Since there are people on the fence about the PSF, and I was one of them a little less than a year ago, I thought I'd weigh in:
If you are certain that you will be applying for a residency in pathology, then the PSF can be construed as an "extra year" of work for which you will receive no academic credit and just enough salary to cover living expenses. It's one more year that you will have to weather on the road to actual money and autonomy. You will likely accrue a larger debt during medical school by virtue of having a higher tuition for your third and forth years than that which was charged your classmates who moved on without you.
That's sort of the unofficial PSF-program disclaimer.
Every interested medical student has his or her reasons for pursuing a PSF and if the aforementioned drawbacks don't discourage you, then by all means apply! The interview process alone was excellent practice for residency interviews and provided me with significant insight into the different programs and their faculties.
This summer and fall have been good to me. I enjoy working (much more than I enjoy being in school and it feels good to have a break) and I have found a job that I can really appreciate. I've found a program that does a good job of balancing anatomic and clinical pathology (we actually stay busy on many of the latter rotations) and offers me as much responsibility as I desire, which may help me make an informed decision with respect to what I will look for in a residency program. I am also supplementing my knowledge for almost any other field of medicine that I could possibly pursue (most likely path, but it sure wouldn't hurt to be a surgeon with a year of path residency under his or her belt).
Another benefit of participating in such a fellowship is that you can apply to multiple programs and likely choose where you train for a year. If you're serious about committing to a PSF, you may essentially audition the residency of your choice. I chose a program with a great reputation, and one a distance away from where I attend medical school. I have enjoyed my new environment, both inside and outside of the hospital, and I have worked beside and gathered the insight of some amazingly gifted and talented people.
The amount of work varies. The CP rotations are lighter than AP rotations as anticipated, but only a couple of them are reputed to be a vacation; and for those, I am (fingers crossed) going to piece together a small project that could potentially lead to a poster or paper.
Above all, I like path and I wanted to see what grossing, frozens, immunohistochemistry, and sign-out were all about. If years down the road, I become a SHRINK and all of this year's post sophomore fellowship boils down to an intriguing experience with some fond memories and a side-knowledge of pathology, then I will be very happy. I live comfortably on my stipend and have more down-time than I can remember having in the past two years. I'm also a nerd and enjoy learning path for the sake of learning path. I wish someone would pay me for a year to explore my other fascinations and interests! While I certainly do not come from money, I'm only gonna get to live once and this is something I want to do.
Not sure if completing a program like this will make me look better or worse on paper. If anything, I'll know what questions to ask at interviews and will have a good feel for what I'm getting into. I'm not worried about my grades and test scores. I'm happy with them. I'm not here to remediate any blemishes on my transcript, but I wouldn't exactly discourage anyone serious about this field from doing a PSF to beef up their knowledge of path and to fill in the first and second-year gaps. Second year path barely gets you through the door here. I'd be dead in the water if I hadn't studied very hard last year.
For people determined to apply for the PSF, I recommend applying around to see what different programs are offering in terms of responsibility, exposure to AP and CP (and the depth and quality of the CP exposure they offer - if you are not set on an AP only program), PAY (unless you're made of money), other benefits (health, dental, free meals, education fund, travel fund, etc.), and by all means get in contact with current and previous fellows. Every program has a different flavor and a different crew. Some programs emphasize research, and will put you in a lab for half of the year, which might be a waste if you're trying to figure out if diagnostic pathology is for you. Some programs are completely AP (has its pluses and minuses depending on your projected career goals) and other programs offer CP rotations that could be run by mindless zombies (you could do a project or veg-out, but again you're wasting time and limiting your exposure to the meat and potatoes... well, maybe just the meat of pathology).
I hope this is helpful for people deciding whether or not to apply for the post sophomore fellowship. It may very well be worthless to many of those who contemplate spending a year at such a program, especially if they are dead-set on pathology and want to get med school the hell over with... but this year is worth a lot to me.
No regrets.
