prelim surgery in california

Started by HP11
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HP11

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How likely is it to scramble into a prelim surgery spot in california? I know UCSF had 8 spots unfilled last year, uc davis had 7 and Harbor had 12! So, is it pretty easy or should I go ahead call up the programs right now?
 
HP11 said:
I don't have hard date, but my understanding is that highly regarded programs tend to not fill their prelim spots prior to the match, mainly because they are interested in scooping up the gen-surg candidates who didn't match, rather than taking those who only applied to prelim years. That being said, I know a very good candidate who had geographic limitations that limited his match list; he didn't match and ended up at one of the above listed programs. I think scrambling into those spots is no easy feat, but it can be done if you work at it.