Residency match research

[BooRadley85]

when researching a school's match list, what does it mean when someone matched to "surgery-preliminary" or "medicine-preliminary"?

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[iniquus]

Please use the search function on the forums, or type your question into Google.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=32599
http://stason.org/TULARC/health/med...is-a-preliminary-year-A-categorical-year.html
http://www.usmletomd.com/tips4match/2007/09/differences-preliminary-transitional.html

The more unnecessarily made threads-- the more difficult it becomes to search the forums for an informative thread.

EDIT: I also don't know why you made another thread with the same exact question. Are you unfamiliar with how forums work?

 

[BooRadley85]

when researching a school's match list, what does it mean when someone matched to "surgery-preliminary" or "medicine-preliminary"?

 

[BooRadley85]

Please use the search function on the function, or type your question into Google.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=32599
http://stason.org/TULARC/health/med...is-a-preliminary-year-A-categorical-year.html
http://www.usmletomd.com/tips4match/2007/09/differences-preliminary-transitional.html

The more unnecessarily made threads-- the more difficult it becomes to search the forums for an informative thread.

EDIT: I also don't know why you made another thread with the same exact question. Are you unfamiliar with how forums work?

I am not an SDN guru. and i don't know how the second one was created. I het the back button twice and somehow it recreated it. and thanks for the links above.

 

[BooRadley85]

if when looking at the match list of a school, should it be a red flag if there are more preliminary surgery matches than there are surgical matches or is this normal?

 

[tabascosauce]

if when looking at the match list of a school, should it be a red flag if there are more preliminary surgery matches than there are surgical matches or is this normal?

Not at all bra

 

[Parts Unknown]

when researching a school's match list, what does it mean when someone matched to "surgery-preliminary" or "medicine-preliminary"?

Some specialties, like radiology, neurology, etc., require an initial (preliminary) year of surgery or medicine.

Example: you are graduating from med school in 2015 and want to be a radiologist. During the spring 2015 match you end up getting a medicine-preliminary year at Iowa and into the radiology program at Miami. You would then spend the next five years like this:

2015-2016: Medicine at Iowa
2016-2020: Radiology at Miami

 

[BooRadley85]

Some specialties, like radiology, neurology, etc., require an initial (preliminary) year of surgery or medicine.

Example: you are graduating from med school in 2015 and want to be a radiologist. During the spring 2015 match you end up getting a medicine-preliminary year at Iowa and into the radiology program at Miami. You would then spend the next five years like this:

2015-2016: Medicine at Iowa
2016-2020: Radiology at Miami

But is that preliminary year required or could you go straight to radiology in 2015? The reason i ask is because i've been looking at the match lists of the schools i've been accepted to and i don't know how to interpret a lot of what i'm seeing... haha

 

[ozzi22]

yeah, they have so many programs that offer the categorical program which mean you just go straight ahead.

 

[WellWornLad]

yeah, they have so many programs that offer the categorical program which mean you just go straight ahead.

Not exactly. Categorical basically means that your transition year is organized/integrated into the same program as your advanced training. You don't get to "skip" the wards and go right to rads.

 

[NickNaylor]

Match lists are worthless.

 

[WingedOx]

protip: if someone ONLY has "surg-prelim", or "med-prelim" it's a BAD thing.

 

[lockjaw]

if when looking at the match list of a school, should it be a red flag if there are more preliminary surgery matches than there are surgical matches or is this normal?

No, because people doing more competitive specialties, such as ophthalmology or anesthesiology, typically do surgery prelim years first. So having lots of people matching into prelim years might not be a bad thing, it just might mean that lots of people are doing specialties that start after doing a prelim year.

 

[WingedOx]

No, because people doing more competitive specialties, such as ophthalmology or anesthesiology, typically do surgery prelim years first. So having lots of people matching into prelim years might not be a bad thing, it just might mean that lots of people are doing specialties that start after doing a prelim year.

yes, but if you ONLY have a prelim spot, that means they failed to match in their desired specialty.

 

[BooRadley85]

protip: if someone ONLY has "surg-prelim", or "med-prelim" it's a BAD thing.

well that's what I'm talking about. It seems like on the match lists of the schools i've looked at have around 10% that are either surgery-prelim and med-prelim. is this because they didn't really match anywhere they wanted and they scrambled so that next year they could try again or what?

 

[BooRadley85]

yes, but if you ONLY have a prelim spot, that means they failed to match in their desired specialty.

For example, on some of the match lists they have a surgery-prelim and the location. then below it have another location and type of surgery. Other times they have just a surgery-prelim w/ location. so you're saying that the first type are a good sign but the second type are bad?

 

[Winged Scapula]

well that's what I'm talking about. It seems like on the match lists of the schools i've looked at have around 10% that are either surgery-prelim and med-prelim. is this because they didn't really match anywhere they wanted and they scrambled so that next year they could try again or what?

That may be the case.

If a school routinely lists both the Prelim/Transitional Year AND the Advanced/Categorical Match but you see some students with Prelim years *only* listed, the best guess is that's all they matched into.

They may not have had to scramble to get those positions. You submit two match lists and it may be that they matched only the Prelim year.

 

[Winged Scapula]

For example, on some of the match lists they have a surgery-prelim and the location. then below it have another location and type of surgery. Other times they have just a surgery-prelim w/ location. so you're saying that the first type are a good sign but the second type are bad?

Yes.

If it says:

AB Medical Student
Preliminary Surgery - Duke University
Categorical Urology - Duke University

or

IP Medical Student
Preliminary Surgery - Duke University
Categorical Urology - University of Pennsylvania

that would be good.

If it says:

BD Medical Student
Prelimary Surgery - Hackensack Medical Center

that would imply that's the only position that this student has obtained and that they will be going through the match again.

FYI: I would not use medical school match lists to determine where you want to apply to medical school.

FMYI: will merge your identical threads

 

[Parts Unknown]

But is that preliminary year required or could you go straight to radiology in 2015?

It's required. Virtually nobody would do it, otherwise.

The reason i ask is because i've been looking at the match lists of the schools i've been accepted to and i don't know how to interpret a lot of what i'm seeing... haha

It's very difficult to gather any useful information from match lists. If you can't decide after considering cost, location, and curriculum, you should probably just flip a coin.

 

[BooRadley85]

Yes.

If it says:

AB Medical Student
Preliminary Surgery - Duke University
Categorical Urology - Duke University

or

IP Medical Student
Preliminary Surgery - Duke University
Categorical Urology - University of Pennsylvania

that would be good.

If it says:

BD Medical Student
Prelimary Surgery - Hackensack Medical Center

that would imply that's the only position that this student has obtained and that they will be going through the match again.

FYI: I would not use medical school match lists to determine where you want to apply to medical school.

FMYI: will merge your identical threads

Thank you and thank you.

I was using the match lists as one of the ways to narrow down the schools that I have been accepted to. Is this also a bad idea? Also, if a student only matches to a preliminary spot, do they do the whole match process over again the next year? I know it's a long way away for me to even be worrying about it seeing that I won't be even starting till August but I'm just curious. Thanks again.

 

[NickNaylor]

Thank you and thank you.

I was using the match lists as one of the ways to narrow down the schools that I have been accepted to. Is this also a bad idea? Also, if a student only matches to a preliminary spot, do they do the whole match process over again the next year? I know it's a long way away for me to even be worrying about it seeing that I won't be even starting till August but I'm just curious. Thanks again.

Yes, because you don't know how to interpret them. Do you know what the best institutions for each speciality are? I'm guessing you probably just look to see how many big names are on each list. Bad idea.

 

[dbeast]

Yes, because you don't know how to interpret them. Do you know what the best institutions for each speciality are? I'm guessing you probably just look to see how many big names are on each list. Bad idea.

Although it can be useful if you have an idea what specialty you want to go into... If a school's match list is 75% primary care and you want to do surgery then maybe it's not the best choice.

 

[NickNaylor]

Although it can be useful if you have an idea what specialty you want to go into... If a school's match list is 75% primary care and you want to do surgery then maybe it's not the best choice.

That's probably as useful as they can be for us.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thank you and thank you.

I was using the match lists as one of the ways to narrow down the schools that I have been accepted to. Is this also a bad idea? Also, if a student only matches to a preliminary spot, do they do the whole match process over again the next year? I know it's a long way away for me to even be worrying about it seeing that I won't be even starting till August but I'm just curious. Thanks again.

I think its a poor measure of the best medical school for you.

As noted above, you have no way of interpreting them.

For example, if you were interested in surgery and your top choice for medical school had few people matching into surgery, what does that mean? It may mean that few people were interested in surgery, few were competitive enough to match into surgery or that the school tends to discourage students from applying to surgery (which would be unusual). You have no way of knowing which reason is the real one.

Similarly, if you go through looking for "big names", you will have the same problem. If there are few big name programs on the match list, that may reflect that students weren't competitive or that they didn't apply to them (because they weren't competitive or weren't interested).

Many medical students are settled and don't want to leave their home program - that might be a good reflection of a supportive atmosphere which tends to make students want to stay for residency.

And finally, if you are using them for specialty matches, as noted above, you don't know what big names are in each field (for example, Harvard isn't necessarily a surgical powerhouse that people would assume it to be) nor are you sure what YOU will want to end up doing.

I say pick a medical school based on location, cost, financial package and the feel you get from the faculty and students and don't bother with match lists.