Official 2015-2016 GI Fellowship Application Cycle

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For some reason I thought we could submit on 7/1 but I guess it's 7/15. Good to know!
 
I cannot believe it's time again for interviews...best of luck to everyone!
 
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common mistakes to avoid during applying or interview process? Can any past applicants comment.
 
common mistakes to avoid during applying or interview process? Can any past applicants comment.

It's the same stuff you've done before... be polite, never speak ill of other programs, eye contact, smile... in other words, just use common sense and you will be fine. If a program has offered you an interview, that means they know you can do the work. It's simply a matter now of seeing you and seeing if you are someone they want to work with for at least 3 years. All the applicants are fantastic on paper and, at this point, there is no more time to separate yourself in that way. Interviews are important in that they can knock you down a list moreso than raise you up.

Something to keep in mind as well is that there is a giant game of leapfrog at the end of the interview process. At the end of the day, you may rank 3rd for example, until Dr. Soandso from Univ Hosp XYZ calls on behalf of their applicant, who will now bump you to 4th. You need to ask your program to make calls for you...something I didn't do and it almost cost me (I found out about this game after the fact).
 
@ nyscope- you have some great advice for the applicants. Appreciate your help. Do you advice my mentor to call all programs that I get an interview from?
 
@ nyscope- you have some great advice for the applicants. Appreciate your help. Do you advice my mentor to call all programs that I get an interview from?

Robert, you are welcome. I am glad you are finding my advice useful, but do you not have anyone at your institution who could've answered all of your questions the last few years? I am simply worried because you have so many (which is not a bad thing) so close to the application season (this COULD be a bad thing).

It depends on your mentor. First of all, make sure the person you are asking to make the call is someone who the PD will listen to. In other words, asking your Chief of Gastro who tours giving grand rounds on his/her area of expertise = thumbs up. A private doc who is great at making money and doesn't do anything academically = who cares?

Next, is your mentor someone who will gladly call for you, or are they super important/busy/to-the-point kind of a person? If it's the former, sure have them call a lot of programs. If it's the latter, maybe they will call 2 programs for you? I would pick places that I clicked with...in other words, if I had a shot at, say, Albert Einstein in Philly and they really liked me, but my heart was with UPenn even though they seemed very "meh" about my presence...I would hedge my bets and have the mentor call AE to solidify my place high up on their list.

It's counter intuitive...the Match doesn't penalize your chances based on ranking (it's a wishlist) but with personal phone calls, it can make a lot of difference or none at all...so you play the game the way you have been all along, not with the "ideal world" rules of the Match.
 
thanks nycscope for your continued input post match. one of the few still commenting. Good luck to everyone applying this year.
 
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thanks nycscope for your continued input post match. one of the few still commenting. Good luck to everyone applying this year.

Anytime. If my nailbiting and worrying when I was applying can help someone else avoid/curb some of that anxiety, at least I went through it with some benefit for somebody else.
 
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Hi everyone!! I have been lurking around this thread for the past couple of months, and I am very excited (and nervous) to apply for this upcoming cycle being as this is the 2nd time I'm applying. I hope we'll keep this thread active with updates and tips!!! Ok, only 8 days until this circus starts again!
 
Hello SDN! Excited to be applying next week. A question about LORs - wrong to send 3 + PD letter instead of 2 + PD letter? I have two from GI faculty (one quite junior) and one from chair of a dept (not GI). I'm sure all are great. Don't know which two to submit and whether the junior status of one my letter writers will hurt me. Thanks for your help!
 
6 more days! IMG on J1 in mid-level university program, some basic science research but nothing exceptional. Waiting for LORs to be uploaded. All the best guys! Keep your blood pressures down :)
 
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Hello SDN! Excited to be applying next week. A question about LORs - wrong to send 3 + PD letter instead of 2 + PD letter? I have two from GI faculty (one quite junior) and one from chair of a dept (not GI). I'm sure all are great. Don't know which two to submit and whether the junior status of one my letter writers will hurt me. Thanks for your help!
Why is this even an issue? You get 4 LOR slots, you have 4 potential LORs. Find something else to worry about.
 
Why is this even an issue? You get 4 LOR slots, you have 4 potential LORs. Find something else to worry about.

I guess what I meant was: is it obnoxious to send 4 LORs when most programs want only 3 (as quoted on their website)?
 
I guess what I meant was: is it obnoxious to send 4 LORs when most programs want only 3 (as quoted on their website)?
That depends on whether you think all 4 are good--if you think any one of them has a higher chance of being meh, dont submit it.
 
I guess what I meant was: is it obnoxious to send 4 LORs when most programs want only 3 (as quoted on their website)?
They say that they "require" 3. Any program that will ding you for submitting 4 is a place you don't want to be.
 
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Are there programs requiring supplemental information in addition to the ERAS application?
 
Hi, I wanted to ask people who are still waiting for LoRs to be verified. Are you guys planning on sending in your applications tomorrow or are you going to wait until they are available for programs to download?! I got my LoRs uploaded but also received a message that it will take 5 business days to verify.
 
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Send in your apps. You can go back and add letters afterward. HOWEVER, once a letter is finalized it CANNOT be removed/replaced...choose wisely, grasshopper.

Most programs download apps 2-3 times anyway. Some don't. It's in your interest to put your profile up as soon as you can.
 
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I recently accepted a research fellowship position in hepatology, but it does not start until Aug and I want to add it to my application. The problem is that it asks us to put only active positions. Should I wait until Aug to finalize my app and submit it or can I apply now and indicate that I will start a fellowship in the clinical experience section in Aug
 
Send in your apps. You can go back and add letters afterward. HOWEVER, once a letter is finalized it CANNOT be removed/replaced...choose wisely, grasshopper.

Most programs download apps 2-3 times anyway. Some don't. It's in your interest to put your profile up as soon as you can.

Do you mean that most programs download fellowship applications 2-3times per day?
 
Good luck everybody!! Hopefully we can keep this thread active with interview dates and program impressions!!!
 
Someone already got an interview on the Pulm/CC thread!!! Thats crazy and definitely the quickest turnaround I have ever heard of!!!
 
long time reader here, good luck everyone. seriously doubt offers coming this week already lol
 
Got a generic email today from UCSF requiring additional information like track, focus...
 
Got a generic email today from UCSF requiring additional information like track, focus...

Me too meaning that things are moving along. I'm still pretty surprised with people already having received interviews (on the ID and Pulm/CC threads).
 
This may be a stupid question but how do you know if a program has downloaded your application?
 
This may be a stupid question but how do you know if a program has downloaded your application?

You cannot check if a program has downloaded an application because ERAS removed that feature this year. Not sure why :mad:/
 
That doesn't help with the nerves at all!! Good luck everyone!
 
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Oh wait so the Track Documents feature doesn't get updated say from showing a document is "available" to "downloaded"? Darn!
 
Honestly, it really doesn't matter either way. It wasn't accurate last year, and, no matter how many times YOU look at it, the program will either download your app or not.
 
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Looks like people over at Pulm/CC, endo and ID are getting invites already. Seems like GI tend to give out interview invites around end of July/beginning of August, based on last years thread!
Need to stop checking my email every 5min.......who am I kidding ;@)
Good luck everybody! Happy thoughts!!!
 
One of my fellows told me he got his first interview invite on the 20th last year...guess we'll wait for tomorrow!
 
Last year the interviews were listed as US grads and IMGs. Although IMG is a common pool, not all require visa for fellowship(green cards, carribbean school US citizens) and that makes a huge difference in fellowship prospects. I would suggest we start entering fellowship ivs under 3 categories: US grads, IMG who dont need visa and IMG who need visa. That would be helpful especially if people have to think about back up plan.
 
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I have this confusion, may be you guys can help out. I have a letter from an attending in a top tier program in the country however the attending is one among 30-40 faculty and is not active in the fellowship selection. I worked with the attending for few months and have publications and posters. another one is program director of a mid tier program who i worked with during clinical away elective and got good reviews and he is the chief of the department.. which one to upload to programs generally?

Disclaimer: no idea about whats gonna on the LOR. It could be good or generic but by the info above, can u guys suggest which may be better of the two, as I have only one more LOR that i can upload.

thanks in advance
 
I have this confusion, may be you guys can help out. I have a letter from an attending in a top tier program in the country however the attending is one among 30-40 faculty and is not active in the fellowship selection. I worked with the attending for few months and have publications and posters. another one is program director of a mid tier program who i worked with during clinical away elective and got good reviews and he is the chief of the department.. which one to upload to programs generally?

Disclaimer: no idea about whats gonna on the LOR. It could be good or generic but by the info above, can u guys suggest which may be better of the two, as I have only one more LOR that i can upload.

thanks in advance

why not upload both? You can upload up to 4 LORs and frankly if you think any LOR won't be negative or too generic then just go ahead and upload it. my .02
 
why not upload both? You can upload up to 4 LORs and frankly if you think any LOR won't be negative or too generic then just go ahead and upload it. my .02
I have only 1 option left. i already have 3 in my application that i cant compromise. thats why the confusion. shd i go with the letter from dept chief and prog director (who may potentially want me to join his program) vs staff at top tier prog just for the logo in letterhead
 
I have only 1 option left. i already have 3 in my application that i cant compromise. thats why the confusion. shd i go with the letter from dept chief and prog director (who may potentially want me to join his program) vs staff at top tier prog just for the logo in letterhead
i would personally go with the one i felt was the stronger LOR i.e. the one that would be most flattering of me.
 
i would personally go with the one i felt was the stronger LOR i.e. the one that would be most flattering of me.
ya i am not sure of the content. but the work with PD is most recent within last 4 months n he is bound to remember better from clinical side. might jus go with him for the chief and program director titles i guess.
 
on a side note pulm/cc group seems robustly active with multiple members pitching in their comments n views. our gi group 1:100 leechers ratio - not so good
 
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Just pitching in to help stem the tide of inevitable freakout...

Looking back at old emails, I got my first interview 8/15, with 4 invites coming in over the next week and then some more scattered aaaaaaall the way till 9/30.
Second half of August into the first week of September was money last year, I would think this year would be similar.
 
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Yeah, I noticed from prior GI threads that interviews for GI tend to come in on the later side compared to the other specialties (still cannot believe people over in the Pulm/CC got interviews on day 1 aka July 15th). Trying to not spaz out and check my email or SDN to see whether there is any activity in the interview invites.
Hope we can keep this thread active (noticed the other threads already have multiple pages)!
 
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