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How competitive is it to get into a Hem/Onc Fellowship? What do you reccomend one does as a medical student? Thanks for the advice.
Competiveness of Hem/Onc
- Thread starter piano7
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H/O is getting more competitive but it's still not Cards or GI. Quite honestly, I think a lot of the "competitiveness" at least this year and last is due to using the Match and ERAS which makes it simple for anybody to apply to any program they want...just pony up some extra cash, no extra work required. So now you'll see people applying to 50+ programs (of which they may be competitve for 10) where in the past they would only apply to the 10 places they knew/thought they had a chance at.
I was at an interview earlier this week (large, midwestern comprehensive cancer center with a truckload of cash) where the PD was complaining about this very thing. They still pretty much interview the same 40 or so people they used to (pre-Match/ERAS) but now they have to wade through 500 crap applications to get them (rather than the 80-100 they used to get).
So, to answer the original question, do well in school, do a little research, rock the Steps, etc, etc, etc. Basically, the same you would do in order to get any more competitive residency/fellowship. The simplest thing you can do (assuming you're not already in school somewhere) is to go to a US med school. Being an AMG won't necessarily make you a better doc (there are plenty of fantastic I/FMG docs and plenty of crap AMG docs) but it will, in general, make your life much eaiser and, pound-for-pound, make you a better candidate.
Honestly, you should just relax at this point. Do well in school and you'll be fine.
