Do the fellowship apps include med school GPA/transcripts? What about med school class rank? Do they include undergrad transcripts like when applying to residency? Just curious.
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Fellowship App - include med school GPA/transcript?
Started by rocketbooster
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No med school GPA or transcripts as far as I recall. Definitely no undergrad information. More important is residency performance, step exam and okap exam performance and letters of recommendation.
Actually, a few of the fellowships that I applied to asked for med school transcripts AND college transcripts. I thought that was pretty ridiculous and didn't bother applying to them (too much of a pain). Quite a few asked for OKAP scores as well, even though that wasn't the originally intention of the OKAPs. Puts the pressure on for sure!
When I applied recently for retina fellowships, of 22 that I looked into applying and wrote down requirements for, 0 asked for OKAP scores, 6 asked for medical school transcripts, 2 asked for undergrad transcripts, 1 asked for a copy of the medical school Dean's letter, 1 asked for an additional essay, 1 had a questionnaire, and 2 programs asked for a program director's letter separate from the 3 in the SFM application. I don't think anyone asks for class rank (unless it's stated in the Dean's letter, but not that many programs ask for Dean's letters). Many wanted CVs and photos.
These responses surprise me...how do fellowships even pick residents then? Don't seem to have many objective things?
Even for more competitive fields like retina and glaucoma, does pretty much everyone match somewhere?
Even for more competitive fields like retina and glaucoma, does pretty much everyone match somewhere?
Somehow it works because the same group of candidates usually interview at similar caliber programs, like it was for residency interviews. So there is surprisingly a decent degree of consistency between selection committees at different programs. ASOPRS oculoplastics probably has the lowest match rate. Does anyone have an actual number? Surgical retina is probably the next most competitive. The other subspecialities are less competitive, but the coveted programs are still obviously hard to get into, and/or if you are geographically limited and can apply to only a few programs.
I'm not a resident yet, but I would guess that the reputation of your residency program plays a large role in fellowship apps (sort of like how your med school had a big impact on where you got residency interviews)
