Scrambling for Prelim vs. Matching

[CaptKirk]

I have been told by some residents that it may be better to scramble into a Family Med program for 1 year rather than go through the trouble of applying to prelim's and transitionals. I guess this is because many do not fill? Any thoughts about this "strategy"?

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[deleted87716]

I have been told by some residents that it may be better to scramble into a Family Med program for 1 year rather than go through the trouble of applying to prelim's and transitionals. I guess this is because many do not fill? Any thoughts about this "strategy"?

I think you'd be better off applying to categorical IM programs rather than FM programs. There are almost twice as many positions offered in the match, and most FM programs are looking for people who want to practice FM.

 

[CaptKirk]

Yeah, I know you actually can't apply for FM programs in a "prelim" way... but after the Match, I was told they will take people for one year... so I mean you'd have to scramble to do it... anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had heard of doing it this way.

 

[Samoa]

It makes no sense whatsoever to do that. One year of Family Medicine will only count towards a Family Medicine residency, and in addition your Medicare indirect funding will then be limited to three years. If you go the prelim route, the year will count towards either medical or surgical fields and most of the rads/anesth/path-type fields as well, and your length of funding will not be set in stone.

...in addition to all the idealistic issues about liking family medicine, etc, which I gather hold no sway with you.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Also, are there really no prelim or transitional programs in the country that are appealing enough to go through the trouble of applying to?

 

[CaptKirk]

I'm not sure what you mean about the ideal of liking family medicine holding no sway with me. I'm talking about positions that would go unfilled otherwise, it's not as if anyone is being taken advantage of.

I have applied to a number of medicine-prelim and transitional programs; I was only curious about this possibility after being told about it and I was attempting to get some additional information.