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I am a PGY-IV who applied for psychosomatic fellowship but have struggled a lot with whether to actually go through with it or not. I hope that getting some opinions on the specific fellowship will clarify things.
The one big reason I am thinking about doing the fellowship:
Psychosomatic medicine is, by far, the most interesting and fun part of psychiatry for me. Right now I feel very jaded and bored with most of psychiatry (possibly due to PGY-IV senioritis?) but when the topic is psychosomatic medicine I still feel passionate and interested.
Other factors in favor of the fellowship:
I wonder if, as time goes by and there are more psychosomatic fellowship graduates, it will become an expectation that you'll have done the fellowship as a requirement to be hired for the most interesting psychosomatic/CL jobs.
I have already applied and lined up interviews, so I feel like the fellowship is "now or never". I worry that if I cancel my interviews now I would be burning my bridges at those places. I also feel kind of like I would be letting down my mentors in my program who believed in me enough to write letters of recommendation. I worry they won't want to give me recommendations again in the future (or recommend me for jobs) if I flake out on them now.
Here are the reasons I don't want to do it though:
It seems like most people who do psychosomatic fellowship end up in academics. I am not certain that I want to stay in academia.
Looking at job postings, I don't see that many jobs that specifically require a psychosomatic fellowship - so I wonder if it's even really worth it at all?
My sig. other doesn't make very much money, so I feel that doing the fellowship would be a bigger financial sacrifice for me than it is for the people I know who did the fellowship whose spouse had a lucrative career (I have noticed a lot of the people I know who did the fellowship had a spouse who was also a doctor for example - so losing a year of attending salary wasn't that big of a deal for them). When I look at my friends who are getting great attending salary offers, when recruiters send me these seductive job ads, it is tempting to jump into an attending job just for the money alone. I so want to start paying down my debt and building up savings again.
Psychosomatic fellowship seems more "worth it" if you go to a prestigious program where you get to see the zebras and work with the true experts. I do have some interviews lined up at a few prestigious fellowship programs...however they are all in different states.
Since applying I have started to realize that the logistics of relocating for a fellowship would be harder than I thought. My sig other can't relocate with me so we'd be in a long distance relationship for a year. We have talked a bit about having a child sooner rather than later, but obviously that would be put on hold if I'm doing fellowship in another state.
Is it worth the emotional costs to be long distance for a year for this? Is it worth the extra financial cost of moving away for a year for this?
tl,dr: I love the idea of psychosomatic medicine but due to financial worries, family needs, and worrying the job market doesn't really demand this fellowship, I am questioning if I should do it.
What do you guys think?
The one big reason I am thinking about doing the fellowship:
Psychosomatic medicine is, by far, the most interesting and fun part of psychiatry for me. Right now I feel very jaded and bored with most of psychiatry (possibly due to PGY-IV senioritis?) but when the topic is psychosomatic medicine I still feel passionate and interested.
Other factors in favor of the fellowship:
I wonder if, as time goes by and there are more psychosomatic fellowship graduates, it will become an expectation that you'll have done the fellowship as a requirement to be hired for the most interesting psychosomatic/CL jobs.
I have already applied and lined up interviews, so I feel like the fellowship is "now or never". I worry that if I cancel my interviews now I would be burning my bridges at those places. I also feel kind of like I would be letting down my mentors in my program who believed in me enough to write letters of recommendation. I worry they won't want to give me recommendations again in the future (or recommend me for jobs) if I flake out on them now.
Here are the reasons I don't want to do it though:
It seems like most people who do psychosomatic fellowship end up in academics. I am not certain that I want to stay in academia.
Looking at job postings, I don't see that many jobs that specifically require a psychosomatic fellowship - so I wonder if it's even really worth it at all?
My sig. other doesn't make very much money, so I feel that doing the fellowship would be a bigger financial sacrifice for me than it is for the people I know who did the fellowship whose spouse had a lucrative career (I have noticed a lot of the people I know who did the fellowship had a spouse who was also a doctor for example - so losing a year of attending salary wasn't that big of a deal for them). When I look at my friends who are getting great attending salary offers, when recruiters send me these seductive job ads, it is tempting to jump into an attending job just for the money alone. I so want to start paying down my debt and building up savings again.
Psychosomatic fellowship seems more "worth it" if you go to a prestigious program where you get to see the zebras and work with the true experts. I do have some interviews lined up at a few prestigious fellowship programs...however they are all in different states.
Since applying I have started to realize that the logistics of relocating for a fellowship would be harder than I thought. My sig other can't relocate with me so we'd be in a long distance relationship for a year. We have talked a bit about having a child sooner rather than later, but obviously that would be put on hold if I'm doing fellowship in another state.
Is it worth the emotional costs to be long distance for a year for this? Is it worth the extra financial cost of moving away for a year for this?
tl,dr: I love the idea of psychosomatic medicine but due to financial worries, family needs, and worrying the job market doesn't really demand this fellowship, I am questioning if I should do it.
What do you guys think?
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