ID - Competitiveness of particular programs

[Lifelong Student]

Long time lurker, first time poster. So I'm going to apply for ID Fellowship. I've already pretty much worked out a long-list (still needs to be narrowed down) of which programs are most desirable for my particular needs. I'd certainly be glad to brainstorm about that, but I have a slightly different question for anyone who chooses to take it up.

Obviously, I want to fulfill the time-honored strategy of having a mix of "reach," "realistic," and "relative safety" programs. I don't really know how to figure out whether I'm over-shooting (or under-shooting) with the whole list. Does anyone know how to go about figuring out how *competitive* a given ID program is? The conventional wisdom of which programs are accepted as the "best" breaks down a little once you get into subspecialties, but does the same hold true for competitiveness?

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[IM2GI]

Are you at a reasonable university program? There probably is no such thing as a "reach" program in ID.

 

[Lifelong Student]

Are you at a reasonable university program? There probably is no such thing as a "reach" program in ID.

Meshes with what I''ve heard, but have been steered wrong before.

Categorical IM resident at a Midwestern academic program that's usually listed in the low-mid tier (not top 50), MD/PhD from a med school of similar prestige level.

 

[gutonc]

The "Top 10" (or whatever small number you want to use, 3, 5, etc) programs in any specialty/sub-specialty are going to be competitive. That said, the Top 10 ID programs are probably overall easier to get into than the Top 10 IM programs.

Now...what those programs are? I have no idea.

 

[id_id]

The "Top 10" (or whatever small number you want to use, 3, 5, etc) programs in any specialty/sub-specialty are going to be competitive. That said, the Top 10 ID programs are probably overall easier to get into than the Top 10 IM programs.

Now...what those programs are? I have no idea.

I post for internal medicine under a different name. This one is just for ID. After a lot of research and interviews at a number of these places for residency and/or fellowship, I'd rank the "top" ID programs as shown below. This is only my opinion, loosely based in reality. Competitiveness is different. You will get some competition at the top, but not as much for fellowship as there was for residency. Lower on the list, it is less a matter of stiff competition than of meeting the program's standards. If they have 15 people that they like, they will rank 15 people and accept the risk of not filling rather than ranking 25. Some programs will rely on keeping their own to fill. Others have more regional or national pull.

Partners
Hopkins
UWash
Penn
UCSF

UCSD
UNC
Baylor
Duke
Cornell

Case
Emory
Vanderbilt
Sinai
Columbia

Yale
Northwestern
UAB
Einstein
Stanford

Colorado
WashU
UCLA
Virginia
Wisconsin

 

[medicine4me]

1. "reach" is a relative term. For someone coming from a mid-tier program(?), Columbia and UCSD, for example, were definitely reaches for me.
2. I think competitiveness does relate a tiny bit to those sub specialties again. For example, competitive programs with strengths in hospital epidemiology are much different than those with strengths in HIV ( which the classic "top 10" have mostly made their name on).

Is your PhD work in the ID realm?

 

[thierryhenry]

Can someone comment on the accuracy of this list. I am investigating where to do an away rotation. This list seems fairly accurate to me, but someone who is a recent fellow of these programs, program director or recent Attending in ID could comment. Much appreciated

Partners
Hopkins
UWash
Penn
UCSF

UCSD
UNC
Baylor
Duke
Cornell

Case
Emory
Vanderbilt
Sinai
Columbia

Yale
Northwestern
UAB
Einstein
Stanford

Colorado
WashU
UCLA
Virginia
Wisconsin

 

[thierryhenry]

Bump thread, please reply to above post.
Thanks.

 

[justanotherstudent88]

Bump. Can anyone comment on the accuracy of the above list?

 

[tartesos]

Bump thread, please reply to above post.
Thanks.

Maybe there's no one from those places lurking here, I'm sorry I can't tell you more, the one thing I can tell you from experience is if you are interested in transplant ID upitt and UAB are great at that.

Good luck!

 

[thierryhenry]

Thank you.