Telling Programs You Want a Fellowship?

[ResidencyApp]

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Is it a good, bad, or neutral thing to tell IM programs that you want to do a fellowship versus going into general medicine? I've always wondered if this makes any difference in their selection of you. Opinions from program directors would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I think it will depend upon the program. 70% of my residents go into fellowships, so I don't care at all. If you're applying into a primary care residency, or a program where very few residents go into fellowships, then it could be a problem.

 

[QofQuimica]

I wrote in my PS about wanting to do a fellowship, and it does not seem to have been an issue at all. Actually, if anything, it seems like the programs are going out of their way to help me meet faculty in my subspecialty of interest (i.e., having me interview with those faculty, setting up extra meetings, putting us in touch by email, etc.). Of course, like aPD suggested, I focused my apps on academically-oriented programs. Probably it wouldn't have gone over so well if I had applied to a bunch of community programs.

 

[gutonc]

I wrote in my PS about wanting to do a fellowship, and it does not seem to have been an issue at all. Actually, if anything, it seems like the programs are going out of their way to help me meet faculty in my subspecialty of interest (i.e., having me interview with those faculty, setting up extra meetings, putting us in touch by email, etc.). Of course, like aPD suggested, I focused my apps on academically-oriented programs. Probably it wouldn't have gone over so well if I had applied to a bunch of community programs.

What he and she said.

If you walk into a community program without fellowships or an academic PC track interview and tell them all you really care about is how soon you can start doing cardiac EP, things aren't going to go very well for you. Do the same at Columbia, Duke or UTSW IM and you'll be much better received.

My application (to Research Pathway combined IM/Onc programs) made it pretty clear to anyone paying attention that I wanted a fellowship. But I also talked about how important I thought it was to get a good grounding in general IM (which I believed at the time and still mostly do).