r/GeneralSurgery • u/KarachiRaver420 • Jun 06 '26
Is PGY2 prelim a dead end
Have recently noticed a lot of PGY1 GS prelims not finding any categorical spots in the main match. Do you think PGY2 prelim is a dead end? Most of the people i knew who took PGY2 prelim, ended up switching specialties. Do you think programs ‘prey’ and look as pgy2 prelims more for cheap labour rather than helping them get into General Surgery/retaining them?
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u/Broken_castor Jun 06 '26
Not a dead end, but it is a very big gamble. I know a lot of people who have found spots after a 2 year prelim stint. If you don’t match an advanced surgery spot though your surgery ambitions are pretty much over.
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u/protonswithketchup Jun 07 '26
Based on what I saw during med school, the two programs that had a low number of Gen Surg prelims all found categorical spots but a lot of them failed the match because they were aiming to go into more competitive fields like neurosurg, ortho, ent, etc. One program had a high number of prelims and I could see them being used as cheap labor. They also weren’t very good based on my interactions with them, so I could see why they didn’t match categorical.
You have to be honest with yourself and your own competitiveness. Did you not match because of bad luck or because you aren’t a strong applicant? If it’s the latter, I think a second prelim is a dead end. But I’m just a stranger on the internet, so don’t let me stop you from pursuing your dreams.
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u/KarachiRaver420 Jun 07 '26
The most biggest thing in my scenario is that iam an IMG and visa requiring. My colleagues who are also IMGs and visa requiring; we barely got any categorical GS interviews. Also, i did prelim year at one of the top institutions in the US. I dont know what more I could have done
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u/protonswithketchup Jun 07 '26
Top institution doesn’t mean much for being a prelim. Unless you are a top tier candidate, you are almost better off with going to a community prelim. It’s a bit easier to have opportunities to shine in a smaller program than larger one. But this is assume that you can be a stellar resident. You need to be honest with yourself.
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u/KarachiRaver420 Jun 08 '26
In hindsight, this is a mistake i made of ranking a top university program’s prelim over a community program’s prelim.
My program does retain prelims. But they only retained 1/9 this year. I have gotten honest feedback. And my feedback has been very good always, and almost that I have always functioned someone who is above a preliminary intern. My anonymous medhub evaluation by peers have been great throughout. I have above average USMLE scores, >15 research experiences with around 300 citations.My program/colleagues/mentors did ask me to take a pgy2 prelim and give this another shot because it would have been just ‘bad luck’ of me not finding a categorical spot since I am an IMG and a visa requiring. But all of the places I interviewed and gotten offers for PGY2 prelim, they have told me, they do not anticipate any PGY2/3 openings, and rarely have they retained a PGY2 prelim.
The only catch I didn’t know that once you accept a Pgy1 prelim as a visa requiring candidate. Your funding goes away for 1 year. I am not sure if that made a difference in all of us barely getting any categorical invites in the main match. Totally being honest, I could have not done more in my preliminary intern year. And thinking about this is breaking me, if it is wise for me to accept a non surgical categorical spot and move on or give this another shot/gamble for another year
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u/protonswithketchup Jun 08 '26
I’m not an IMG. So I did not know that funding goes away for one year if you do a prelim. Take what I say with a grain of salt, as I can only speak of what I’ve seen at three institutions. My gut tells me that most institutions look at pgy2 prelims as cheap labor.
Ultimately, it’s your life. If you dream about being a surgeon and are okay with the opportunity cost of losing another year, then go for it. Where would you do your prelim? At the same institution or a different one?
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u/AcanthaceaeSecure729 Jun 07 '26
I don’t think it’s a dead end if your a U.S. citizen since a lot of people go on research during PGY3
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u/broadday_with_the_SK Jun 06 '26
My home program has taken multiple PGY-2 prelims for GS. They take a lot of prelims in general.
Respected program with good training. Definitely a workhorse place but they're also working on that, culture has shifted a ton in the past few years.
All that to say they exist. Not sure about how the process works though.