Away from desired practice region in residency -- how do I set myself for fellowship + beyond?

[luckysevens202]

Hey all - I'm a current R2 (PGY-3) at a mid-tier program in the Northeast interested in MSK.

How difficult is it generally to obtain fellowship in "desirable" West Coast cities, particularly San Diego or Los Angeles? Just from a cursory review, it looks like the university MSK programs in LA just have 1 - 2 positions. Accounting for possible internal filling, I'm a little concerned as I would really prefer to be back in L.A. and set myself up for career practice in the region.

Is there anything I should be doing to position myself to be back in the region now outside of good rotation evals? I'm imagining getting back to California will be as competitive as in residency, which is why I ask. Thanks!

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[qwerty89]

Find Fellowships | Society of Skeletal Radiology

skeletalrad.org

I can't speak to the competitiveness of CA MSK fellowship programs but there is the complete list. This includes non-university affiliated programs such as the northern and southern california RADNET programs.

One thing to note is that prior to the MSK fellowship match UCSD used to have way more fellowship spots. According to Fellows

there were apparently 16 MSK fellows in the 2015-2016 academic year. This was because prior to the match the spots were largely unfunded. I.E. you got paid either a small paltry stipend (think a couple months rent in SD) or not paid at all. You were expected to live off moonlighting money, spouse or savings. After the match was created the program changed and now has only 5 spots which are all fully funded.

Musculoskeletal Imaging Fellowship

"How many fellows do you take?
We will be accepting and providing full funding and benefits to approximately 5 fellows ."

Fellowship testimonials from former residents in the old system can be seen here: UCSD Musculoskeletal Radiology

"I had my eyes set at the San Diego MSK fellowship long before finishing residency. I thought that after all the years of training I should not let one more year of money strain get in the way of the best training possible. I was absolutely right. I can't say it was very easy living in San Diego for a year without funding but I can assure you it was totally worth it. I have been working as an attending now for two years and the debts have been paid and forgotten. The experience at UCSD I will have forever."

"Why you should NOT consider this fellowship:


There isn't a good reason not to do this fellowship. However, if

you're in it for the money, look elsewhere. If you have financial

and family considerations during the fellowship, know that there

will be challenging times ahead. Limited internal moonlighting is

available, but I wouldn't count on it to pay all the bills. Save

aggressively prior to the fellowship, sign up for weekend locums

(tough-but it can be done), talk to a group beforehand or get a

loan. Somehow just find a method to support your fellowship year and

I guarantee you will look back and agree that the experience was

priceless. Thanks again to all the bone section staff and fellows!"




What this means is that the old system was probably less competitive overall compared to today since there were way more spots and the lack of funding probably turned off lots of applicants.

 

[luckysevens202]

@qwerty89 , thanks for the informative post -- yeah I had looked through the first link which made me begin looking.

Outside of the radnet programs, looks like there is just USC, UCSD, UCLA, Irvine and Cedars-Sinai in SoCal... all of which take 1 -2 residents according to that link. I see the prospective of internal filling pretty high, unless I'm wrong, which makes me a bit concerned about how I can get back home for fellowship in my desired area. As I'll be applying within the next year -- I'm wondering what I can do at this stage to bolster my prospects.