The Fellowship Game

[DoctorDuck13]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey all,

I know it is a really annoying gunnerish thing to ask just a few weeks after match, but I wanted to get a rough idea of what it is like to aim for a competitive fellowship during residency.

During medical school, it seemed relatively straightforward:

Party the first 2 years -> study like crazy for step 1 -> honors clinically -> get your app together (reference letters etc) -> apply end of third year -> match into IM.

I matched into IM and hope to go into cardiology. I'm not too sure what really goes into a fellowship application, since as far as I know there is much less "grading" than in medical school. As far as I know the in-service exams and stuff don't really weigh that heavily, so is it basically who you did your research with? Does this make it necessary to start branching out/researching right away in intern year so that you can have something ready for applying in PGY-2? The whole thing seems a bit rushed to me, so if someone could clarify what goes into a fellowship app and how things are weighted it would make much more sense to me.

 

[Keg]

Hey all,

I know it is a really annoying gunnerish thing to ask just a few weeks after match, but I wanted to get a rough idea of what it is like to aim for a competitive fellowship during residency.

During medical school, it seemed relatively straightforward:

Party the first 2 years -> study like crazy for step 1 -> honors clinically -> get your app together (reference letters etc) -> apply end of third year -> match into IM.

I matched into IM and hope to go into cardiology. I'm not too sure what really goes into a fellowship application, since as far as I know there is much less "grading" than in medical school. As far as I know the in-service exams and stuff don't really weigh that heavily, so is it basically who you did your research with? Does this make it necessary to start branching out/researching right away in intern year so that you can have something ready for applying in PGY-2? The whole thing seems a bit rushed to me, so if someone could clarify what goes into a fellowship app and how things are weighted it would make much more sense to me.

What matters (weighting is variable per program) is letters of recommendation, research, other extracurricular activities (leadership, etc.), and step 2/3 scores. That's the basic components of the application, in addition to the stuff you put in ERAS for your residency application (including your Dean's Letter and Step 1 scores).

 

[Merely]

Do step 1 scores matter?

 

[Instatewaiter]

Not really