Transitonal year?

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limabeen

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I am an MSIII right now and am realizing I have to decide what I would liekt to go into pretty soon. Right now I think I am most likely to go into Family Medicine but I am not sure. I don't know if I will have enough time in the beginning of my fourth year to rule out all the other specialites I am consdering (Right now, PM&R, Optho, Neurology Pscyh, etc... and not Surgery, Medicine or Peds.) Anybody have any advice in what should I do? I was thinking that perhaps, I could do a transitional year and thus, use my entire fourth year and perhaps the beginning of my transitional year to figure this all out. Would the transitional year count for FP? I suppose I would have to go through the entire application process again in the fall of my transitional year. Is this even possible? Wise? Stupid?
I don't know what to do- please let me know if you have any advice for this confused medical student- Thanks!
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limabeen said:
I am an MSIII right now and am realizing I have to decide what I would liekt to go into pretty soon. Right now I think I am most likely to go into Family Medicine but I am not sure. I don't know if I will have enough time in the beginning of my fourth year to rule out all the other specialites I am consdering (Right now, PM&R, Optho, Neurology Pscyh, etc... and not Surgery, Medicine or Peds.) Anybody have any advice in what should I do? I was thinking that perhaps, I could do a transitional year and thus, use my entire fourth year and perhaps the beginning of my transitional year to figure this all out. Would the transitional year count for FP? I suppose I would have to go through the entire application process again in the fall of my transitional year. Is this even possible? Wise? Stupid?
I don't know what to do- please let me know if you have any advice for this confused medical student- Thanks!
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It seems that your interests are still very broad. But instead of doing a trasitional year without having a true specialty, you'd probably be better off trying to decide things as quickly as possible.

Use sub-I's early in your 4th year to decide if you'll enjoy PM&R, ophtho, neuro, psych or others. Do the more competitive ones first so that you'd have time to get letters and prepare your application if you decide to pursue it.

G'luck. Update us on what you decide to do.
 
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limabeen said:
I am an MSIII right now and am realizing I have to decide what I would liekt to go into pretty soon. Right now I think I am most likely to go into Family Medicine but I am not sure. I don't know if I will have enough time in the beginning of my fourth year to rule out all the other specialites I am consdering (Right now, PM&R, Optho, Neurology Pscyh, etc... and not Surgery, Medicine or Peds.) Anybody have any advice in what should I do? I was thinking that perhaps, I could do a transitional year and thus, use my entire fourth year and perhaps the beginning of my transitional year to figure this all out. Would the transitional year count for FP? I suppose I would have to go through the entire application process again in the fall of my transitional year. Is this even possible? Wise? Stupid?
I don't know what to do- please let me know if you have any advice for this confused medical student- Thanks!
Click to expand...

That's quite a broad differential of specialties there. You might want to cut that list down a little more (maybe to 2 or 3 things) based on your third year experiences and go from there.

If you can't cut the list, why not think about doing something like a research year? Most research years are pretty chill and you could so some work on the side in the other areas. Research definitely helps in residency interviews, even if its in a different area because most programs just want to see that you know how research is done (not necessarily what you produced).

If you do a transitional year just because you didn't know what you wanted to do, it may be hard to explain in the interviews and some programs may look unfavorably on that approach. It can also be very difficult to interview while doing a transitional or intern year as well.
 
Whther or not a TY can be used by any future FP program is really on a case by case basis by program. It is likely that you would not be given credit for the full year since you would be missing some of their key rotations.

At any rate, given the list you've presented us with if you really can't make up your mind, a Prelim Med year would be most likely to be useful and credited toward residency. Remember that some programs like Neuro are a PGY2 match so you have to apply for that 2nd year 2 years ahead.

As noted, it can be hard to take time off during internship for interviews. If you're honest with your PD from the beginning it can be easier, but expect some grief over it.

If you really can't make up your mind, a research year or doing something else clinical mightbe the way to go.
 
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