Help: dermatology residency

[berry22]

Hello,
I am currently MS4 and matched into academic IM program. However, I did a derm elective in late november/december of my 4th year and loved it; however because it was too late in the application cycle and lack of derm research I did not apply. I have been doing a lot of research on the internet and came across Derm research fellowships after intern year, which is what I plan on doing after intern year.
My questions are:
1. what do I do now? There is no derm program at my current institution and the dermatologist I did my elective is in private practice. I feel like I have two months before graduation and can get started maybe on a case report, but its difficult bc we don't have a derm department, hence no academic dermatologists to help me out. Also its too late for an away elective.
2. My residency program has a reputable derm program but by dilemma is how do I contact the derm department when I got into the IM program there. Also how do I go about telling my IM program about my interest in derm? I feel like I should wait maybe few months into residency and then letting them know? Any thoughts?
3. How competitive are research fellowship positions? Any advise on how I should tailor my intern year to best increase my chances to land a research fellowship and derm residency in the future.
4. Any other advise/suggestion please feel to post

Thank You.

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[asmallchild]

Hello,
I am currently MS4 and matched into academic IM program. However, I did a derm elective in late november/december of my 4th year and loved it; however because it was too late in the application cycle and lack of derm research I did not apply. I have been doing a lot of research on the internet and came across Derm research fellowships after intern year, which is what I plan on doing after intern year.
My questions are:
1. what do I do now? There is no derm program at my current institution and the dermatologist I did my elective is in private practice. I feel like I have two months before graduation and can get started maybe on a case report, but its difficult bc we don't have a derm department, hence no academic dermatologists to help me out. Also its too late for an away elective.
2. My residency program has a reputable derm program but by dilemma is how do I contact the derm department when I got into the IM program there. Also how do I go about telling my IM program about my interest in derm? I feel like I should wait maybe few months into residency and then letting them know? Any thoughts?
3. How competitive are research fellowship positions? Any advise on how I should tailor my intern year to best increase my chances to land a research fellowship and derm residency in the future.
4. Any other advise/suggestion please feel to post

Thank You.

1. If derm is what you want, I'd focus more on trying to set up away electives in dermatology during your elective time as an intern rather than trying to cram in research. As you mentioned, it's unlikely you would be able to work on a larger scale research project without academic dermatologists around and you want to enjoy your final months as a med student anyway

2. This is tough and hopefully others can chime in. If derm is what you want, it would probably be in your best interest to let both the derm department as well as the IM department know as soon as possible. It's probably best to do this as soon as possible so you can set up your intern year to include as much time for derm electives as possible (you'd essentially be re-applying as a MS4). Now if any derm programs happen to have a PGY-2 slot open up in July of 2015, you would be eligible. But you're likely looking at starting a dermatology PGY-2 slot in July 2016. I've met a handful of internal medicine residents who made this swap and they completed two years of internal medicine (the intern year you would have to complete anyway and then a second year to fill in the gap). Your IM program would probably look more favorably at letting you switch out if you are willing to do that.

3. Assuming you want to do a research fellowship, you just need to complete your internship year, there's nothing you would need to do extra. If you feel your application package is strong enough without having to do a research fellowship, then I would attempt the steps above.

 

[berry22]

Thanks for the help.
I am willing to spend another year and apply for 2016. I don't have any derm research and I think doing a derm fellowship may benefit me more.

For the IM residents who made the swap , did they have any derm research?

Any other suggestions/advise please free to post.

 

[asmallchild]

Thanks for the help.
I am willing to spend another year and apply for 2016. I don't have any derm research and I think doing a derm fellowship may benefit me more.

For the IM residents who made the swap , did they have any derm research?

Any other suggestions/advise please free to post.

If you do a research fellowship, you would then be matching for PGY-2 positions in July of 2017 (or later) unless you luck into an open PGY-2 position

July 2014 - June 2015 -> Internship Year
July 2015 - June 2016 -> Research Fellowship + Reapplication, you would be aiming to match in March of 2016 for a PGY-2 position that doesn't start until July of 2017
July 2016 -> You would only start dermatology residency in 2016 if an open slot were to appear. You would not be able to match into this unless your reapplication occurred during internship year.

I did not make the swap from IM to derm but among the residents I've known who did, they usually had extensive dermatology research and connections. Whether you choose to do research concurrently as an intern or to take an actual year to do research (or both) is up to you. I agree with you the research fellowship would maximize your chances of matching but at the expense of delaying your residency start date another year (again, unless you luck into a vacated PGY-2 position)

 

[DermViser]

1. If derm is what you want, I'd focus more on trying to set up away electives in dermatology during your elective time as an intern rather than trying to cram in research. As you mentioned, it's unlikely you would be able to work on a larger scale research project without academic dermatologists around and you want to enjoy your final months as a med student anyway

2. This is tough and hopefully others can chime in. If derm is what you want, it would probably be in your best interest to let both the derm department as well as the IM department know as soon as possible. It's probably best to do this as soon as possible so you can set up your intern year to include as much time for derm electives as possible (you'd essentially be re-applying as a MS4). Now if any derm programs happen to have a PGY-2 slot open up in July of 2015, you would be eligible. But you're likely looking at starting a dermatology PGY-2 slot in July 2016. I've met a handful of internal medicine residents who made this swap and they completed two years of internal medicine (the intern year you would have to complete anyway and then a second year to fill in the gap). Your IM program would probably look more favorably at letting you switch out if you are willing to do that.

3. Assuming you want to do a research fellowship, you just need to complete your internship year, there's nothing you would need to do extra. If you feel your application package is strong enough without having to do a research fellowship, then I would attempt the steps above.

1. I would enjoy the last few months you have before starting internship, esp. as you don't have a home derm residency program anyways, and can't do aways. You will need a very good letter from your IM program director when applying for a derm research fellowship and later for Derm residency.

2. I think you have to evaluate how your application stacks up to this point. The same questions apply as would be asked of any MS-4 student: tier of med school, class rank, are you AOA?, USMLE Step 1 score, Step 2 CK in your case (since you can't hide it like you could if you applied during MS-4), your preclinical and clinical grades. If you are able to do a dermatology elective with the derm program at your residency institution early on during your internship this is also helpful when applying for derm research fellowships. For many of these fellowships USMLE Step 3 is necessary in order to obtain a medical license.

3. More importantly, you need to sit with an academic dermatologist and have them thoroughly review your application. They should be honest about your chances and be able to pinpoint any weaknesses in your application, one of which you've already noted - lack of research.

There are TONS of dermatology research fellowships available out there, some which are advertised and some which are not, both in areas of basic science and clinical research. The "secret" is out on derm research fellowships being the back door to dermatology residency so certain places can be quite selective on who they are willing to take. They all have varied results and time commitments (some 1 year and some 2 years, before you can apply) with respect to matching their fellows and thus helping in your goal with eventually matching into dermatology. Gaining honest and forthcoming answers from fellows that have matched and not matched, is the key here. More importantly, you have be well aware that no matter what, there is absolutely no guarantee of matching into derm by doing a research fellowship. You can only increase your odds.

 

[Telekinesis]

Would doing a research fellowship help an average student? By average I mean a Step 1 score of 220-230.

 

[DermViser]

Would doing a research fellowship help an average student? By average I mean a Step 1 score of 220-230.

Depends what your other stats are. Step 1 score is one piece of the puzzle.

• Tier of Medical School
• Class Rank
• Preclinical Grades
• AOA/not AOA
• Clinical Grades