Whoa, that sucked . . .

[dobonedoc]

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I tried to scramble into one of the more competitive fields today, and do not feel that I got very far. Of course the phones and faxes were busy most of the day, though I did finally get through. I also tried the email route with some mild success. But as I retire for the night I know nothing more than I did yesterday at noon - I don't have a residency spot. Am I looking down a very depressing road (FP, IM)? What should be my measure of success for the day?

Anyone out there who had a good day today? What should I expect in the next 24?

Thanks.

 

[Annette]

I'm in the same boat! Yes, it was a very bad day, but tomorrow will be much better.

Have you thought about taking an IM or FP spot then changing residencies the next year?

Have faith. You'll feel better after some sleep. And, who knows, maybe you'll be woken with a wonderful phone call from a PD offering you the exact spot you wanted!

 

[Behcet]

hey, what's depressing about IM?! 🙂

good luck tomorrow man

 

[Castro Viejo]

What's not?

🙂

 

[afmsboy]

Originally posted by Annette
I'm in the same boat! Yes, it was a very bad day, but tomorrow will be much better.

Have you thought about taking an IM or FP spot then changing residencies the next year?

Have faith. You'll feel better after some sleep. And, who knows, maybe you'll be woken with a wonderful phone call from a PD offering you the exact spot you wanted!

Annette,

Truly sorry to hear you are scrambling. I wish you the best. Regarding matching into IM or FP and then switching:

I am told there is a rule that the Fed Govt only subsidises GME based on the number of years for one's initial residency, i.e., 3yrs for FP or IM, so if you switch out into a 4yrs or more residency the program will have to cover the years not subsidised by the Feds. Thus switching into 3 yr programs is easier than switching out. I was told this by two PDs (one in psych and the other in surg). I assume this is true but have no independent verification.

Good luck.

 

[Rads Resident]

If that's true -- and I don't know that it is -- then one should consider scrambling into a general surgery program. These days they're available to pretty much anybody with a pulse. This would give you the initial 5 years and would make you more attractive if you hoped to jump ship to a competitive specialty.

But again, I don't know if it's true.

 

[droliver]

Actually, >99% of surgical categorical spots filled this year & it was nearly impossible to scramble into the 11 spots available. I do not know if the 5 year funding applies to the 130 or so prelim spots

 

[Rigomortis]

Originally posted by droliver
Actually, >99% of surgical categorical spots filled this year & it was nearly impossible to scramble into the 11 spots available. I do not know if the 5 year funding applies to the 130 or so prelim spots

Yea, what was up with that? It goes from no one going last year into crazy competitive this year. I'll wager that's it's a lot of ENT/Ortho spillover....