Fellowship Salary?

[Ophthoudini]

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How do you make it work? Many of the best fellowships pay below poverty line for anyone with a family. Does moonlighting even come close to making up for it? Are those fellowships just off the table for individuals with a family? It seems a little ridiculous to be paid like you’re working for minimum wage when you’re qualified to be an attending...

 

[MstaKing10]

Most fellowships are now on a PGY schedule. As such getting paid PGY 5 or 6 money is very doable. There are of course a few that aren’t, at which point you have to decide if they are worth the price, because most likely you will have to take out loans to live. At least for retina, there was literally no time for moonlighting. And I factored pay as one of the more important metrics regarding my ranking of fellowships. I really question the intentions of any fellowship program offering poverty level salaries, as they are likely looking only for cheap labor and wonder how good the training is or how interested they are in seeing you succeed.

 

[Equality]

At Wills, most fellows are allowed and strongly encouraged to moonlight at the Wills ER, which pays quite well. I personally did a private practice fellowship where I was paid very little, but the practice hooked me up (i.e. paid for credentialing) with a local hospital where I could take general ophtho call and get paid handsomely. You won't get rich on your fellow earnings, but there is usually a way to get by. Ask the program director and the most recent fellows how they did it.