Preliminary and Transitional Year Programs
Contacts
Your Career Advisor
Valerie Parkas
Alex Posner
Vannita Simma-Chiang
What are Preliminary Positions?
Preliminary positions are one-year positions that occur in PGY1, prior to entry into advanced specialty programs.
What are the Preliminary Position Options?
Students can apply to preliminary positions in internal medicine, general surgery, ob-gyn (rare) and pediatrics (rare) and transitional years.
A Transitional Year (TY) position, is a type of preliminary position where residents have required rotations in medicine, surgery, and other specialties in that first year to give residents a foundation prior to starting an advanced position.
Preliminary positions in medicine, general surgery and ob-gyn and pediatrics focus on just those specialties.
Almost all specialties that have programs with advanced positions also have programs with categorical positions. Students should be researching each program they are planning on applying into to understand if they need to apply for preliminary positions or not.
Specialties that may require a preliminary position:
Specialty
Types of Positions
Anesthesiology
many programs offer both categorical and advanced tracks
Dermatology
historically are only advanced but some programs are now offering categorical tracks (for example- Cleveland Clinic)
Diagnostic Radiology
some programs offer categorical and advanced tracks
Commonly offers advanced tracks by some programs are categorical
Neurology
many programs offer both categorical and advanced tracks
Ophthalmology
Match is through SF match, not NRMP, and programs have shifted toward an integrated/categorical 4 year program which includes a PGY-1 position. Students may have to register for NRMP and submit a rank list with that PGY-1 position separately, in addition to the SF Ophtho match.
some programs offer categorical and advanced tracks
Radiation-Oncology
often advanced but some programs offer categorical and advanced tracks (for example- Mayo Clinic)
Questions to ask yourself
When students are deciding which prelim specialty (IM, Gen Surg, Peds, TY) they should apply to, they should take into consideration the following:
What specialty are you entering?
Certain prelims may be better for certain advanced specialties- think about your goals and what you want to get out of your PGY-1 year and how the preliminary position can help you in your specialty.
What are the requirements of the advanced program?
Specialties/ACGME have “clinical base year” requirements (ICU time, inpatient v outpatient time, etc) so your prelim year should follow these guidelines
If this information is not on the program’s website you may need to interview there/ask questions regarding the schedule to find out.
Considerations when deciding what kind of program to apply to.
Transitional Year
Pros: broad exposure, lots of electives, generally lighter call schedule
Cons: often more competitive, some programs are outpatient heavy, may or may not fulfill your base year requirements
Best for: Anesthesiology, Diagnostic Radiology, PM&R, Dermatology, Radiation-Oncology, Interventional Radiology, Ophthalmology
Preliminary Medicine
Pros: strong inpatient + ICU experience, excellent prep for managing sick adults, many positions available
Cons: Heavier workload, fewer electives at some programs
Best for: Neuro, Anesthesiology, Diagnostic Radiology, PM&R, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Radiation-Oncology
Preliminary Surgery
Pros: high acuity, procedures, comfort in the OR, good for surgery-adjacent fields
Cons: most intense, can be “service heavy”
Best for: Interventional Radiology, Ophthalmology, Diagnostic Radiology, Surgical Subspecialties
Competitiveness
Source: 2025 Match Advanced Data Tables
In the 2025 Match there were 1,600 Internal Medicine preliminary positions in 329 programs, 69.3% of positions were filled by U.S. MD Seniors.
In the 2025 Match there were 1,194 General Surgery preliminary positions in 261 programs, 22.4% of positions were filled by U.S. MD Seniors.
In the 2025 Match there were 1,860 Transitional preliminary positions in 236 programs, 56.7% of positions were filled by U.S. MD Seniors.
ISMMS Match Data 2020-2025
Medicine-Preliminary
B I Deaconess Med Ctr-MA
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Brigham & Womens Hosp-MA
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
CA Pacific Med Center
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Flushing Hospital Med Ctr-NY
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
Medicine-Preliminary
Greenwich Hospital-CT
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
ISMMS Mount Sinai Beth Israel-NY
3
3
2
4
0
0
12
Medicine-Preliminary
ISMMS Mount Sinai Morningside-West-NY
1
0
2
5
3
6
17
Medicine-Preliminary
ISMMS NYC Health+Hospitals/Elmhurst-NY
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Johns Hopkins/Bayview-MD
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Kaiser Permanente-Oakland-CA
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
MGB-Massachusetts Gen Hosp
1
0
0
0
2
0
3
Medicine-Preliminary
Montefiore Med Ctr/Einstein-NY
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
Medicine-Preliminary
North Shore Med Ctr/Salem Hosp-MA
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
NYMC-Landmark Med Ctr-RI
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Medicine-Preliminary
NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hosp-NY
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
NYU Grossman School Of Medicine-NY
0
0
1
0
1
0
2
Medicine-Preliminary
Olive View-UCLA Med Ctr-CA
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Pennsylvania Hospital
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Richmond Univ Med Ctr-NY
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
St Marys Med Ctr-SF-CA
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
U Maryland Mercy Med Ctr
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
U Miami/Jackson Health System-FL
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
U North Carolina Hospitals
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
U Texas Southwestern Med Sch-Dallas
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Yale-New Haven Hosp-CT
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Zucker SOM-Northwell Forest Hills Hosp-NY
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Medicine-Preliminary
Zucker SOM-Northwell Lenox Hill Hosp-NY
3
0
0
0
0
0
3
Medicine-Preliminary
Zucker SOM-Northwell Staten Island Univ-NY
1
1
1
0
0
0
3
Surgery-Preliminary
ISMMS Mount Sinai Hospital-NY
3
0
0
4
2
2
11
Surgery-Preliminary
Stanford Health Care-CA
0
0
0
1
2
0
3
Surgery-Preliminary
UC San Francisco-CA
0
0
1
0
1
1
3
Surgery-Preliminary
Brigham & Womens Hosp-MAÂ
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
Surgery-Preliminary
Icahn SOM Morningside-West-NY
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
Surgery-Preliminary
NYU Grossman School Of Medicine-NY
0
0
0
1
1
0
2
Surgery-Preliminary
Johns Hopkins Hosp-MD
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
Massachusetts Gen Hosp
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
MedStar Georgetown Univ Hosp-DC
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
MedStar Union Memorial Hosp-MD
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
NYP Hosp-Columbia Univ Med Ctr-NY
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
Rhode Island Hosp/Brown Univ
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
Swedish Med Ctr-WA
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Surgery-Preliminary
U Washington Affil Hosps
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
UMass Chan Medical School-MA
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
Vanderbilt Univ Med Ctr-TN
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Surgery-Preliminary
Zucker SOM-Northwell NS/LIJ-NY
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
B I Deaconess Med Ctr-MA
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
Crozer-Chester Med Ctr-PA
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Transitional
Emory Univ SOM-GA
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
Garnet Health Med Ctr-NY
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Transitional
Lemuel Shattuck Hosp-MA
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
Lincoln Med Ctr-NY
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
Transitional
Memorial Sloan-Kettering-NY
3
0
2
3
1
1
10
Transitional
Mount Carmel Health System-OH
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
San Juan City Hospital
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
Transitional
Santa Clara Valley Med Ctr-CA
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Transitional
Scripps Mercy Hosp-San Diego-CA
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Transitional
Sunrise Health GME Consortium-NV
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
Transitional
Tripler Army Medical Center Hawaii
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Transitional
Tucson Hospitals Med Ed-AZ
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Transitional
Virginia Mason Med Ctr-WA
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Transitional
WellStar Kennestone Reg Med Ctr-GA
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
Transitional
Zucker SOM-Northwell South Shore-NY
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
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