Post-Internship, Reentering Match

[Jmcanoy1860]

Quick question. I did not have all of my paperwork available for the match last year and hence I was removed from the match. I secured a preliminary year internship at Medical College of Georgia post match however I have no residency lined up. I will be re-entering the match for Radiology (yes, I know I have to wait out a year), I have 99 on step 2, 99 on step 1, pass on the CS, and by then I will have finished internship.
Does anyone have any insights at all? Am I considered competitive? More? Less? What should I do with my interim year post internship? Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

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[NotAProgDirector]

Your question is missing some valuable details.

"I did not have all of my paperwork available for the match last year and hence I was removed from the match." suggests to me that you are an IMG who did not have all of their USMLE steps completed by the ROL deadline, and hence were withdrawn from the match. Or, you graduated off cycle beyond July 1st, which would have disqualified you from the match from the beginning. The only other possibility I can see is that you didn't get your LOR's in on time -- if that's the case, you'll have a hard time explaining that away the next time around.

Regardless, you plan to enroll in the match this year.

1. You will need to explain what happened last year, as everyone will ask why you are reapplying.
2. You will need to have a plan for what you will do with your year off, as everyone will ask that also.
3. You will need to figure out how you plan to interview while you are an intern. In radiology, especially for an IMG, you will need to apply quite broadly. There are exactly 3 programs in Georgia, so you will be applying geographically broadly also. Assuming you will need 1 day to interview + 1 day of travel on either end, you might need 20-30 days of interview time. Have you spoken to your PD about this? Do you have elective time (or some other non call block) in Nov, Dec, or Jan which you can use to interview?
4. Conveniently, if you miss enough time from your prelim program that you don't get a full year worth of credit, you can always "make it up" the next year (assuming your PD can swing this). Best to ask about this early, if needed.
5. From your post, it seems you applied this year and were withdrawn from the match. How many interviews did you get this year? If not many, don't expect many more next year, PD's in general do not look at a PGY-1 year as a plus -- if you did well this year, you have a good chance next year as long as you address the above issues.

 

[Jmcanoy1860]

Your question is missing some valuable details.

"I did not have all of my paperwork available for the match last year and hence I was removed from the match." suggests to me that you are an IMG who did not have all of their USMLE steps completed by the ROL deadline, and hence were withdrawn from the match. Or, you graduated off cycle beyond July 1st, which would have disqualified you from the match from the beginning. The only other possibility I can see is that you didn't get your LOR's in on time -- if that's the case, you'll have a hard time explaining that away the next time around.

You are really quite astute... I am an American IMG. It embarrasses to admit that I failed the CS ( I still haven't figured out why), my usual comeback is to point out that I had high honors in my inner city county hospital medicine rotation.

Regardless, you plan to enroll in the match this year.

1. You will need to explain what happened last year, as everyone will ask why you are reapplying.
2. You will need to have a plan for what you will do with your year off, as everyone will ask that also.
   
   I plan to do research and to moonlight. Will this be acceptable?
   
3. You will need to figure out how you plan to interview while you are an intern. In radiology, especially for an IMG, you will need to apply quite broadly. There are exactly 3 programs in Georgia, so you will be applying geographically broadly also. Assuming you will need 1 day to interview + 1 day of travel on either end, you might need 20-30 days of interview time. Have you spoken to your PD about this? Do you have elective time (or some other non call block) in Nov, Dec, or Jan which you can use to interview?
   
   I told my PD about it when I interviewed. And yes, I have 3 weeks of vacation time and 2 months of malleable elective time set up.
   
4. Conveniently, if you miss enough time from your prelim program that you don't get a full year worth of credit, you can always "make it up" the next year (assuming your PD can swing this). Best to ask about this early, if needed.
   
5. From your post, it seems you applied this year and were withdrawn from the match. How many interviews did you get this year? If not many, don't expect many more next year, PD's in general do not look at a PGY-1 year as a plus -- if you did well this year, you have a good chance next year as long as you address the above issues.
   
   I applied broadly last year. All of them (182) and I got 12 interviews out of it. This year I am reapplying to those 12 and my dream places as well as any places in the southeast due to my "geographic ties" as it were.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Sounds like you've done your homework. !2 interviews is quite a few for an IMG in radiology. Unclear how much your CS failure will affect you. Research and moonlighting seems a good combination, just be sure to concentrate on the former early in the year. Some states do not allow moonlighting after just one year of residency, you will need to check.

When you apply again, the number of interviews will tell you what's going to happen. If you get 10+ again, you have a good chance of finding a spot. If not, you are certain to get a good PGY-2 in medicine with your scores and a prelim medicine rotation in a Univeristy setting.

Good letters from your internship and a productive early research year are your best tools at this point. You will also likely need to take step 3 to get a full license to moonlight --don't forget that if you do so, you need a really good score again (you can only go down from your previous scores!). If you're not sure you will score as well on Step 3, forgo Step 3 and moonlighting until after the app's are in, take it, and then re-release your scores if you do well.

Good luck!

 

[jetison22]

Hi,

I've got a f/u question. I'm switching residencies and taking a year off and have been thinking of similar things mentioned above (ie, research, moonlighting, etc.), but was under the impression that in order to moonlight you had to be in an accredited residency program. Is this state specific? I completed 1 yr residency (IM) and will be taking step 3 soon. Will this be sufficient to moonlight?

Any help will be kindly appreciated.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Yes, it is state specific.

Luckily, the FSMB has compiled this information for all 50 states on it's website here.

There is no requirement to be in a residency program to "moonlight" -- although, if you're not in a residency program, we'd simply call it "working". "Moonlighting" suggests that you work a day job, then do something else at night.