Competetiveness of Orthopedic fellowships

[DoctwoB]

I was wondering if anybody could tell me about the relative competitiveness of the ortho fellowships? I've heard that Foot/ankle is pretty easy, while I imagine spine is pretty competitive. What about ortho trauma or ortho oncology?

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[perilou]

I was wondering if anybody could tell me about the relative competitiveness of the ortho fellowships? I've heard that Foot/ankle is pretty easy, while I imagine spine is pretty competitive. What about ortho trauma or ortho oncology?

I've heard that spine is not really that competitive. Tumor is same.

The only one I've heard being even relatively competitive would be sports.

This is just "getting in." Of course, the big name fellowships will always be competitive. But if you're just wanting "a spot," then what I typed above is what I've heard.

 

[GAdoc]

I've heard that spine is not really that competitive. Tumor is same.

The only one I've heard being even relatively competitive would be sports.

This is just "getting in." Of course, the big name fellowships will always be competitive. But if you're just wanting "a spot," then what I typed above is what I've heard.

I agree...I'm on my second away rotation right now and I've asked several of the chiefs about this (since most of them are currently applying for fellowships).

With orthopaedics, "fellowship" doesn't mean the same thing as it does for general surgery or internal medicine. In those fields, the ACGME monitors the curriculum of the fellowship and most of them have their own sub-specialty boards. In orthopaedics, a fellowship usually just means you spent an extra year working with someone in your desired sub-specialty. How competitive it is depends on the name of that person. According to one chief, the tough part is getting into ortho, if you want a fellowship you'll get it.