transfer into path residency?

[neurotrancer]

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Is transfer into a pathology residency possible? I had been told that if you do, say, internal medicine where it is 3 years duration, if you try to do a 4 year residency like pathology you will be in trouble because the government will only provide funding covering for the duration of the original residency. Is this true?

On the other hand, an internal medicine attending told me that the pathology programs look highly upon a candidate who may have an intern year of internal medicine under their belt when applying to pathology residency. Is this true?

Thanks!

 

[yaah]

I don't think they look any more highly on someone with IM experience. It might make that person a better potential pathologist, but it might not. For everyone who says it's a good thing, you will probably get two others who say it's bad because they couldn't decide what they wanted to do.

As far as funding, institutions can decide however they want, I think. Most institutions who take someone who already trained in another field will start them off as a PGY1 in pathology just like everyone else. You don't get a higher salary or get treated any differently because you are not "technically" a PGY1. I don't know the specifics of whether the government funds things or not, but we have one recently graduated fellow who did a full IM residency and never had an issue, and a couple of residents who did a year of something else and haven't had an issue. It's possible that the hospital or department is funding these spots, but I highly doubt it.

 

[PathLessChosen]

I did a transitional year before I decided on path. I received mixed responses about this on the interview trail. Some said it definitely "gives me a leg up", while another PD recommended I "keep quiet about that on interviews, since you'll lose a year of funding" and some programs may not be able to make up the difference.