Prelim question

[mikedc813]

Hey all, I have a question about applying to prelim positions. I know there have been posts in the past about this, but I'm still a little unsure about some things. First, how many prelim spots should I generally apply to? I was thinking about ~10? I am also couples matching and am thinking about applying to all prelim med programs in my state (FL), and then applying to programs in larger cities where I have applied to multiple programs. Is this a good strategy? Also, for those of you who matched, did you tweak your personal statement at all when applying to prelim spots? Thanks!

Mike

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[kimplera]

That sounds like a lot to me. I applied to 5 but only decided to interview at 3 (all near my medical school) since family obligations dictated that I try to spend that first year in the same area. I think the decision for prelim years can be very different based on your family situation. If you're single and could go anywhere, apply whereever you want. If you want to move only once, apply to prelims in the same area as the programs you think you have a chance of matching at. If, like me, your wife had obligations for an additional year, apply only to your home institution.

 

[napoleondynamite]

I think you can apply to ten in ERAS for the same price as 1 (that's the way it was last year anyway). I'd get your money's worth and apply to all ten that you get for free..no love lost b/c you can always reject interviews, right? You have no idea which programs will interview you for radonc, so the more prelims you apply for, the greater your chance will be of landing a spot in the same city as your residency..

By the way, have you given any thought to TY years? I'm a little biased here, but I don't see any reason to put yourself through the pain of a prelim year..unless you don't match, then a prelim year may be a better option than TY as you reapply. Best of luck!

 

[Gfunk6]

Tough question. Ultimately it boils down to WHERE you want to do your prelim year. If you would prefer to do your prelim year in the same area where you will train for RadOnc then you must apply widely since RadOnc is so competitive. If however like kimplera (and me) you would prefer to stay local then your list will be much shorter. I ranked two programs a TY (1st) and Prelim (2nd). I was very confident in my Prelim match and that's where I ended up going.

For my prelim statement I gave a truncated version of my RadOnc PS plus a few sentences tacked on about how a gen med year would make me a better oncologist. Some nonsense like that

 

[mikedc813]

Thanks for your input everyone. I would consider a TY except I don't really like any of the components except medicine. I'm gonna probably apply to about 10 and cross my fingers...

 

[achybrachy]

I'm applying this year too and I used pretty much the exact strategy you outlined. I applied to 10 (TY's, that is); three in my city, so I can always just stay here. Three more I can drive 1.5 hour to the interview, so that's essentially free too, and I have applied to 3 or 4 programs in that area, and the others I sorta divided up between bigger cities where I have applied to multiple programs, and I'll have to figure out the interviewing logistics once those radonc programs offer or don't offer interviews. I would really like to buy a house one year sooner, so it would be nice to get my TY where I end up doing residency, but I think the majority of people just stick it out one more year where they did med school.

 

[LCK]

I think the key thing to think about though (like me) is that you are couples matching. You have no idea where you will end up for rad onc as it is so competitive. If you are willing to do a prelim year away from your partner, then I guess you could apply to only 10. Let me know if you know something I don't. But if you want to make sure you are together for both the advanced position and the prelim, I don't see any other way but to apply broadly.

 

[mikedc813]

I think the key thing to think about though (like me) is that you are couples matching. You have no idea where you will end up for rad onc as it is so competitive. If you are willing to do a prelim year away from your partner, then I guess you could apply to only 10. Let me know if you know something I don't. But if you want to make sure you are together for both the advanced position and the prelim, I don't see any other way but to apply broadly.

Maybe I'm being short-sighted, but our hope is that we both match at USF because it theoretically should be our best bet. We'd both love to stay since it is our home institution, and Moffitt is a great institution that's moving in the rigth direction. Because the best likelihood is that we both match here, I'm thinking it would be safe to just apply to prelim spots around here and then to several farther away.

 

[G'ville Nole]

Mike,

I did my prelim year at UF. PM me if you'd like details.

 

[napoleondynamite]

Thanks for your input everyone. I would consider a TY except I don't really like any of the components except medicine. I'm gonna probably apply to about 10 and cross my fingers...

Seriously? I don't mean to call you out here, but that's messed up. I'm someone who enjoyed my medicine months in med school too, but there's a huge difference between that and internship. Even my categorical cohorts in my current intern year who went into IM because they just "loooved" it are hating life on medicine. All I'm saying is, try to consider the hell that you are signing up for during a prelim medicine year. And if you still can honestly say to yourself, "I like q4 call and getting paged every 5 minutes in the middle of the night," then go for it. I'm not at all trying to be condescending here, those who know me on this board know I don't swing like that. But I will tell you that I think that most MS4's in your shoes just have no idea how sucky intern year can be until you're actually doing it. I wonder if there are any PGY1's out there reading this saying "yeah, I sure wish I was a TY, this blows." Probably not because they're using any spare moments to sleep.

Dude, I would at least consider a TY. If you love medicine all that much, you could always use a couple of your elective months as a TY on medicine (Which would be a first I think for most programs!) I tend to think that a TY program can potentially serve as better preparation for radonc than a prelim year anyway. You have elective time to use for heme/onc, pathology, radiology, ENT, neurosurg, even radonc which all would be better preparation in my opinion than additional months on the wards. But granted, I'm extremely biased. Good luck whatever you decide though!

 

[pastelist]

I tend to think that a TY program can potentially serve as better preparation for radonc than a prelim year anyway. You have elective time to use for heme/onc, pathology, radiology, ENT, neurosurg, even radonc which all would be better preparation in my opinion than additional months on the wards.

I agree with you on this one wholeheartedly. My husband is doing regular prelim medicine and I am doing a TY... he regrets not trying harder for a TY now that he sees what his day is truly like. He's busy pushing paper and calling consults and hardly has any time to study, read up on medicine or even eat, whereas I have a lot more time (to study, learn from attendings, sleep...).

 

[Brim]

All I'm saying is, try to consider the hell that you are signing up for during a prelim medicine year. And if you still can honestly say to yourself, "I like q4 call and getting paged every 5 minutes in the middle of the night," then go for it.

Ditto this to the infinity power.