Fellowships

[GopherBrain]

Please help me settle a dispute with a friend.

He wants to do cardiology and is convinced that everything he does in med school (USMLE scores, AOA, research) will be under the microscope when fellowship application time rolls around.

I say just worrying about getting into a halfway decent residency and worry about fellowships during your residency years.

Can anyone offer some insight?

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[punjabiMD]

he needs to concentrate on getting into a good residency. Fellowships mostly look at where you did residency, what kind of research you've done there, and a large part of it is "who you know."

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by GopherBrain
Please help me settle a dispute with a friend.

He wants to do cardiology and is convinced that everything he does in med school (USMLE scores, AOA, research) will be under the microscope when fellowship application time rolls around.

I say just worrying about getting into a halfway decent residency and worry about fellowships during your residency years.

Can anyone offer some insight?

I dont think there is any question that training at a strong academic residency helps for cardiology fellowship.

And there is no doubt that high board scores, AOA, grades, pubs and letters are supremely important in getting into one.

So indirectly, the answer is yes. In fact, research is quite important if he wants to "fast tract" (ABIM Investigator Pathway) for a guaranteed cardiology fellowship place in the same institution after 2 years of IM residency.

Even with regular cardiology fellowship application process, successful applicants' CV are usually quite strong, boasting good overall track record in med school and first 1-2 years of residency, with a research project/pub or two thrown in.

 

[addicted2hope]

FACTORS USED IN SELECTING CARDIOLOGY FELLOWS

(Most important to least relevant)

Negative comments or hints of underlying problems in PD's letter.
Personal comments by PD of Internal Medicine (IM)
The personal aspect of the interview
Letter of recommendation from a cardiologist known to the fellowship PD.
PD's letter in general
Performance during elective at the application site.
Rank order in residency class
Genuine interest in research
Being a graduate of a US medical School
Letter of recommendation from a nationally-known cardiologist
Doing a residency program at an institution with a well-known cardiology division.
Participation in research prior to fellowship
Assessment of medical knowledge during interview ( see also #3)
Publications prior to fellowship
Performance on FMGEMS ( for IMGs)
Performance on the FLEX (if taken)
Performance on ABIM (if available).
U.S. citizenship
Performance on NBME exam.


From:

http://www.im.org/APDIM/cim/v11_2/c10.htm

Check out the article!!!

 

[june015b]

What is the rank order within the residency program?
Do a residency program really rank all of their interns and residents?? Anyone with any info??

 

[tiffin25]

is it true that there are 400 applications for every one spot in cards? if that is true, is gi even worse???

looking forward to anybody's input

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by tiffin25
is it true that there are 400 applications for every one spot in cards? if that is true, is gi even worse???

looking forward to anybody's input

I heard my own institution's GI fellowship director (which was my attending when I was on for a GI month) that this year he got 400 applications for 2 open spots (2 other open spots internally filled on verbal agreements to 2 of the residents here who will be chiefs.)

I am sure everywhere else it's about the same, so I wouldn't be surprised that at ANY GIVEN academic institution there are 400 applicants applying for the few spots. But overall in the nation, it's the same 1000 applicants applying for those 500 total spots or something... Everyone applies to mucho places these day.

 

[bariume]

UCLA received approximately 600-700 applications for GI this year. But if you were a resident at UCLA or at one of the local affiliated programs, you got an interview regardless of your credentials.

 

[Fermi]

FACTORS USED IN SELECTING CARDIOLOGY FELLOWS

...
Performance during elective at the application site.
Rank order in residency class
...

Does "elective at the application site" mean that you can do an "away rotation" in cards as a resident? I've never heard of that!

Secondly, how in the world do they rank you in your residency class? I've never heard of that either. It would be totally subjective unless they also took your Step 3 scores into account.

 

[bariume]

Does "elective at the application site" mean that you can do an "away rotation" in cards as a resident? I've never heard of that!

Secondly, how in the world do they rank you in your residency class? I've never heard of that either. It would be totally subjective unless they also took your Step 3 scores into account.

Away electives are possible. but you are on your own to set it up, just like in medical school. Class rank in your residency is usually found in your program director's recommendation letter. They should have some criteria if they are going to bother reporting it. In my program, you get evaluations for every rotation you do, and the scores are reported on our accounts on GMEtoolkit.com.