Preparing for super-fellowship: how to make yourself competitive?

[Egghead34]

Having matched and due to start fellowship in a few months, I wanted to think ahead about preparing for the possibility of a super fellowship. But if there was already a dearth of information regarding making myself competitive for normal cards fellowship, there’s virtually nothing to help guide us on taking the next step forward.

Can somebody help clarify what It takes to match into more competitive areas like IC? Do all applicants have significant research? Conferences? How does the process differ from normal cardiology fellowship? Is the weight If research done in residency carried forward, or are only accomplishments achieved as a fellow really counted?

My program has an in-house IC program, but only one slot. I imagine it’ll be hotly contested. It would be nice to know if the momentum from residency carries forward or whether the slate is wiped clean and everyone reset at the starting line.

Thanks!

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[shouldigomd]

I am in your shoes too, starting cards in July.

I wouldn't stress about it. Landing cards fellowship is much more competitive than IC (I didn't come across any fellows during the interview trail nor anyone at my home program who didn't match IC). I also wouldn't stress about the 1 spot at your home institution. Moving can be tough but there are pro's and con's to training at a different place.

IC is still very much an old boys club and hasn't completely transferred over to the ERAS style application (this may change by the time we apply). That means things happen outside the confines of the ERAS system, networking, connections, etc etc. Your residency "achievement / momentum" is carried over into landing a cardiology fellowship....

If you want an academics based career than dedication to research / conferences / etc will obviously be more important.

 

[nlax30]

I think you’ve crossed the biggest hurdle getting into Cards fellowship. Now it’s going to be more about how you do in fellowship and frankly how well you get along with and work with the IC faculty there. If you’re relatively smart, teachable, and someone they actually working with that goes a long way in my opinion. Obviously things like pubs/research, conferences will somewhat depend on the culture, caliber, and goals of each program so plan accordingly there. At this stage a lot of these advanced fellowships tend to self select out students so may not be quite as much competition as you think. Towards the end of a 3yr cards fellowship after 3yrs of IM residency most people are just ready to be done and work. Those of us interested in more punishment with IC, EP, etc... tend to select out and it’s more about WHERE you want to go than IF you can get in somewhere.

 

[Egghead34]

I think you’ve crossed the biggest hurdle getting into Cards fellowship. Now it’s going to be more about how you do in fellowship and frankly how well you get along with and work with the IC faculty there. If you’re relatively smart, teachable, and someone they actually working with that goes a long way in my opinion. Obviously things like pubs/research, conferences will somewhat depend on the culture, caliber, and goals of each program so plan accordingly there. At this stage a lot of these advanced fellowships tend to self select out students so may not be quite as much competition as you think. Towards the end of a 3yr cards fellowship after 3yrs of IM residency most people are just ready to be done and work. Those of us interested in more punishment with IC, EP, etc... tend to select out and it’s more about WHERE you want to go than IF you can get in somewhere.

Thank you for the reply. I was reading the IC application thread and it seemed like people were having such a hard time matching. I suppose we may not hear much from those who do match, skewing the responses. I figure I’d like to just stay at my matches program if I do go for IC, so that’s reassuring.

 

[PCI2LAD]

Thank you for the reply. I was reading the IC application thread and it seemed like people were having such a hard time matching. I suppose we may not hear much from those who do match, skewing the responses. I figure I’d like to just stay at my matches program if I do go for IC, so that’s reassuring.

I matched into IC this year. I mean its definitely competitive but I agree with the above posters that you already got into general fellowship which is a huge milestone in and of itself. You apply so early on in your general training that I doubt your overall application would be significantly different (ERAS uploads your old app automatically when youre applying for IC and i made very few changes to mine). More research/abstracts/papers etc is obviously never bad but I think the biggest thing is showing interest, working your ass off and getting excellent letters of recommendation. You work very closely with your fellowship attendings and they can write really personal letters and can call programs that you are interested in. Everyone knows someone in this field and that really helps a lot.

 

[Phospholipid]

IC is a different kind of competition that IM residency and Card fellowship because it is not part of a match and NRMP and the process is chaotic and not standardized. It is more about who you know, your timing, and luck. Once you get into Gen Card fellowship, you have a decent shot at IC, just gotta play the game, suck up to the right people, make connections and you should get it. And if you don't get it, keep in touch with as many people as you can, as there are always random spots popping up as people end up cancelling before starting, or switching places before starting.

 

[Egghead34]

I matched into IC this year. I mean its definitely competitive but I agree with the above posters that you already got into general fellowship which is a huge milestone in and of itself. You apply so early on in your general training that I doubt your overall application would be significantly different (ERAS uploads your old app automatically when youre applying for IC and i made very few changes to mine). More research/abstracts/papers etc is obviously never bad but I think the biggest thing is showing interest, working your ass off and getting excellent letters of recommendation. You work very closely with your fellowship attendings and they can write really personal letters and can call programs that you are interested in. Everyone knows someone in this field and that really helps a lot.

Thank you for your reply. Can you go into more detail on how you went about preparing for super fellowship? Aside from being an excellent fellow, connections, etc.

 

[MyTachyBradyHeart]

Thank you for your reply. Can you go into more detail on how you went about preparing for super fellowship? Aside from being an excellent fellow, connections, etc.

1. Be an excellent fellow (work hard, help out, play nice, be humble and willing to learn, spend extra time in the cath lab on cases)

2. Connections (go to IC journal clubs, volunteering to present, do research in IC, meet with PD/section chair, etc)

 

[go lakers]

Subspecialty fellowship is a bit more about your network than gen cards matching is. Many programs fill internally and will receive 50+ applications for 1 remaining spot. Thus, the easiest way to stand out is for your PD or Chief to call someone and say you would do well and want to train there.

 

[PCI2LAD]

Thank you for your reply. Can you go into more detail on how you went about preparing for super fellowship? Aside from being an excellent fellow, connections, etc.

It seems like you want to go into IC. Spend all your extra time in the cath lab (ie: if you're on echo and there are no more echos to read at that time go do/observe a case). Scrub into as many cases as you can, get your hands dirty. Interventional has a lot of excellent textbooks/resources/videos but ultimately its a procedural field and you can read about engaging the LIMA all you want but until you actually do it over and over it wont matter. From my experience programs didn't care about how many PCIs i did they wanted to make sure they didn't have to waste time teaching me out to do a basic diagnostic case.

Importantly, be a part of the discussions regarding decision making and why they used whatever stent and why they left whatever lesion alone, etc. Be an excellent general cardiologist (cardiology fellow) learn how to read echos, learn how to read/perform stress tests, learn the work-up etc.