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what values do fellowship programs look at for applicants? are there objective scores (?ABSITE) they look at or is it mainly research and LORs?
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- Thread starter oldman
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I'm also interested in this question... how about grades, USMLE's, LOR's from med school vs. step III/absites, LOR's. How much is it about connections within the field? I'm curious to hear from any fellows who have gone through this process... Thanks in advance!
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I would it would differ from program to program and field to field. For Breast Surgery (which has become increasingly competitive; not everyone matched this year) ABSITE scores were asked for, but no undergrad transcripts or USMLEs.
Some of the more competitive fellowships/training programs may indeed ask for the latter info above.
Some of the more competitive fellowships/training programs may indeed ask for the latter info above.
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I can't speak for everyone, or even a majority, but from my own experiences in surg onc fellowship, and my friends' experiences in transplant, Hepatobiliary and vascular fellowships, I'd say the most important things are your letters from your residency, and to a lesser extent your ABSITE scores. Consistently very low ABSITEs (<30th percentile) are not good, but great scores won't get you in.
Although my USMLE scores were requested, I don't remember anyone's scores being discussed during the ranking meeting at my fellowship. This might be different elsewhere though. Very low ABSITEs came up though and would lead to greater scrutiny of the rest of the application for potential hints of academic deficiencies clues in their letters.
Where you trained definitely has some impact. I definitely know of people who had a leg up in their fellowship search by a well-placed phone call or two. Transplant used to definitely be who knew who sort of specialty. This may change some with the institution of a match system (before many of the "better" Transplant spots filled up 2-3 years out from the start date, so connections probably played a bigger part). Vascular isn't filling as a specialty (and neither is transplant come to think of it), so there are always spots available anyway at the end of the match, so it might not be a big deal if you are flexible about where you train.
Medical school letters? can't imagine who would be interested in them since they don't really have anything more than a guess as to how good you are going to be, and your residency letters will contain 3-4 years of experience with you clinically + your research mentor's letter (if appropriate) will give insight into that aspect.
Speaking of research, it definitely is looked upon well in almost any fellowship. Although there are certainly places that are upfront about not being a research institution, most fellowships in most specialties at least like to put on an facade of being a training ground for future academicians. Thus, saying that you are interested in research and being able to back it up, never hurts. If you do list research, you better be able to discuss it inside and out. If you do enough interviews, you will inevitable interview with someone who will want to dissect it. If you don't have it, you can still find a spot though. Even in surg onc, which highly values research (the year I matched, the presentation at the ACS gave the statistic that the average-mean or median I can't remember applicant that matched had almost 10 publications, while the average applicant that didn't match had a little under 2), I know of at least a few applicants that matched with NO publications, and no substantial research experience, so if you don't or can't do research, all hope is not lost.
Although my USMLE scores were requested, I don't remember anyone's scores being discussed during the ranking meeting at my fellowship. This might be different elsewhere though. Very low ABSITEs came up though and would lead to greater scrutiny of the rest of the application for potential hints of academic deficiencies clues in their letters.
Where you trained definitely has some impact. I definitely know of people who had a leg up in their fellowship search by a well-placed phone call or two. Transplant used to definitely be who knew who sort of specialty. This may change some with the institution of a match system (before many of the "better" Transplant spots filled up 2-3 years out from the start date, so connections probably played a bigger part). Vascular isn't filling as a specialty (and neither is transplant come to think of it), so there are always spots available anyway at the end of the match, so it might not be a big deal if you are flexible about where you train.
Medical school letters? can't imagine who would be interested in them since they don't really have anything more than a guess as to how good you are going to be, and your residency letters will contain 3-4 years of experience with you clinically + your research mentor's letter (if appropriate) will give insight into that aspect.
Speaking of research, it definitely is looked upon well in almost any fellowship. Although there are certainly places that are upfront about not being a research institution, most fellowships in most specialties at least like to put on an facade of being a training ground for future academicians. Thus, saying that you are interested in research and being able to back it up, never hurts. If you do list research, you better be able to discuss it inside and out. If you do enough interviews, you will inevitable interview with someone who will want to dissect it. If you don't have it, you can still find a spot though. Even in surg onc, which highly values research (the year I matched, the presentation at the ACS gave the statistic that the average-mean or median I can't remember applicant that matched had almost 10 publications, while the average applicant that didn't match had a little under 2), I know of at least a few applicants that matched with NO publications, and no substantial research experience, so if you don't or can't do research, all hope is not lost.
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Thanks for the reply. The programs I've seen on my interview trail talk about ABSITE and so forth, and I had a sneaky feeling those scores were going to come back for fellowship apps.
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