Changing programs?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

AAAA2016

New Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2015
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Anyone have any advice for changing programs while in residency? I'm finishing up my PGY-2 year, first year in my derm program. The program had some faculty change between when I interviewed and now, and I feel it is no longer a fit for my career goals. Am I out of luck? Do I suck it up for 2 years and hope for the best in fellowship, or should I try to find a new program? How would I even go about that? Thanks!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Anyone have any advice for changing programs while in residency? I'm finishing up my PGY-2 year, first year in my derm program. The program had some faculty change between when I interviewed and now, and I feel it is no longer a fit for my career goals. Am I out of luck? Do I suck it up for 2 years and hope for the best in fellowship, or should I try to find a new program? How would I even go about that? Thanks!

If you are already close to finishing up your PGY-2 year, I wouldn't rock the boat and just finish the program. What kind of career goals are you aiming for? I'm not aware of any ACGME-accredited derm programs that would preclude you from having a specific career in dermatology.

Finding a new program is problematic. The best way would be to identify someone looking for a switch. Once you've identified that person, then you bring in the PDs and see if they can negotiate a swap.

There are those who will approach the PD first to arrange all this. If you are able to transition out, great. If you aren't, you could be in for a miserable final 2 years.
 
The faculty in my area of interest went into private practice. We now have no fellowship trained staff in this particular area and PD is very focused on their specific area of research (which I am not). Doesn't sound like they plan to hire another fellowship trained dermatologist at the moment. I'm worried I won't have enough exposure to be a competitive candidate for fellowship. But I see how it could be awkward to bring up a switch :-/. Just wished I would have known this before commiting to this program. The departing faculty members are a big reason I ranked my program
 
Members don't see this ad :)
The faculty in my area of interest went into private practice. We now have no fellowship trained staff in this particular area and PD is very focused on their specific area of research (which I am not). Doesn't sound like they plan to hire another fellowship trained dermatologist at the moment. I'm worried I won't have enough exposure to be a competitive candidate for fellowship. But I see how it could be awkward to bring up a switch :-/. Just wished I would have known this before commiting to this program. The departing faculty members are a big reason I ranked my program

What is your area of interest? You can always see if you can arrange some visiting rotations in your 2nd/3rd year so that you'll have some more exposure prior to applying. If there are any neighboring programs, you can always try to do some research with them to bolster your application. As long as your priority is to match somewhere, I don't think fellowship application is terribly difficult.
 

Hmm, my limited understanding is that peds isn't a very difficult fellowship match. That being said, it would look nice to have something on the CV that states you are interested in pediatric derm. Did you have a good relationship with the outgoing faculty? Are they doing any studies or even accepting rotators so that you can get a LOR?
 
Top