Fellowship Applications

[Finite Incantatem]

Hello!

I'm currently a resident looking into fellowship options (Neuro, MSK or Mammo) and was wondering if anyone would be able to offer some insight re: number of applications for fellowship.

A bit of background info: Current resident at a midwest academic institution, wanting to pursue fellowship closer to family in either West Coast or East Coast, or at the very least in a larger urban area. Most residents in my program end up staying for fellowship or applying to specialties outside the match (and get offered positions after only a few interviews), so I haven't been able to get a lot of useful info as to what an appropriate number of programs would be. People just tell me fellowships aren't very competitive and shouldn't be a problem, but is it enough to apply to 5 programs? 10? What is considered too much?

I realize competitiveness changes frequently, but is there a general consensus for subspecialties participating in the match?

I would appreciate any thoughts!

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[radsresident-US]

No general consensus. Depends on the specialty of course and also your own competitiveness, type of places your looking, etc. I would say most people pick a specific area (or maybe two different ones where you have friends or family, like you mentioned). Then you apply to pretty much every fellowship in those two cities. At least, that’s essentially what I did. That should bring you to about 20 application, out of which you may get 10-12 interviews. At least that’s what I did, but I also applied before MSK went to the match system, so paradoxically you needed more interviews, spread out in time, in case you didn’t like places or didn’t get offers at places you liked. Then you had to keep interviewing. Effectively nulled any “backup” program, which you do get with the match

 

[Gigem2636]

Neuro doesn't seem too competitive. Applied to 15 programs and heard back from 13. mix of big names and some more local programs. Cancelled 2. Wish I applied to a few less.