I am a medical student at a top 20 medical school interested in derm. My home program seems to fill nearly all of their derm spots through internal 1-2 year fellowships and I have found out recently many of them are unpaid, particularly the ones done after 3rd year. I have no economic support from my family and it will be very difficult financially for me to do this (would have to take out more loans) particularly because the cost of living if so high here (~30k/year). I was wondering how common this is at other programs? Honestly I was surprised these fellowships are so competitive here as prior fellows also had little to no research (many spent time answering phones, making appts, seeing pts etc), and some did not even match after being promised a spot. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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Unpaid fellowships?
- Thread starter sam91
- Start date
I am a medical student at a top 20 medical school interested in derm. My home program seems to fill nearly all of their derm spots through internal 1-2 year fellowships and I have found out recently many of them are unpaid, particularly the ones done after 3rd year. I have no economic support from my family and it will be very difficult financially for me to do this (would have to take out more loans) particularly because the cost of living if so high here (~30k/year). I was wondering how common this is at other programs? Honestly I was surprised these fellowships are so competitive here as prior fellows also had little to no research (many spent time answering phones, making appts, seeing pts etc), and some did not even match after being promised a spot. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I'm sorry, what's your question? Seems a bit unclear from your post.
I am a medical student at a top 20 medical school interested in derm. My home program seems to fill nearly all of their derm spots through internal 1-2 year fellowships and I have found out recently many of them are unpaid, particularly the ones done after 3rd year. I have no economic support from my family and it will be very difficult financially for me to do this (would have to take out more loans) particularly because the cost of living if so high here (~30k/year). I was wondering how common this is at other programs? Honestly I was surprised these fellowships are so competitive here as prior fellows also had little to no research (many spent time answering phones, making appts, seeing pts etc), and some did not even match after being promised a spot. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Not to be technical, but the year off that a student takes in between 3rd year and 4th year, isn't really a research fellowship. I know the sounds like quibbling, but your responsiblities will be quite different as a medical student taking a year off vs. a post-MD derm research fellow. A student is voluntarily taking off a year from medical school in the attempt to brighten his/her application usually with more derm publications. A post-MD derm research fellow not only is doing what you're doing, but they actually have a job with clinical responsibilities -- writing notes and evaluating study patients, holding down the fort when the fellowship director is traveling, going to Derm clinic and seeing patients just like the residents, etc.
The reason that medical students aren't paid is because you don't have a medical license to do anything. With a medical license (usually a full license after an internship and Step 3), you can do work that the fellowship director doesn't have to do: enrolling patients in clinical trials and tracking them thru studies, as well as acting as a resident in their Derm clinic, etc.
As far as how common it is for derm programs to take med students who took off a year or post-MD fellows can vary A LOT by the program and the program's culture, which is dependent on how open the faculty are to taking their fellows. I don't think there is a program that takes every single spot in a given year by a fellow or a student who took a year off, but there are some that have taken quite a few in a year from their fellows. It used to be a lot easier, without this all-in rule to where fellows would get out-of-match spots, but I don't know how it works now when spots that start immediately for July pop up.
As far as being "promised" a spot - if I had a nickel...
Sorry if my previous post was unclear. I was wondering if this type of fellowship is the norm at other programs? If so is there any way to obtain funding from outside sources even if it's not a research fellowship? I'm a little worried about continuing to pursue derm if many programs essentially require this type of thing. Thanks!
It is not a requirement to take a year off to match into derm. There are some funded opportunities for med students: Doris Duke, HHMI, ones you can get a stipend - American Skin Association, National Psoriasis Foundation, etc.Sorry if my previous post was unclear. I was wondering if this type of fellowship is the norm at other programs? If so is there any way to obtain funding from outside sources even if it's not a research fellowship? I'm a little worried about continuing to pursue derm if many programs essentially require this type of thing. Thanks!
