Transition year vs IM internship?

[randomb]

What are some of the pros and cons of doing an IM internship over a transition year? Do most ophtho residents come from transition year programs?

I know that the TY is harder to match into and enjoys somewhat fewer work hours depending on the rotation. Which prepares one better for ophthalmology? Does the reputation of the TY program or IM program one is in have an impact on matching into ophthalmology?

Thanks!

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[MstaKing10]

What are some of the pros and cons of doing an IM internship over a transition year? Do most ophtho residents come from transition year programs?

I know that the TY is harder to match into and enjoys somewhat fewer work hours depending on the rotation. Which prepares one better for ophthalmology? Does the reputation of the TY program or IM program one is in have an impact on matching into ophthalmology?

Thanks!

Ophthalmology is early match, so you find out where you are going for ophthalmology prior to finding out about where you will be heading for internship, thus, it has no bearing or influence on your ophthalmology match. Of course, there are a handful of places that will match you into both ophthalmology and internship at the same program.

I did an IM internship for several reasons: first, I wanted to get full exposure to IM and it's sub specialties. I felt like this was my last opportunity to do so. I felt very well prepared for dealing with IM issues in all of my ophthalmology patients and thus felt that it did give me an advantage over some. Second, I actually liked IM (I know, some may ridicule me for that!). Lastly, I went to a place that did allow some elective time and so did some rotations in endocrine, rheumatology, radiology and ENT. I thought those really helped me out going forward as an ophthalmology resident dealing with diabetics, uveitis, and trauma patients.

Transitional years are great too since you have more elective time etc., but I really enjoyed my IM year.

 

[DrMassacre]

TY Year. Im doing IM, tired as ****, and regretting it.

 

[MR1]

One thing to consider to is if you are wanting to moonlight. There are ED, urgent care, and primary care options out there. TY year may not be the best for moonlighting.

 

[blaise1384]

TY all the way. The good TYs let you do up to 4-6 electives and thus you can get sub-specialty exposure in rheum, radiology, endocrine and many others if you want. Another great thing about TYs is that you can do a month of optho which will I believe will help you when starting ophtho. I am doing a TY right now and the best part is how much free time you have, again you can make whatever you want out of the year. You can work 50-60 hour weeks if you want to and want to know the ins and outs of a particular rotation or you can work 15-20 hours a week and enjoy your time off ... I think the main difference is that you don't get to choose to do less work in an IM prelim program. Again my advice is TY all the way, i don't think many who have done a TY regret it.

 

[azzarah]

If I could go back, I would do a general surgery internship or at least a real or semi-real IM internship (Brigham, Bayview, etc) instead of TY. Sure, the hours were great, but I hated the non-scholarly environment and all the extra call they made the prelims and TYs take. If you are going to work so hard and get abused, you may as well suffer in a prestigious place....

 

[cme2c]

Totally depends on the program. I interviewed at TY that were much busier than some prelim IM programs. One thing to consider is that many TY make you do OB. Enough said.

 

[randomb]

Thanks for the responses!