Match Day Special: Not giving up but I don't know what my options are

[ThrowAwayAccount9999]

Hello everyone, Army HPSP here.

Today I learned that not only did I not match into my desired specialty, but I did not match into a TY at any of the facilities that have my specialty. I have a few questions about my options moving forward - but please keep one thing in mind: I 100% will get into the specialty I want with or without the training of the military and finding a different one is not an option. Thank you to any and all who can answer these:

1) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a TY?

2) Are the chances of matching after a TY significantly hindered by being at a different facility than the one you are applying to?

3) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a GMO tour?

4) If the residency program I am applying to is relatively small, <10 applicants, is there any real chance that the program directors will feel different about me?

Thanks for helping me out

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[Slevin]

Hello everyone, Army HPSP here.

Today I learned that not only did I not match into my desired specialty, but I did not match into a TY at any of the facilities that have my specialty. I have a few questions about my options moving forward - but please keep one thing in mind: I 100% will get into the specialty I want with or without the training of the military and finding a different one is not an option. Thank you to any and all who can answer these:

1) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a TY?

2) Are the chances of matching after a TY significantly hindered by being at a different facility than the one you are applying to?

3) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a GMO tour?

4) If the residency program I am applying to is relatively small,
Thanks for helping me out

1. Pretty good chances depending on your preferred choice of residency and the application demand for that residency. You may have to move from where you are a TY to where the program is located.
2. No
3. Pretty good but again depends on the application cycle, the number of applications for the specialty you are applying for, and your LOR’s
4. Depends on the PD

Long story short without knowing your application packet, scores, LOR’s, etc no one can say if you have a good shot or not. It also depends on the number of applications for a specific speciality.

Just got into residency firing on all cylinders, get good LOR’s and hope for the best

 

[Trefoil]

You h

Hello everyone, Army HPSP here.

Today I learned that not only did I not match into my desired specialty, but I did not match into a TY at any of the facilities that have my specialty. I have a few questions about my options moving forward - but please keep one thing in mind: I 100% will get into the specialty I want with or without the training of the military and finding a different one is not an option. Thank you to any and all who can answer these:

1) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a TY?

2) Are the chances of matching after a TY significantly hindered by being at a different facility than the one you are applying to?

3) What are the realistic chances of matching into a military residency program after a GMO tour?

4) If the residency program I am applying to is relatively small, <10 applicants, is there any real chance that the program directors will feel different about me?

Thanks for helping me out

You should look carefully at your goals and think about how your application compares to what is expected for your given specialty. I have seen people match into residencies after TY. I have also seen people match into their desired specialty after a hardship tour (Korea for 1 year). A lot of this will depend on on the field you are applying to and how many others are applying. If you communicate with the PD and look for opportunities to collaborate on research, you can keep the window open, but if there is a severe mismatch between your application and your specialty, you are looking at a tough road. The good news is that the TY program director should be able to help you assess your options. I had a mandatory TY year for my field, and I can tell you it is a weird place to be, but it isn’t bad, and people who have done GMO tours usually say that it was a positive experience, so the long and short of it is, don’t stress too much, you have a lot of options ahead of you, and your main goal should be rocking your TY year out of the park.

 

[Gastrapathy]

You are 100% certain you will match your desired specialty but you want advice about how to make it so. There’s a big time disconnect there.
First, look at your application and compare it to the civilian charting outcomes for your desired specialty. Are you a competitive applicant in the real world? If so, you have a good fallback, get out after GMO and reapply.
If not, you need to focus on improving your military application. You need to assess this honestly. If you share more here, people can help

 

[ThrowAwayAccount9999]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't feel comfortable sharing the program specifically, but I can tell you it is a non-surgical residency program and very middle of the road board-score-wise.

@Gastrapathy, my mistake, the intention of my wording was more to show that I'd sooner leave medicine altogether than not match into this residency. The SHTF scenario results in me not matching and leaving debt free with some Army cash - not becoming a Family Practice doc.

 

[Trefoil]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't feel comfortable sharing the program specifically, but I can tell you it is a non-surgical residency program and very middle of the road board-score-wise.

@Gastrapathy, my mistake, the intention of my wording was more to show that I'd sooner leave medicine altogether than not match into this residency. The SHTF scenario results in me not matching and leaving debt free with some Army cash - not becoming a Family Practice doc.

If that’s the case, you could probably match post military even with lower or borderline scores.