interest in cards

[mossyfiber12]

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Hey guys. I am interested in pursuing interventional cards. I will be applying to IM during the upcoming cycle.

All I hear about is how competitive the field is and so I was wondering what it takes after landing a IM residency to match into a fellowship. Is it my performance during residency? Is it my step 1/2/3 scores? Is it my program director's letter or is it just simple networking?

I am your average IM applicant from an US allopathic school.

Any advice would be great as I have had a difficult time getting an answer from people at my school.

Thanks.

 

[joejabjab]

Glad to hear about another person's interest in the field. There's a lot of information about this in this forum already. A simple look through will yield a lot of useful information. Good luck.

 

[mossyfiber12]

Thanks for the response. Are you referring to a particular thread on this topic? I just had trouble finding the info on the card forum. I would appreciate it if you would post the link to that particular thread.

 

[PercAVR]

First of all, try to get into a good university IM program that has a satellite Cardiology fellowship. Make you connections with Cardiologists early, i.e.schedule your elective rotation in Cardiology within the first 6 month of you rintern year. Sign up for a research project conducted by your department of Cardiology and be an active and enthusiastic participant. Try to present your project on a national meeting such as ACP or Carmel. On your second year try to get as many clinical Cardiology rotations as possible, work your ass off on all ofthem. Get good letters from Cardiology attendings reflecting your research and clinical excellence. Apply broadly, to about 30-40 programs, it will warrant about 10 interviews. Then you are pretty much ready for your Cardiology match with the success rate close to 100%.

GL!

 

[Tius]

PercAVR bascially sums the general process. The only kink is it will be more difficult if you are foreign grad, but you shouldn't have that problem since you're US grad. Just be a hardworking intern, try and read as much as you can, get involved with the cardiology department. Make yourself known to the attendings and have them be aware of your interest. And also do everything PercAVR said.

 

[mossyfiber12]

thanks a lot for the feedback. I am guessing step 3 play quite a major role in matching into a card fellowship?

btw...what do you mean by a satelite cardio fellowship? one that's not in house??

 

[dragonfly99]

A good Step 3 score, and good scores on Step 1/2 also, can help land a cardiology fellowship at certain places. However, you might be surprised to know that there are quite a few cardiology fellowship that don't even ask to see your board scores...which means they don't care much. Part of it might be that for some of the programs, most of the applicants are all going to have similar (and pretty high) board scores anyway. Also, it seems to me that some program directors just don't think USMLE scores are that important. They must figure they have other stuff to judge you by @this point in your career. I'm not sure I agree, because all that other stuff is not really objective...a "great" intern at one program might be equal to just an average one @another IM program. Also, some attendings and program directors write stellar letters of recommendation, while other people can be more harsh.

Actually, having done research and published something plays a significant role in whether you get in. I'm not sure I agree with this...actually I don't...but it's just the way things are. It also will be much easier to get a fellowship if you go to a major university IM program.

 

[taurus70]

Next year's application cycle will bring changes since you will be applying at the end of your 2nd year/3rd year which will give you the opportunity to make a bigger impression on the faculty at your program. Your best chance is usually either via your home program or through the help they may provide.