Hi everyone,

I have been told that when you apply for a residency it is better to see if the hospitals have the relevant fellowship openings, because usulally they fill with their own people before going out to find one- I believe this is true, so if anybody disagrees I really like to hear your opinion.

The real question is for a fellowship (Eg: Endocrinology- 2 yr ) it looks as if they recruit fellows every 2 yrs, so does it mean we look for the one that will have openings for the year, when residency finishes- I mean 2007, I know it is a long way, still I am really curious to know because looking at FREIDA site it is a bit confusing because only half the places have openings for next year.

Any opinion is welcome..

Yes, you should do your residency at an institution where they also offer a fellowship that you want to go into. At my school, they only accept 2 GI fellows every year, and one of them is always an in-house resident. You will also be able to get better training and better letters of recc while rotating through the specialty that you want to get a fellowship in if you do it where they actually offer a fellowship. Regarding Endocrinology, you probaby were looking at really small programs that only have space for one fellow at a time. Most fellowship programs accept people every year. Endocrine is really non-competetive though, if that's your goal, I don't think that it matters very much where you go.

As far as I understand they have new fellows coming every year because there are ones who finish every year. I think as far as reasonably competitive fellowship is concerned, it's good to do it at 1. where you want to do your fellowship or 2. highly ranked academic institutions where the name and the connection will buy you in a fellowship. Endocrine is not one of the "big 3" IM fellowship that attracts mass competition (cards, GI, pulm critical care) so I am not sure how much of the above applies.

Thanks both..

I am aware that Endocrine is relatively less competive, and am relieved to know this.

However, the institution where I am doing some research work now has ~ 6 Endocrine fellows. Almost 5 left this July, and 5 new ones came in. So, this implies to me that there will be room for only one next year. Did you guys look at the FREIDA site by any chance where nearly half the places only have openings for a particular year.

I am probably a bit too paranoid about all these, but hope will find the answer soon..

You should contact the fellowship contact person of the programs you are applying to and find out how many they are taking in the particular year that you are going to apply, and apply accordingly. I personally dont know how reliable FRIEDA's info is, but nothing is going to be more accurate than directly from the horse's mouth.