More decisions?? Intern year

[keepsmiling10]

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I'm considering PM&R vs. Med/Peds. Regardless of which one I do, it is very important to me that I get a solid grasp on basic medicine. However, I would also like to see a whole lot of variety.

Based on that...which do you recommend...prelim or transitional??

Some have told me that Transitional has more variety (OB, peds, surgery, etc.) but that Medicine teaches more medicine? True? Untrue?

Also, for either, how does it work with applying to a separate intern year? Do you have to get different letters of rec? Another Personal statement? Do you apply on ERAS with a whole new set of information?

Lastly, what's the best way to find out more about programs? I have tried to visit some websites, look at rankings and talk to some people but it seems that everything is kind of conflicting and fairly subjective. What did you use to find out more about programs? And what points were particularly impt in looking at programs (of course, location, compensation, call hours, scheduled didactics, etc.).

Thanks for your help!! You guys are great!!

 

[dragonfly99]

One does not do a prelim year before doing med/peds. Med/peds is a 4 year residency and you normally would apply as a categorical applicant for that.

Transitional years tend to be very hard to match into, and are generally used as a cushy year by very competitive applicants to specialties like radiology and ophthalmology.

If you want to do med/meds ultimately, you might be able to do an IM prelim year and then switch into med/peds, but there aren't likely to be many upper leve med/peds spots opening up. Plus you'd be 6 months behind on your pediatrics rotations, so I don't know how that would work.