Surgery: prelim vs categorical

[ESU_MD]

I am an IMG who is interested in surgery. Although I have excellent numbers, I acknowledge there is a great possibilty of not matching into a categorical surgery spot, but I know prelim is pretty easy to come by.

How likely is it for a program to select a categorical resident from its prelim "crop" Is this a common practice? I know this means repeating a year, but thats a sacrifice an IMG will take to get a residency. Thanks

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[Stinky T]

Kimberli or droliver would be able to provide you with a better answer. In the mean time, it really depends on how you performed during your internship year. If they really like you, they might offer you a spot the following year or rank you highly. I've heard that most prelims are not offered a spot in the same program, but often find another elsewhere. The best case scenario would be that they really like you and someone in the categorical position decides not to continue past the PGY-1 year. In this example, you could potentially be offered the PGY-2 spot without repeating the dreaded PGY-1 year.

 

[droliver]

ESU-MD,

If what I understand by the downturn in application #'s from US Students is true, there has never been a better chance for IMG's to match into categorical gen surgery spots. Also, if you do a prelim year somewhere (and get good references) you have almost a 100% chance of finding a categorical spot somewhere the next year just due to the attrition rates after the PGY-1 year if you play your cards right. The oppurtunities will vary program to program. We have had 3 IMG's thru here since I've been here.... One got a Vascular Surgery Fellowship @ UT-Southwestern, one will start Plastic Surgery here in 2002, and one is currently my intern & is terrific. My intern is a Lebanese national who did a prelim year in Staten Island NY where he met one of our faculty who was doing a laparoscopy fellowship there. He liked him so much, he made a phone call to our chairman & got him a categorical spot here (albeit he had to do another intern year) for the next year. He has thrived here & it just goes to show being in the right place at the right time can open a lot of oppurtunities for you.

best of luck
(forgive my spelling....)