darknight Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Say you apply and you don't match for what you REALLY want to do, and say that you get ur backup in FM. is it possible to "swap" after? furthermore, if you don't match into what you want and u decide to take a year off, is there anything you can do to strengthen your application? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agregson Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 it is possible to swap programs but there are some challenges in doing this... If you match to family you get 2 years of funding, all other programs require more funding. I'm not sure where the extra funding comes from...but it must work out because I know residents who have switched. The program that you want to switch into has to be willing to take you and must have space to accept you. Your home program also has to be willing to part with you. I know the policy at the UofA is that you cannot switch in the first 6 months of the program. The big thing about switching programs is that it can be done, but should not be counted on as a possibility. Sometimes switching doesn't work. You shouldn't apply to family with the idea that you'll just switch out because if you can't you might end up being pretty unhappy. The match is legally binding (except in extreme circumstances). So if you match in the first round, you have to go to the program even if you don't want to. You cannot choose to take a year off at that point. If however you go unmatched, and choose not to participate in the second round you can take a year off and reapply in the first round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darknight Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 it is possible to swap programs but there are some challenges in doing this... If you match to family you get 2 years of funding, all other programs require more funding. I'm not sure where the extra funding comes from...but it must work out because I know residents who have switched. The program that you want to switch into has to be willing to take you and must have space to accept you. Your home program also has to be willing to part with you. I know the policy at the UofA is that you cannot switch in the first 6 months of the program. The big thing about switching programs is that it can be done, but should not be counted on as a possibility. Sometimes switching doesn't work. You shouldn't apply to family with the idea that you'll just switch out because if you can't you might end up being pretty unhappy. The match is legally binding (except in extreme circumstances). So if you match in the first round, you have to go to the program even if you don't want to. You cannot choose to take a year off at that point. If however you go unmatched, and choose not to participate in the second round you can take a year off and reapply in the first round. Ahh i c, so you have to take what you match, even if it say ur last choice. Therefore is it customary for people to rank only what they want and maybe try again next year? or do they just rank everything and hope thy get what they want, and if not then they will just have to settle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agregson Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 You should only rank programs that you are interested in attending. If you'd rather do a back-up discipline than go unmatched then you should rank back-up disciplines. If you'd rather go unmatched than not do your specialty of choice you should only rank the specialty of choice. Remember, you cannot match to a program that you didn't rank and you don't have to rank all of the programs that you apply to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted May 4, 2007 Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 Ahh i c, so you have to take what you match, even if it say ur last choice. Therefore is it customary for people to rank only what they want and maybe try again next year? or do they just rank everything and hope thy get what they want, and if not then they will just have to settle? There are probably as many match strategies as there are applicants. It depends on what's important to people. Some will "suicide" into competitive specialties (ie not back up with anything else - potentially going unmatched). Others, usually for family reasons, will rank based solely on geography (eg rank 3 or 4 disparate programs at the same university ahead of any other program at any other school). Others back their top choice with something in a related field (eg plastics with gen surg, emerg with family medicine) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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