Changing my mind about fellowship...

[ReviewOfSystems]

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Hello all,

I am currently a PGY3 in IM. Up until a month or two ago, I had every intention on going into primary care/general IM and public health, and have been focused on getting my MPH during residency. However, I am now considering doing a fellowship in cardiology, as I my interests are shifting more toward general/preventive cardiology.

I go to a mid-tier University IM program, AMG, Step 1-3 mid 230s, average IM resident, no red flags. My issue is that, other than work on my public health degree, I have ZERO research/publications (like, not even a poster to speak of). Further, I have no connections with any cardiology faculty (I did well on the rotations, however). If you were to look at my CV, you could not currently tell that my interests lie in cardiology.

I was told by some of my general IM mentors to apply anyway this year because they would write me good letters, but I didn't think I would be even remotely competitive, so I sat it out.

I will be taking a job as a hospitalist after graduation. What do you think I can do in the upcoming 1-2 years to make my cardiology application as competitive as possible?

 

[rokshana]

Hello all,

I am currently a PGY3 in IM. Up until a month or two ago, I had every intention on going into primary care/general IM and public health, and have been focused on getting my MPH during residency. However, I am now considering doing a fellowship in cardiology, as I my interests are shifting more toward general/preventive cardiology.

I go to a mid-tier University IM program, AMG, Step 1-3 mid 230s, average IM resident, no red flags. My issue is that, other than work on my public health degree, I have ZERO research/publications (like, not even a poster to speak of). Further, I have no connections with any cardiology faculty (I did well on the rotations, however). If you were to look at my CV, you could not currently tell that my interests lie in cardiology.

I was told by some of my general IM mentors to apply anyway this year because they would write me good letters, but I didn't think I would be even remotely competitive, so I sat it out.

I will be taking a job as a hospitalist after graduation. What do you think I can do in the upcoming 1-2 years to make my cardiology application as competitive as possible?

you have ~ 6 months at a university program, so try to make the most of the time you have there...see if there are any short term projects that you could get on, make some contacts with the cards attendings and tell them you are interested in going into cards and is there anything they can help you with.

 

[Trogghunter]

Some programs have 1yr research fellowships for cardiology that you may be able to get into as a 'bridge' to a fellowship. You could always take a year and work while nourishing contacts/networking with the goal of fellowship.

 

[ROBINHO]

U need letters from cards faculty.
The next 6 months try and schedule some electives with the cardiology division. And there must be some mini projects that you can get yourself involved in for the next 6 months

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

If I were in your shoes, I'd try to get involved in an easy/small project like others have suggested which you can work on. You don't need to have a publication before you apply, but it'd be nice to have something you can mention as an ongoing project to discuss when you're on the interview trail. My general impression is that if you come from a decent academic program, odds are you'll match somewhere as long as you aren't dead set on going to CCF or Brigham or whatever for cards.

Also, others may disagree - but I probably wouldn't delay applying for much longer than a year - some programs don't like it when there are large gaps between residency and the application for fellowship

 

[rokshana]

If I were in your shoes, I'd try to get involved in an easy/small project like others have suggested which you can work on. You don't need to have a publication before you apply, but it'd be nice to have something you can mention as an ongoing project to discuss when you're on the interview trail. My general impression is that if you come from a decent academic program, odds are you'll match somewhere as long as you aren't dead set on going to CCF or Brigham or whatever for cards.

Also, others may disagree - but I probably wouldn't delay applying for much longer than a year - some programs don't like it when there are large gaps between residency and the application for fellowship

For cards I agree...the programs have their choice and can be selective...easy enough to set a filter for that