i understand that certain fellowships are competitive. my question is this, what is the basis for receiving a fellowship. Lets say you're heart is set on the fellowship and you dont get it, why do you need a backup plan? Cant you keep working hard and reapply until you get the fellowship (i.e. work + do research for a year)?
Am I missing something?
Thanks.
the basis is much like residency. they want the smartest people, that will be trainable within the program philosophy, that will fit in to the program. however, keep in mind that the applicant pool is significantly less homogenized than the general residency application. ALL of the applicants will have research, will have done the work to make contacts, will have the strong interest and the CREOG scores. the match rate for ob/gyn specialties is generally 50/50...that means that half of the applicants, most of which are very qualified still don't match.
working hard and reapplying has it's own problems. what are you going to do for a year to "work hard"? what kind of opportunity will you find after residency that will prepare you better for a fellowship? who is going to pay you to prepare for a fellowship? are you willing to lose another year's income on a 50/50 chance, especially seeing as how you didn't match when you were arguably as competitive as you are going to get? more importantly, why do you think that after a year of research and work, you will be magically better than you were the first time? you may be, or you may not. there are still only a few spots in the country (not the thousands of spots in med school, or residency programs in general). it is not a sure thing to just reapply endlessly. most places will know you didn't match, for whaterver reason, and that may be reason enough to simply ingnore your second application....remember, the others applying are also VERY good...i would quickly get rid of the idea that somehow if you want it bad enough, and work hard enough, you will eventually get it. sadly, this is not reality.
it certainly is possible to reapply and get a spot. your chances are greater if you can find some teaching/research position in the field you want, with somebody important in that field. but, at the end of the day, those jobs are not easy to find, they offer no guarantee, and they likely won't pay you squat. so, you are taking your chances.
the best advice is to have a back up plan, in case you don't match, or in case you decide you hate REI after you experience it for a while. make sure that back up plan will leave you happy, financially solvent and in some way utilize the training you will have at that point.
