Fellowship Placement

[browneye]

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For people that are leaning towards doing a fellowship, what does it take to get a competitive one? I've heard 1) LOR's - and thus "who you know" is important, as well as 2) research. But then, I've been told research is not that important. I just want to know so I can choose a residency program that will not close the doors on obtaining certain fellowships down the road.
If the 2 factors mentioned are the only things involved, then I would have to try to match at a program with a good research reputation, as well as one that has a "big name" faculty member in the field(s) that I'm thinking about doing a fellowship in, right?
Your input is always appreciated!

 

[ckyuen]

This also depends on what fellowship you are planning on pursuing. Occuloplastics and Retina are difficult to match in and usually most are 2 years. Others are much easier to match into.

 

[Toadkiller Dog]

Look on the sfmatch.org website and you can see the OPS fellowships that went unfilled in the past year. There are several of them in most OPS subspecialties.

Many of the unfilled ones, however, are not affiliated with a university program; i.e, they are at a private clinic/eye institute, working with a physician more or less one-on-one.