Didn't match advanced; matched prelim; what should I tell them?

[bonoz]

Hi guys,

I start my internship soon but I didn't match my advanced specialty unfortunately. I plan on re-applying.

What should I tell my internship faculty, staff, and fellow co-interns/residents when they ask me what my specialty is going to be? Should I just say that I'll be applying in so and so specialty this fall? or that I'm hoping to go into .... specialty?

Thanks

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[Crayola227]

dunno will say definitely talk to your PD since you're going to need to figure out how to make space in your schedule for interviews for re-applying, and you'll likely need some letters from internship to replace some of your med school letters

I would also say go to the PD in case there's anything that can be done with mentorship/changing rotation schedule (don't suggest the latter to them! let them come up with that idea if needed) to help you with applying to your advanced position

saying "I'm applying to such and such" sounds more confident to me than "hoping" but I can't what etiquette there should be here

 

[bonoz]

Thanks Crayola! I will look into setting up meeting with PD and stuff. Any other advice from anyone else?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

From reviewing your post history, it appears you're an FMG, applied Ophthal, received lots of interviews, but then didn't match. It appears you've matched into a prelim, probably prelim IM.

Assuming that's true, you're asking two different questions:

1. What are you going to tell your co-interns? That's totally up to you. You can tell them that you're doing a prelim year and then going to figure out what comes next. You could tell them you want to do Ophthal but didn't match and will be trying again. Really, it's up to you.

2. What are you going to tell your PD? Your PD might not know your Ophthal match status, since those spots are outside the NRMP. You should tell them early on. You will also need to come up with an application plan this year. You can certainly apply to Ophthal again (if you received lots of interviews, you might get some this year). But you definitely need a Plan B. If you don't match to Ophthal this year, you want to either match to something else (which means you'll have applied to another field) or plan to continue in IM (you'll get a PGY-2, there is no match). You need to sort this out ASAP.

 

[NERDY]

You probably want lighter rotations during Nov/Dec/Jan (or whenever your field does interviews) so you can travel. You probably should do a rotation is your field of choice early on so you can get letters. Keep your eyes open on here, resident swap, etc. never know when a spot opens up, a program gets more funding, someone quits,etc.

 

[AdmiralChz]

Be as vague or as direct as you'd like, you are your own person and still a doctor - don't be embarrassed by your situation you are HARDLY alone. The majority of surgical preliminary interns at my institution fall in this category.