Thinking about withdrawing from cards fellowship after matching

[Hospitalist12345]

Hey everyone, I found out I matched at my #4 for cards fellowship in another state but my SO is having a hard time accepting it despite having discussing it beforehand. The situation is not ideal by any means and I wish I could go back in time and not rank the programs that I did. I feel terrible for this and I know I am affecting a lot of different people by my possible decision but if worst comes to worst and I cannot convince my SO I do need to prioritize her over my career.

My questions are:

1) If I violate my match agreement does this essentially mean that I can never apply to cardiology again? What if I were able to get it waived? Will other programs know that I matched and didn't go?

2) Does this affect my potential job opportunities? Will it be difficult for me to find a job in general IM either PCP or Hospitalist?

3) Are there any other unforseen consequences that my action may have on my career?

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[rokshana]

Hey everyone, I found out I matched at my #4 for cards fellowship in another state but my SO is having a hard time accepting it despite having discussing it beforehand. The situation is not ideal by any means and I wish I could go back in time and not rank the programs that I did. I feel terrible for this and I know I am affecting a lot of different people by my possible decision but if worst comes to worst and I cannot convince my SO I do need to prioritize her over my career.

My questions are:

1) If I violate my match agreement does this essentially mean that I can never apply to cardiology again? What if I were able to get it waived? Will other programs know that I matched and didn't go?

2) Does this affect my potential job opportunities? Will it be difficult for me to find a job in general IM either PCP or Hospitalist?

3) Are there any other unforseen consequences that my action may have on my career?

It can keep you from being able to participate in the match if you are deemed to have violated the match.

It won’t affect your ability to get a hospitalist job.

No not really other than you won’t be a cardiologist.

Is she your wife or gf? Are you planning on getting married?

There was a post a year or two back with a similar situation where the op was having the same issue...she didn’t want to move either.

You may just need to give her time to get used to the time...but basically you do have to eventually decide which is more important and will you resent her for making you give up being a cardiologist or will you resent giving up a relationship to peruse cardiology...but only you can make that decision.

 

[GoSpursGo]

1) Basically, yeah it's going to be really hard to impossible to match in cardiology again. You're going to have to convince prospective programs that you aren't going to bail a second time. Programs that you interviewed at and that ranked you will know where you matched. Based on what you have described, you would not be successful in obtaining a match waiver based on "unanticipated serious and extreme hardship" Requesting a Waiver - The Match, National Resident Matching Program . You would need to come up with a reason that has come up since the match. If you wanted to request a waiver based on changing specialty, you need to decide before 12/15. Otherwise, you're going to get a match violation.

2) Shouldn't affect your job outlook if you're really ok with being a general internist.

I'll echo what the previous person said, it really depends if this is your wife or your gf. I'm normally the first person to agree that the need to consider an SO in your decisions is very real, but it's also a two-way street--if you guys talked about this before rank lists, and now she's pulling the rug out from under you, then that's not fair to you. If that's really what happened, then unless you're already married you need to decide if this is the kind of person that you want to spend your life with.

 

[gutonc]

Cross-posted in cards sub-forum. Closing.