Several fields like derm, opthy, rads, rad onc, etc. will require one to do an internship year in either medicine or surgery before starting the actual residency program one's actual field. For these folks who successfully matched in these fields, the match list will list where a person is doing the internship (transitional or prelim year) as well as where the person will be doing the actual residency.
If the match list shows only a prelim location for a person, that likely means that the person did not match and will be doing a "prelim year". During the prelim year, the person will be applying again if he/she desires.
For instance, I know of a person at my school who applied for General Surgery. Ranked around 10 places and did not match. The surgery department here told him that he can do a "prelim year" here for a year. If a Gen Surg PGY-2 position opens up next year, he would likely fill it. Either he could do that or he could fill a PGY-2 spot somewhere else should one open up. Basically, he's in a pretty crappy situation 🙁
