surgical pathology fellowship application timing?

[suckerfree]

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is it necessary to apply for surgical pathology fellowships at the end of the 2nd year/beginning of 3rd year of AP/CP residency, or because surgical pathology fellowships in general are not as competitive as say, heme, can the application be delayed until the end of 3rd year?

 

[Patho2009]

Usually one year and half before the starting date of the fellowship.

 

[pathstudent]

surg path feloowships aren't that competitive in general unless it has a lot of internal candidates and not a lot of spots.

 

[suckerfree]

Perhaps I am being an underachiever, but when I started residency I had lofty goals of being this high powered hematopathologist/surgical pathologist in a gigundo hospital signing out 10k surgicals per year and lecturing and doing research. I am currently now only interested in being a good clinician, I don't care about the prestige of my clinical appointments, I just want to do a good job and enjoy my life. I think I would like to see myself at a surgical pathology fellowship which will give me good experience that will better prepare me for a position either at a VA or in a community/non-tertiary care center hospital as a generalist. For that reason, I think that a surgical pathology fellowship that gives good exposure not only to complicated surgical oncological cases but also to routine bread and butter general pathology cases will be a positive direction.

 

[yaah]

I think because of the way timings in different programs are screwy, you can start contacting programs you are interested in at the start of your third year. But many of them will not need anything from you for another 6 months or so. It doesn't hurt to contact them early though.

 

[pathstudent]

Perhaps I am being an underachiever, but when I started residency I had lofty goals of being this high powered hematopathologist/surgical pathologist in a gigundo hospital signing out 10k surgicals per year and lecturing and doing research. I am currently now only interested in being a good clinician, I don't care about the prestige of my clinical appointments, I just want to do a good job and enjoy my life. I think I would like to see myself at a surgical pathology fellowship which will give me good experience that will better prepare me for a position either at a VA or in a community/non-tertiary care center hospital as a generalist. For that reason, I think that a surgical pathology fellowship that gives good exposure not only to complicated surgical oncological cases but also to routine bread and butter general pathology cases will be a positive direction.

From what I have been told by older residents that went into private practice is that the pathology you see is no different than a powerhouse academic institution. So if I was you it would be a good idea to get the best training possible because in academics you are only responsible for a single organ (like liver or bone or brain or lymph nodes or breast) but in private practice you need to know something about EVERYTHING because anything might show up at the doorstep.