scramble or family medicine?

[spaslam]

A friend asked me:

If I were not to match in PM&R would you put family progrms down as
> backup... or just try to scamble into PMR?

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[phd2b]

Why not scramble into PM&R, if available, and then scramble into FP or a transitional year, if necessary? Don't do FP unless you love FP (in the same way, you shouldn't do PM&R, unless you love it!).

FP and TY spots are fairly easy to come by, statistically, so if PM&R is where you really want to be, give yourself a shot to scramble.

Your mileage may vary...

A friend asked me:

If I were not to match in PM&R would you put family progrms down as
> backup... or just try to scamble into PMR?

 

[spaslam]

thanks for the response. my friend is an American FMG and has not gotten many interviews. does the fmg things make much of a difference? will it be easier to find a pm&r spot once he has a family medicine position? any other advice would be appreciated.

 

[dc2md]

i'd rank the FM programs. the PMR positions that were open after the match last year weren't the ones someone would want to scramble into. your friend is better off taking an FM position and then looking for open pgy-2 spots throughout his/her intern year.

 

[Godzilla777]

He/She could even try to scramble into a prelim internal medicine position at an institution that has a PM&R program. That way, an elective or research could be done and probably get an extra letter of rec.

 

[phd2b]

I really can't disagree with Chris. I know that there are some very good PGY-2 positions open for next summer that probably were not available as scramble positions last spring. Every person's situation is different, to be sure.

I really can't comment about the how one's domestic vs foreign medical school status changes the equation, but I'm sure others on this site could probably do so intelligently.

Good luck to your friend, in any case.

I'd also agree with Godzilla's approach (which is a better plan than a random TY position).

i'd rank the FM programs. the PMR positions that were open after the match last year weren't the ones someone would want to scramble into. your friend is better off taking an FM position and then looking for open pgy-2 spots throughout his/her intern year.