Planning for Pediatric Cardiology

[Cundiff1080]

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Hey y'all,

So I have a theoretical interest in pediatric cardiology. I say theoretical because I really haven't experienced it much but I really like the idea of it! I'm a 3rd year medical student and going through all of my required rotations. I'm working on shadowing a ped card soon to get a better idea. But I was wondering what all of your thoughts are on the competitiveness and how important the residency program you get into matters when trying to land a fellowship. I know there are only about 50 or so programs, doesn't sound like much to me. Ultimately my question is, is it vital that I get into a big name program or a program that hosts a pediatric cardiology residency?

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[Stitch]

Cards is pretty competitive, but getting into a 'big name' program is not essential. Doing well in residency and having a solid understanding of general pediatrics is. The pediatric sub specialty world is rather small and most of your attendings will have connections to help you. They need to be able to write solid letters of rec and be willing to make phone calls for you. An advantage of a bigger program may be that they do heart transplants and other specialized cardiac stuff, but they may also split their ICU into a cardiac unit that doesn't have much resident participation. It all depends, so I would ask about the resident exposure when you interview.

 

[mytirf]

I see more and more of our fellows coming through as prior residents. We have been burned a few times for taking outside residents and so it is certainly easier to take on a "known" applicant. That all being said, working hard, during well in your cardiac rotation and getting involved in research are all important for the application process.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

We have been burned a few times for taking outside residents and so it is certainly easier to take on a "known" applicant.

This is an issue for all competitive fellowships. It's always easier and safer to take the internal candidate when you have them and a risk to go outside. However, you can miss some great folks that way as not everyone who is great wants to stay at their home program for advanced training. Letters of rec are often not very honest when describing resident performance. No one wants to bad mouth their residents applying for fellowship and see them not match.

It can be helpful when the fellowship PD director directly calls the residency PD or others at the program of the outside applicant. A bit more honesty is often seen in those conversations on all sides. But that's not easy to do and is imperfect. The best the applicant can do in addition to what has been suggested is to really get one faculty member to write a detailed letter and sometimes make a phone call or two on your behalf.