derm research fellowships not requiring prior pgy-1 training?

[alibaba98]

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i know that most derm research fellowships are for candidates who have already completed their intern year, but i'm wondering if there are any that current medical students are eligible to apply for. i'm a derm applicant for this current cycle and while i have a decent number of interview invites, i'm trying to make back up plans in case it doesn't work out. i've met some reapplicants on the interview trail and some have said that if one doesn't match, there is an advantage to pulling out of the match entirely, keeping one's status as a US senior medical student to reapply next year. i guess one would then try to do an extra year of research or pursue a degree such as mph during the next year's application cycle, but i'm wondering how feasible that is, and if there are even any derm research fellowships that would take senior medical students. any information, insight or advice would be appreciated! (also sorry if this information has been posted elsewhere already, which i haven't seen.) thanks!

 

[DermViser]

i know that most derm research fellowships are for candidates who have already completed their intern year, but i'm wondering if there are any that current medical students are eligible to apply for. i'm a derm applicant for this current cycle and while i have a decent number of interview invites, i'm trying to make back up plans in case it doesn't work out. i've met some reapplicants on the interview trail and some have said that if one doesn't match, there is an advantage to pulling out of the match entirely, keeping one's status as a US senior medical student to reapply next year. i guess one would then try to do an extra year of research or pursue a degree such as mph during the next year's application cycle, but i'm wondering how feasible that is, and if there are even any derm research fellowships that would take senior medical students. any information, insight or advice would be appreciated! (also sorry if this information has been posted elsewhere already, which i haven't seen.) thanks!

There is HHMI and Doris Duke but it's pretty difficult to get those.

Any derm fellowship done as a med student will likely be something you set up on your own, will be unpaid or on a volunteer basis. You're pretty useless without a medical license to your PI. Hence why those who don't match this cycle, enter derm research fellowships after their intern year, as it's very unlikely your school will delay your graduation after March when you're 2 months away. I guess you could pursue an MPH or MS in research but that has to be available at your school, most likely and would likely have to be derm related to make a difference.

 

[dermie1985]

i know that most derm research fellowships are for candidates who have already completed their intern year, but i'm wondering if there are any that current medical students are eligible to apply for. i'm a derm applicant for this current cycle and while i have a decent number of interview invites, i'm trying to make back up plans in case it doesn't work out. i've met some reapplicants on the interview trail and some have said that if one doesn't match, there is an advantage to pulling out of the match entirely, keeping one's status as a US senior medical student to reapply next year. i guess one would then try to do an extra year of research or pursue a degree such as mph during the next year's application cycle, but i'm wondering how feasible that is, and if there are even any derm research fellowships that would take senior medical students. any information, insight or advice would be appreciated! (also sorry if this information has been posted elsewhere already, which i haven't seen.) thanks!

Responding to the above bolded part of the post. I don't understand this logic? You can't "not match" and "pull out of the match". You have to enter the match in order to see if that you "did not match", so I assume these people were suggesting you not rank any programs and just try again...essentially graduating a year late from medical school so you could re-apply as a senior medical student for "another go"?

If you have a "decent" amount of interview invites then your chances are matching are pretty good. Even applicants who ranked 5 programs last year had a 70% chance of matching (those are actually pretty decent odds). Even 4 programs was 57% (better than chance).

Furthermore, taking an extra year before internship essentially means you'd be re-applying next cycle, with probably very little actual change to your application. I can't imagine the outcome would be much different (if anything, worse...since programs who've liked you enough this year to have interviewed you wouldn't necessarily re-invite you for a second time).

I'd go on your interviews, try and perform well, rank your programs and see how you do.

The most logical back-up plan is...in my opinion....to rank matching into at least a decent internal medicine (preliminary) program (NOT transitional year programs) and figuring out what to do from there. This could be mean (1) re-applying in derm (2) re-applying in a different advanced residency that's easier to match into (3) continuing with your prelim program (or elsewhere) in internal medicine (4) finding another passion outside clinical medicine like consulting, business, finance, pharmaceutical work, etc. if you can't fathom a career in medicine that isn't dermatology. We're all smart and talented, you'll be fine in the end.

 

[DermViser]

Responding to the above bolded part of the post. I don't understand this logic? You can't "not match" and "pull out of the match". You have to enter the match in order to see if that you "did not match", so I assume these people were suggesting you not rank any programs and just try again...essentially graduating a year late from medical school so you could re-apply as a senior medical student for "another go"?

If you have a "decent" amount of interview invites then your chances are matching are pretty good. Even applicants who ranked 5 programs last year had a 70% chance of matching (those are actually pretty decent odds). Even 4 programs was 57% (better than chance).

Furthermore, taking an extra year before internship essentially means you'd be re-applying next cycle, with probably very little actual change to your application. I can't imagine the outcome would be much different (if anything, worse...since programs who've liked you enough this year to have interviewed you wouldn't necessarily re-invite you for a second time).

I'd go on your interviews, try and perform well, rank your programs and see how you do.

The most logical back-up plan is...in my opinion....to rank matching into at least a decent internal medicine (preliminary) program (NOT transitional year programs) and figuring out what to do from there. This could be mean (1) re-applying in derm (2) re-applying in a different advanced residency that's easier to match into (3) continuing with your prelim program (or elsewhere) in internal medicine (4) finding another passion outside clinical medicine like consulting, business, finance, pharmaceutical work, etc. if you can't fathom a career in medicine that isn't dermatology. We're all smart and talented, you'll be fine in the end.

I believe he may have meant pulling out of graduating in May from med school and extend his graduation date.

 

[alibaba98]

Hi, thanks for both of your replies! So what I meant by pulling out of the match is that when you find out on the Monday of match week that you didn't match into derm, just to drop out of the match entirely (giving up prelim/TY) and delaying graduation for another year. This is what I heard from someone (who had matched into derm last year) from a very good derm program where he said that was his PD's advice, since the PD believed that US seniors had better chances than independent reapplicants. I also heard this from an actual reapplicant this year from a different school (with home derm program). I know it's med school dependent though, in terms of letting you delay graduation. And I agree it would probably make more difference in your application if you did intern year and then substantial research in a fellowship, but just wondering if there were fellowships for med students. But I get that most gap year research for med students are more independent, unofficial set ups. It just seemed like an appealing option (reapplying as US senior while doing another year of research or MPH/MS) because you wouldn't have a "gap" year like you did internship, then research fellowship while applying for the next, next year's derm opening. But it seems probably hard to pull off.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the thoughts and encouragement!

 

[DermViser]

Hi, thanks for both of your replies! So what I meant by pulling out of the match is that when you find out on the Monday of match week that you didn't match into derm, just to drop out of the match entirely (giving up prelim/TY) and delaying graduation for another year. This is what I heard from someone (who had matched into derm last year) from a very good derm program where he said that was his PD's advice, since the PD believed that US seniors had better chances than independent reapplicants. I also heard this from an actual reapplicant this year from a different school (with home derm program). I know it's med school dependent though, in terms of letting you delay graduation. And I agree it would probably make more difference in your application if you did intern year and then substantial research in a fellowship, but just wondering if there were fellowships for med students. But I get that most gap year research for med students are more independent, unofficial set ups. It just seemed like an appealing option (reapplying as US senior while doing another year of research or MPH/MS) because you wouldn't have a "gap" year like you did internship, then research fellowship while applying for the next, next year's derm opening. But it seems probably hard to pull off.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the thoughts and encouragement!

If you match into an internship only (prelim/TY) you have to go to that internship. That's where you've matched.

 

[alibaba98]

Thanks for clarifying! Hmm, I'm confused now since I haven't been through this myself yet. On the Monday of match week, do they tell you that you have "matched" without specifying whether it is derm or not? I thought the people telling me this were saying that if you didn't match derm you could drop out. But I see what you mean as well. Maybe there is some way of tying the prelim/TY programs to derms so that if you didn't match derm you automatically don't match prelim/TY and then can pull out of the match? (Or soap into another categorical program like pathology since you have no prelim/TY.)

 

[DermViser]

Thanks for clarifying! Hmm, I'm confused now since I haven't been through this myself yet. On the Monday of match week, do they tell you that you have "matched" without specifying whether it is derm or not? I thought the people telling me this were saying that if you didn't match derm you could drop out. But I see what you mean as well. Maybe there is some way of tying the prelim/TY programs to derms so that if you didn't match derm you automatically don't match prelim/TY and then can pull out of the match? (Or soap into another categorical program like pathology since you have no prelim/TY.)

On Monday you find out what you have matched to - whether that be an internship only or internship + derm, or in rare cases if you just matched derm (w/o internship), in which case you just SOAP into any prelim or TY left.

 

[username456789]

On Monday you find out what you have matched to - whether that be an internship only or internship + derm, or in rare cases if you just matched derm (w/o internship), in which case you just SOAP into any prelim or TY left.

Unless you're someone who ranked another advanced/categorical residency (like, for instance, Radiology). In that instance, you may know you matched to either Rads or Derm (not just a prelim year), but won't know which until Friday.

 

[DermViser]

Unless you're someone who ranked another advanced/categorical residency (like, for instance, Radiology). In that instance, you may know you matched to either Rads or Derm (not just a prelim year), but won't know which until Friday.

Correct.

If you matched to only an internship it will say, "Congratulations, you have matched to a one year position!"

If you matched to a categorical or an internship + advanced specialty it will say "Congratulations, you have matched!" and you won't find out which specialty until Friday, if you applied to a backup.

 

[alibaba98]

Ok, thanks for the info!