Question about redoing PGY1

[PatNanym]

If someone has finished PGY1 (Internal Medicine) and has received credits for it but had to drop out of the program in the middle of PGY2 for some reason, is it possible for him/her to apply for a PGY1 position again through the Match, or can he/she ONLY apply for a PGY2 position? Thanks.

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[NotAProgDirector]

There are no "rules" that prevent you from doing this. So you could theoretically rematch into a PGY-1. But many programs will be uncomfortable doing so. It's somewhat a waste, since if you completed a PGY-1 already there's no need to repeat it. Also, it creates a funding issue later in your training (although the overall effect of this is small and potentially nothing -- it's a complicated situation and there are other threads that discuss it). My own personal experience with this is having someone complete a surgical PGY-1 and then want to come to medicine, then they need to repeat a PGY-1 because the surgical prelim won't get them credit. It can be a long, miserable year -- the things that are "fun" and "challenging" the first time in your PGY-1 become painful and monotonous the second.

If you've completed a PGY-1, you can often find a PGY-2 spot in IM. It takes some hunting around.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I have seen a few surgical prelim PGY-1s repeat as a categorical resident after matching/filling a spot, that would be about the only scenario I can see for this. I agree with the above as repeating a PGY-1 year would be brutal!

I have seen this in other, different ways though. An ENT PGY-3 going to Anesthesia PGY-2, neurosurg PGY-3 going to Path PGY-2, Psych PGY-2 going to IM PGY-1. All of these include completely different training experiences between residencies, so maybe not applicable to the current question but it is known to happen.

 

[PatNanym]

Thank you very much for your input, aProgDirector and AdmiralChz. Appreciate your help.