<p>It was all we could ask for. And today I am very thankful for social media where we can see pictures our friends took of the day and relive it a bit even before the professional photos and video are available. The bride herself has posted three photos from their honeymoon: one of her new husband looking happy and relaxed…the other two of free deserts they have been given because they are newly-weds. 
In her words, “being married is neat. Yumm”. </p>
<p>mcat2,
prelim vs trans. We do not know much at this point either. However, according to D. it looks like prelim (and maybe trans.) depends on specific program. She said that at least one prelim program at her locality is known to have lots of electives. But “not matching” stories above are scary. I do not want to think that much in advance. I would say that at this point (end of 3rd year) we just have to control our emotions and chill. They still are taking exams, going thru rotations and are planning Step 2, (…publications, possible conferences…etc.) Lots have to be done before focusing on residency application (at least in D’s case). I am looking forward to have her at home for a week or so, but she said she has tons to do over her spring break and before starting of the last core rotation - obgyn/peds, one of the more intense. </p>
<p>Copngrats to all who have achieved the ultimate goal!! What a relief!</p>
<p>Congratulations to all! My friends are thrilled with their results as well. I’ve had a specialty change of heart and am now more than ever looking forward to beginning my career! Awesomely terrifying that it’s me next year :)</p>
<p>I have watched the “openning envelops” event and everybody were so happy. The envelops were all laying on the table and students were coming to the table and picking them up. D. has also sent the “match” list. It is impressive. 30 of them stayed where they are now. This is what my D. wants.</p>
<p>^^^^Son also sent me the match list to look at. Kristin, big change??? Son finished FM, Peds remains. B-school starts a few weeks after peds, needs to take step 2 during those weeks off before b-school. FUN.</p>
<p>CONGRATS to everyone matching this year!! </p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>^B-school will be a breeze after this madness. I do not even dare not only call my D., but even send an email, I do not want to bother her. She just comes home after her shift and study for her shelf, exam this Friday. Then she has the hard one - OBGYN / Peds and then some electives are scheduled already, she took the last spot in one, they are hard to get into. I believe that she is thinking about October for Step 2, we have paid for both already and also tons of books. </p>
<p>Congrats again to everyone!
3rd year starts shaking down (including parents)</p>
<p>mcat2,</p>
<p>A Transitional year is indeed a sort of M3-4 year all over again. The only real difference is that you are now a “doctor” and an “intern” and you are in charge of all your patients. The problem that I see with this, is that I feel I will spend the whole year without being really good or feeling really comfortable with anything in particular. The programs are tailored to fulfill the needs of the hospital in question and the intern is just another “warm” body doing all the scut work. If I am going into a medical specialty, I do not see myself spending two months delivering babies, then another two months performing minor surgical procedures, another two months of pediatrics, etc. I think I will gain more from a solid year of Internal Medicine. The same applies for those interested in surgical specialties.</p>
<p>Transitional years are definitely cushier because less is expected of an intern who will be switching services every two months or so. They also seem to be less competitive than Med Preliminaries or Categorical programs. I see a lot of community hospitals or independent programs with the Transitional years.</p>
<p>And yes, occasionally you have students who don’t match into a med Preliminary after matching for competitive specialties. Those cases usually reflect poor judgement at the time of ranking or a very narrow and rigid ranking list. I think being restricted to specific geographic areas is the worst strategy to have while applying for residencies or medical schools. If you are applying to Derm, you need to be ready to do your Preliminary in Florida and your residency in Washington State if it comes to it.</p>
<p>Matching into the Preliminary and not having a PGY2 is not that catastrophic because you can always do another year of medicine or surgery somewhere until you decide what to do next.</p>
<p>And congrats to everyone who matched!!</p>
<p>Rumor has it that the transitional year program at the university of hawaii is actually extremely competitive. I wonder why…</p>
<p>MyOpinion, MiamiDAP, and IWBB, Thanks for the explanation.</p>
<p>The article below was passed on to me and I thought it would be of interest…</p>
<p><a href=“Match Day Sees All-Time Highs For New Doctors – Physicians News”>Match Day Sees All-Time Highs For New Doctors – Physicians News;
<p>Transitionals, in my time, were much better prepared for USMLE Step 3 and had a more pleasant PGY1 year than the rest.</p>
<p>Interesting link elleneast. </p>
<p>I am curious how the residencies can go up. Isn’t there a CAP on medicare funding? Are there other resources?</p>
<p>^^I thought the same and did not understand what they meant there. I am hoping that someone here can explain it. It was sent to me by a health care lawyer.^^ </p>
<p>At some of the new residencies are being funded by state legislatures.</p>
<p>Our governor just signed a bill that funds 7 new MD residencies and 39 DNP training slots at the state med school.</p>
<p>It is always scary when non-market forces come in to tip the balance. I hope that this doesn’t become a trend (bubble). They have to ensure that the graduates will have jobs at the end of their residencies.</p>
<p>Last year, I heard that some residency program discontinued their program and basically asked their residents in the middle of their residency to find other programs to take them. I heard this happened in NYC or some other major cities.</p>
<p>So these poor residents lost their jobs even before the end of their residencies.</p>
<p>If I remember it correctly, the specialty that was affected is R in ROAD, the Radiology.</p>
<p>This happened with at least one obstetrics program about 8 or so years ago. The residency at my previous hospital inherited one of the residents. Fortunately for that resident, she didn’t lose any years. I don’t think any of the residencies affiliated with medical schools have to worry about this at all.</p>
<p>D’s preference is for the program that would have lots of electives. For that reason, she thinks that Transitional will fil her better than more rigid Prelim. However, (if she matches hopefully), there is NO Transitional program at her current location. She will have to go somewhere else (hopefully not too far, couple hours or so). This is not desirable for her. That opened her mind to look into Prelims. There are several that she could apply at her location. She heard that at least one has more electives than most others. On the other note, all in the specialty as listed from the last week, matched into Transitional with the exception of one person who matched to the program that obviously had Transitional built in. </p>
<p>That sounds like they lost their accreditation but portrayed it as their choice to discontinue. Most programs would just stop accepting new classes, not kick out anyone currently there.</p>
<p>^ or small community hospitals under new management who were never that dedicated to the teaching mission in the first place. For example:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2013/10/clinton-hospital-discontinuing.html”>http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2013/10/clinton-hospital-discontinuing.html</a></p>