Switching from IM to FM, GME Funding PLEASE HELP

[deleted349260]

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Hello lovely people,

My situation:

Currently I am doing my Categorical internal medicine intern year and around Sept I decided to switch to Family medicine as I missed the obstetrics and kids. I began applying again for PGY1 spots for FM as there are very limited PGY2 spots and many of the requirements for FM during intern year just does not match up with an intern year of IM "(e.g. as in FM they do surgery, OB, Peds, etc)

I have been interviewing and havent run into any problems but then today I got one rejection that stated that I would not have GME funding to complete FM if I am categorical, but would be considered if I were prelim.

The only problem is that I am categorical and I never heard anything about this thus far, even when discussing with program directors if I would get any credit for my IM intern year.

Do you think that when it comes to making the match list this will be what they will look at?

Do you think it would be wiser to resign from the program now and that way my funding wont be affected? Or is it already affected?
or how does it work??

I have been searching on the SDN forums and they have been very specific to my specific issue and position I am in right now.

Appreciate your thoughts and help!

 

[Winged Scapula]

I have been interviewing and havent run into any problems but then today I got one rejection that stated that I would not have GME funding to complete FM if I am categorical, but would be considered if I were prelim.

The only problem is that I am categorical and I never heard anything about this thus far, even when discussing with program directors if I would get any credit for my IM intern year.

Obviously you are not a frequent reader of SDN, as this topic comes up every, oh...14.5 seconds.

There are many, many threads on funding limitations in this forum alone. If you do a search, you will read more than you care to know about it. It is a common issue and one that some programs will care about.

Do you think that when it comes to making the match list this will be what they will look at?

I would venture that most programs that have an issue with it will not even invite you for an interview. But in some cases, if they did and *all else being equal* (which it never is), I suppose they could rank someone else who full funding over you.

Do you think it would be wiser to resign from the program now and that way my funding wont be affected? Or is it already affected?
or how does it work??

No one seems to know the answer to your last question. It is not clear whether partial funding credit is given if you quit or are terminated before the year is up. It is best to assume that it is not.

And resigning seems to be an awful idea:

what if you don't match? If you resign, not only won't you have any residency position, but you also won't be eligible for a license which would allow you to at least moonlight and make some $$ while looking for a job.

those programs that have a problem with you having less than full funding (50% DME and 100% IME) are likely to feel that way regardless of how much of the year you finish

you leave your colleagues in a lurch/burn bridges and all other sorts of bad stuff

I have been searching on the SDN forums and they have been very specific to my specific issue and position I am in right now.

Yes they have been so I'm not sure why you needed to start another thread on the topic because your questions have been answered before. The questions are all the same. 😕

 

[dragonfly99]

Don't resign...bad idea to burn bridges, as discussed above, and too much risk in case you don't match in fm.
I would not worry too much...fm is less competitive than IM and I think you will match somewhere if you're somewhat flexible and you can manage to do several interviews and if your current program PD does not oppose your transfer out. As long as you can make a good case for why you want to do fm, I would think that you have a good shot, particulary if you are a US grad and you are in OK standing at your current program.

You will only have partial funding for one of your years (your last year, I guess) since the gov't only will fund you fully for 3 years of training. They won't get zero money for you, but the program will get less. As mentioned above, there are multiple threads about this...search for DME funding, GME funding, etc.

I am more worried about you having time to go on enough interviews as an IM intern...

Hopefully you realize that you will have to make up some months, and that your IM 1st year won't count as an fm intern year. You should get credit for your medicine months, and ER month if you do one this year. Not sure about other months...