Student Fellowship

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Bomikepa

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My school as a medical student pathology fellowship that you can do between year 2 and 3 or 3 and 4. Its a full year and its paid, some people in it say its great to do and its a good place to get some research time in too. Would doing something like this help your chances at getting into a dermatology fellowship.

"Pathology student fellows are fully integrated into the daily case work of the Pathology Department, working alongside residents, and working closely with faculty, often in a one-on-one situation. Student fellows participate in autopsy prosection, frozen section preparation, dissection of surgical pathology specimens. Student fellows preview microscopic slides from their cases and manage them up until faculty approval of final Pathology report. Student fellows present autopsy cases and Departmental and hospital conferences, attend Departmental lectures and Grand Rounds, and are encouraged to participate in laboratory teaching."

what do you folks think?

to be clear its medical student fellowship...not a fellowship after residency

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My school as a medical student pathology fellowship that you can do between year 2 and 3 or 3 and 4. Its a full year and its paid, some people in it say its great to do and its a good place to get some research time in too. Would doing something like this help your chances at getting into a dermatology fellowship.

"Pathology student fellows are fully integrated into the daily case work of the Pathology Department, working alongside residents, and working closely with faculty, often in a one-on-one situation. Student fellows participate in autopsy prosection, frozen section preparation, dissection of surgical pathology specimens. Student fellows preview microscopic slides from their cases and manage them up until faculty approval of final Pathology report. Student fellows present autopsy cases and Departmental and hospital conferences, attend Departmental lectures and Grand Rounds, and are encouraged to participate in laboratory teaching."

what do you folks think?

to be clear its medical student fellowship...not a fellowship after residency

If your goal is to match specifically in dermatology, I would probably recommend against it (unless your derm department is closely intertwined with the path department). If you are going to make the sacrifice of taking a year off, I would make sure it's a derm-specific fellowship. You want a derm-specific fellowship (for medical students) because it will allow you get more meaningful letters from derm attendings and derm-specific research that can be published in the dermatology literature.

You'll also want to look for a program with a history of matching its fellows into dermatology.
 
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If your goal is to match specifically in dermatology, I would probably recommend against it (unless your derm department is closely intertwined with the path department). If you are going to make the sacrifice of taking a year off, I would make sure it's a derm-specific fellowship. You want a derm-specific fellowship (for medical students) because it will allow you get more meaningful letters from derm attendings and derm-specific research that can be published in the dermatology literature.

You'll also want to look for a program with a history of matching its fellows into dermatology.

Agreed. OP, you're looking for one or two strong letters from well known Derms and a bunch of pubs that you can put in your CV if you end up taking a year off.
 
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I can do student fellowships at other medical schools than my own? I didn't know that was allowed....doesn't your own school have to sign off on it?

What programs are there that allow students from other schools to do a student derm fellowship?
 
I can do student fellowships at other medical schools than my own? I didn't know that was allowed....doesn't your own school have to sign off on it?

What programs are there that allow students from other schools to do a student derm fellowship?

You can go anywhere, really. Look at the fellowship opportunities (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/internship-residency-and-fellowship-positions.290/) and search for dermatology. email the coordinators and ask them.
 
I think if you want to do derm (and already know this), then a research year should be focused on derm and not pathology. I honestly feel like 1/2 of my interviews came as a result of the letter from my derm research mentor from my research year, as pretty much everyone has mentioned it. I know someone who did a similar path year and has really struggled with getting interviews this season despite being otherwise stellar, mainly because he/she didn't have a strong personal letter from a derm who really knew them.

Plenty of people do research years at other institutions (if your home program doesn't have any opportunities). Places like UCSF, UPenn, Harvard, Hopkins, etc. all offer funded research positions either for unmatched PGY1's with an MD or for MS2/3's looking for a research year. It's mainly just hunting them down and finding a mentor and funding source.
 
I think if you want to do derm (and already know this), then a research year should be focused on derm and not pathology. I honestly feel like 1/2 of my interviews came as a result of the letter from my derm research mentor from my research year, as pretty much everyone has mentioned it. I know someone who did a similar path year and has really struggled with getting interviews this season despite being otherwise stellar, mainly because he/she didn't have a strong personal letter from a derm who really knew them.

Plenty of people do research years at other institutions (if your home program doesn't have any opportunities). Places like UCSF, UPenn, Harvard, Hopkins, etc. all offer funded research positions either for unmatched PGY1's with an MD or for MS2/3's looking for a research year. It's mainly just hunting them down and finding a mentor and funding source.

Agreed, there are also formal fellowships you can apply for: Doris Duke, Fogarty/Fulbright, NIH-MRSP, and the HHMI-RSP. The problems with these is that Doris Duke, Fogarty, and the Fulbright are international fellowships, so people may or may not know your research mentor. The NIH has tons of research, except in dermatology, and the big name at the NIH, Dr. Katz, does not normally take medical students into his lab. However, you can find an overalp project in oncology/rhem/allergy. The HHMI-RSP can be tricky in derm because there is only one derm specific HHMI investigator, and if you want to work with someone who is not an HHMI investigator, they need to have a high-profile, well funded lab/career. While this is relatively easy to find in internal medicine sub-specialties, there are very few dermatologists who have equally impressive credentials

After rank lists are submitted, or possibly after match day, I want to start a thread on research opportunities, and hopefully others will contribute. If I had to estimate, I'd say that about one-third of all applicants I have met have done a research year. I do think it helped me, but I unrealistically believed that it would make me special and that it would make my application standout
 
Agreed, there are also formal fellowships you can apply for: Doris Duke, Fogarty/Fulbright, NIH-MRSP, and the HHMI-RSP. The problems with these is that Doris Duke, Fogarty, and the Fulbright are international fellowships, so people may or may not know your research mentor. The NIH has tons of research, except in dermatology, and the big name at the NIH, Dr. Katz, does not normally take medical students into his lab. However, you can find an overalp project in oncology/rhem/allergy. The HHMI-RSP can be tricky in derm because there is only one derm specific HHMI investigator, and if you want to work with someone who is not an HHMI investigator, they need to have a high-profile, well funded lab/career. While this is relatively easy to find in internal medicine sub-specialties, there are very few dermatologists who have equally impressive credentials

After rank lists are submitted, or possibly after match day, I want to start a thread on research opportunities, and hopefully others will contribute. If I had to estimate, I'd say that about one-third of all applicants I have met have done a research year. I do think it helped me, but I unrealistically believed that it would make me special and that it would make my application standout

I remember you mentioning this in another thread. were you dissapointed by the lack of interviews at top tier places, or the lack of interviews in general?
 
I remember you mentioning this in another thread. were you dissapointed by the lack of interviews at top tier places, or the lack of interviews in general?

I have been fortunate that I got a lot of interviews, however, I did not get a lot at top (research heavy) programs. I thought doing well on Step 1, being AOA, having several first author pubs, and a research year would net me interviews at several top programs, but it did not. I think coming from a non-top ten school killed my app. In the end, I am fortunate for the interviews I received, and I hope things work out for the best.
 
I have been fortunate that I got a lot of interviews, however, I did not get a lot at top (research heavy) programs. I thought doing well on Step 1, being AOA, having several first author pubs, and a research year would net me interviews at several top programs, but it did not. I think coming from a non-top ten school killed my app. In the end, I am fortunate for the interviews I received, and I hope things work out for the best.

I'm confident things will go well. I think with derm there is more of a focus on pedigree than with other fields. Uro applicants at my school (state school that is not highly ranked) got tons of interviews at top programs with little research at all.
 
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