HELP! Need advice on OMM Fellowship.

[CaffeineStat]

Hi! Anyone have advice if doing a Fellowship at med school is worth it? Basically a GA position where I help 1st years. School pays me and they take a year off of my tuition. I mostly want to do it because I feel like it will make me more competitive for residency placement. Anyone agree? Or is it not worth losing a year of potential doctor income for a position that residencies won't even care about. Do other schools offer this?

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[FutureDoctor5000]

Hi! Anyone have advice if doing a Fellowship at med school is worth it? Basically a GA position where I help 1st years. School pays me and they take a year off of my tuition. I mostly want to do it because I feel like it will make me more competitive for residency placement. Anyone agree? Or is it not worth losing a year of potential doctor income for a position that residencies won't even care about. Do other schools offer this?

Hahaha no one in the acgme world cares about “omm fellowship “ in fact dare I say that it might even make you less competitive after doing it Lolol, the further you can distance yourself from the pseudoscience that is omm the better it is for your career. Unless you want to become an omm doctor then maybe it’s worth it but even then your just giving up a year of attending salary, fm/nmm residencies aren’t all that competitive to match into and doing this fellowship won’t help all that much, unless you have some major red flags.

 

[BoneWizard]

Don't do it.

 

[CaffeineStat]

Hahaha no one in the acgme world cares about “omm fellowship “ in fact dare I say that it might even make you less competitive after doing it Lolol, the further you can distance yourself from the pseudoscience that is omm the better it is for your career. Unless you want to become an omm doctor then maybe it’s worth it but even then your just giving up a year of attending salary, fm/nmm residencies aren’t all that competitive to match into and doing this fellowship won’t help all that much, unless you have some major red flags.

I’m trying to go EM so since it’s becoming more competitive, I feel like it will give me time to get teaching experience and research.

 

[Sardonix]

I’m trying to go EM so since it’s becoming more competitive, I feel like it will give me time to get teaching experience and research.

Are you going to use OMM as an EM resident or attending?

Do your dream EM programs that you want to get into value research or teaching experience?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, then don't do it.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Not only is it not worth it for the line in your CV, it’s also not worth it for research if you’re applying EM.

reasons it MIGHT be worth it include:

-if you’re not exactly a studly student and think you won’t do well on step 1 and would rather wait to take it when you can get a “P” instead of a numerical score.

-if you’d like to use time beyond dedicated to boost up a step 1 score

-if you’d like to knock the first round of boards out of the way and start step 2 studying so you can take it before rotations even start. This would be convenient since step 2 is already more important for EM anyways.

-if you just want to just take a year off to feel like a person again.

Whatever field you pick, this decision will cost you at least $200k.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Hell no.

 

[_DeBakey_]

I can't think of any way this will benefit you in the long run more than other things you could do for your app, aside from if you want to make OMM a staple in your practice, which going if you want to go into EM, does not apply.

 

[CocoMelon0531]

Only do this if you want to apply to either Derm/ENT/Plastic/ortho etc... in order to use that extra time off to pump out min 5 pubs for your CV. Otherwise a waste of time. Considering the garbage EM job market right now, you will just need to have a pulse to match to EM.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I would say only do this if you want to go into PM&R. That is literally the only residency that I’ve ever heard it be beneficial for. Or if you really want to do it. But if you’re not doing that single residency, do not do it to make you more competitive for others. It isn’t going to help.

And yeah, I think the EM bubble is bursting.

 

[Sardonix]

I would say only do this if you want to go into PM&R. That is literally the only residency that I’ve ever heard it be beneficial for. Or if you really want to do it. But if you’re not doing that single residency, do not do it to make you more competitive for others. It isn’t going to help.

And yeah, I think the EM bubble is bursting.

Sadly I think it's already done burst. PGY3s are having their offers rescinded and I am sure once COVID settles down with the vaccine they won't be paying close to the amount that they were.

 

[Neopolymath]

I want you to google opportunity cost and present it on rounds tomorrow.

 

[ohmanwaddup]

Sadly I think it's already done burst. PGY3s are having their offers rescinded and I am sure once COVID settles down with the vaccine they won't be paying close to the amount that they were.

Ugh I cannot imagine how trash it would feel to have an offer rescinded

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Hi! Anyone have advice if doing a Fellowship at med school is worth it? Basically a GA position where I help 1st years. School pays me and they take a year off of my tuition. I mostly want to do it because I feel like it will make me more competitive for residency placement. Anyone agree? Or is it not worth losing a year of potential doctor income for a position that residencies won't even care about. Do other schools offer this?

Any residency it makes you more competitive for is the kind you don’t want.

Okay that was only slightly sarcastic. The only way a fellowship is worth it is if you publish or get really high board scores. Every year you delay residency it becomes harder to get into. I don’t recommend basically any fellowship other than research.

 

[ortnakas]

Not only is it not worth it for the line in your CV, it’s also not worth it for research if you’re applying EM.

reasons it MIGHT be worth it include:

-if you’re not exactly a studly student and think you won’t do well on step 1 and would rather wait to take it when you can get a “P” instead of a numerical score.

-if you’d like to use time beyond dedicated to boost up a step 1 score

-if you’d like to knock the first round of boards out of the way and start step 2 studying so you can take it before rotations even start. This would be convenient since step 2 is already more important for EM anyways.

-if you just want to just take a year off to feel like a person again.

Whatever field you pick, this decision will cost you at least $200k.

I agree that in general it’s a bad idea but I can think of a few other scenarios it might not be

-a personal/family situation means having a chill year right now would be beneficial
-an emergent financial situation (the money doesn’t add up to be beneficial in the long term, I’m talking situations like helping a family member pay for chemo right now)
-you want a super competitive specialty (or location) and you’re going to use the time also doing research (essentially working two jobs)
-there’s a legit reason you want to match a year later like couples matching with your spouse (not your SO of <1 year)
-burnout, need a break
-being a True Believer (which is questionable in and of itself, but hey, you do you)

 

[Neopolymath]

I agree that in general it’s a bad idea but I can think of a few other scenarios it might not be

-a personal/family situation means having a chill year right now would be beneficial
-an emergent financial situation (the money doesn’t add up to be beneficial in the long term, I’m talking situations like helping a family member pay for chemo right now)
-you want a super competitive specialty (or location) and you’re going to use the time also doing research (essentially working two jobs)
-there’s a legit reason you want to match a year later like couples matching with your spouse (not your SO of <1 year)
-burnout, need a break
-being a True Believer (which is questionable in and of itself, but hey, you do you)

Great post. I need to reiterate that there is no financial benefit to an added year despite what some schools will attempt to tell you. High school finance tells us this. Please don't get tricked by this. The big opportunity cost is 1 year attending salary plus accrued interest on loans minus 1 year of retirement funding growing via time value of money principle and on and on and on.

 

[Hippocrates II]

Simply put, there is a reason our omm director keeps sending out desperate emails enticing people to sign up for the fellowship.

 

[Tragal Pointer]

Please, don't do it.

 

[ohmanwaddup]

Simply put, there is a reason our omm director keeps sending out desperate emails enticing people to sign up for the fellowship.

lol this is my first thought whenever I see them.

If I could pause time I would do it just for fun, but obviously that isnt possible or a viable reason to do it.

 

[CaffeineStat]

I would say only do this if you want to go into PM&R. That is literally the only residency that I’ve ever heard it be beneficial for. Or if you really want to do it. But if you’re not doing that single residency, do not do it to make you more competitive for others. It isn’t going to help.

And yeah, I think the EM bubble is bursting.

That's really interesting. I guess I have been in the dark, i've only heard EM is getting more and more competitive.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

That's really interesting. I guess I have been in the dark, i've only heard EM is getting more and more competitive.

Yeah I think it is turning a corner. Which doesn’t surprise me at all. I think a lot of medical students see the money and hours and think “oh I like the variety of days and nights and I like not being an expert.” But they have no idea what they are talking about and those truly made for EM are few and far between. people get pretty jaded, pretty quick.

Don’t get me wrong, there are people “built” for emergency medicine careers and you may be one of them. But that isn’t the norm of people going into EM nowadays. At least in my experience.

 

[Neopolymath]

That's really interesting. I guess I have been in the dark, i've only heard EM is getting more and more competitive.

EM is only getting less competitive. Who is telling you this? M2s at your school with their head in the sand?

 

[fldoctorgirl]

I want you to google opportunity cost and present it on rounds tomorrow.

EM is only getting less competitive. Who is telling you this? M2s at your school with their head in the sand?

Me cackling over lunch right now.

 

[sylvanthus]

EM is a dead field atm, seriously consider something else.