Has anybody done that? Transferring to a different specialty? How did you explain it to your PD?
The reason why I am asking is that I really want to do EM. I am an IMG, not US citizen, applying this year for the first time. Despite my excellent scores and strong LORs, only 1 interview for EM so far. On the other hand, I have a handful of interviews for IM. I have spoken to several EM program PDs, and the advice was always the same: start your residency in IM and transfer after one year. Well, now how do I explain this to the IM program PD? I assume I will need his or her reference letter for the transfer, right? I can imagine how thrilled he could be about me leaving... Moreover, if I do not succeed next year getting into EM, I would still like to finish the IM residency (I like IM a lot, but EM is my preference). So what is the strategy here? Tell, or not to tell? And if tell, when?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!