what happened last year?

You: I decided I didn’t want to do Pathology so I’m applying to Psychiatry this year.

Interviewer: (Hummm, I wonder if he/she will finish our program, must have been some bad blood there one way or the other)

Be aware that if you do break your current contract, the NRMP people have to bless this. Even if your current program is OK with it, your future program could get some heat without a green light. This being said, here is a good place to look.

http://apps.psychiatry.org/clearinghouse/

As far as using up your funding, I haven’t seen this be a problem and I have seen a number of converts. I only have an “N” of one or two, but I’ll defer to others. You will have plenty of time to learn psychiatry.

Happy hunting.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

...I'm glad to hear that you are worried about moving in one week, as this means you intend to finish your current contract. I'm not sure I'm in complete agreement with OPD. Pulling out of training and waiting for the next cycle would be a mistake in my opinion. I'm sure that your growing path knowledge will not translate much in psychiatry, but leaving would make programs wonder how glad your current program was to have you leave. You are hoping for a sentence that says "we wish him/her well in his/her pursuit of a psychiatry career, but we are sorry to lose him/her because I know he/she will make a very good doctor". Otherwise….

...

I do just wish to clarify that I was not counseling pulling out of the current contract when I said "don't wait around being frustrated in path". My comments were more to encourage the OP to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

OPD regrets any misunderstanding.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

I'm probably the one who miss read your intention OPD. Glad we are on the same page.

What about the medicare funding question? Has anyone seen this as a problem? My understanding is that residents can be trainees forever if they want to.

 

[belfalas]

Really helpful information coming from this thread, thanks again.

To clearify: I definitely will be finishing the year. I have no intention of breaking the contract, I signed up for a year so I will fullfill my word.

Forgot to mention I am an IMG, and I have a perment residence status.

The medicare question is definitely still up for grabs as to how big a deal programs make of this. From what I've learned so far, some of the bigger research heavy programs with grant funding don't rely on it too much. Not sure if it goes accross the board.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I'm probably the one who miss read your intention OPD. Glad we are on the same page.

What about the medicare funding question? Has anyone seen this as a problem? My understanding is that residents can be trainees forever if they want to.

It will be a bigger deal for smaller programs. In a larger institution which has multiple programs, the cost of the unfunded year(s) can be more easily absorbed--but it's still a concern, and likely to grow as medicare funding gets tighter.