Thinking about doing rheum fellowship right now... as a PGY 2... is it too late? any advice

[kehlsh]

Hey I'm a PGY -2 , an American Med Graduate in a small IM program
I was thinking about just doing hospital medicine all throughout the residency but now that I am almost half way done with residency and REALLY have to think about my career choice, it has dawned upon me that maybe I should specialize in something
Not particularly interested in doing any procedures... I was thinking and RHEUM seems to fit my interest

I have done couple case reports (NON-rheum)... nothing in the CV... what should I do next? I would like to do an away rotation, but is it too late at this point? How do you get an away rotation to begin with (actual process, do you just email the coordinator of the program or something?)? Thanks a lot

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[MyTachyBradyHeart]

Hey I'm a PGY -2 , an American Med Graduate in a small IM program
I was thinking about just doing hospital medicine all throughout the residency but now that I am almost half way done with residency and REALLY have to think about my career choice, it has dawned upon me that maybe I should specialize in something
Not particularly interested in doing any procedures... I was thinking and RHEUM seems to fit my interest

I have done couple case reports (NON-rheum)... nothing in the CV... what should I do next? I would like to do an away rotation, but is it too late at this point? How do you get an away rotation to begin with (actual process, do you just email the coordinator of the program or something?)? Thanks a lot

It's not too late. You should talk to your IM PD and rheumatology faculty and express your interest. Rheum is not a competitive specialty and therefore you have a great chance to match even without rheum-specific research.

Don't do an away rotation during residency, unless your institution does not have a rheumatology clinic or consult service.

Also, depending on your clinical interest and the institution you work at, specialists have the opportunity to attend on internal medicine services, provided you keep uptodate with your IM certification and negotiate that in your contract.

 

[bachow]

It's not too late. You should talk to your IM PD and rheumatology faculty and express your interest. Rheum is not a competitive specialty and therefore you have a great chance to match even without rheum-specific research.

Don't do an away rotation during residency, unless your institution does not have a rheumatology clinic or consult service.

Also, depending on your clinical interest and the institution you work at, specialists have the opportunity to attend on internal medicine services, provided you keep uptodate with your IM certification and negotiate that in your contract.

Why no away elective?

 

[MyTachyBradyHeart]

Why no away elective?

I've never found away electives to be helpful, even less so as a resident when applying to fellowship. Having had some say in the residency selection process, away rotation students weren't given any serious consideration unless they were qualified otherwise and would've garnered interview regardless of their away rotation.

For fellowships, I can imagine that being even more so, since it's much rarer and the field is smaller.

Occasionally, residents will say they've matched somewhere they did an away. However, overall, I don't think those experiences can be generalized to the broader applicant pool.

To each his own.

 

[Lccjblu]

It's not too late. You should talk to your IM PD and rheumatology faculty and express your interest. Rheum is not a competitive specialty and therefore you have a great chance to match even without rheum-specific research.

Don't do an away rotation during residency, unless your institution does not have a rheumatology clinic or consult service.

Also, depending on your clinical interest and the institution you work at, specialists have the opportunity to attend on internal medicine services, provided you keep uptodate with your IM certification and negotiate that in your contract.

Rheum is a competitive speciality. The match rate this cycle is 65% second only to GI.

 

[rokshana]

Rheum is a competitive speciality. The match rate this cycle is 65% second only to GI.

that's not the way to look at that, but whatever makes you feel good i guess.

 

[IMreshopeful]

Rheum is a competitive speciality. The match rate this cycle is 65% second only to GI.

The typical rheum applicant and typical GI applicant are very different applications
There’s a higher percentage of IMGs in rheum and more coming from community hospitals whereas GI and cards heavily favor university hospital grads and AMGs. Usually less research is required for rheum. Etc etc
This is a misleading way to look at it

 

[deleted392989]

Just curious, OP, have you done a rheumatology rotation in residency?
If you want to match to a strong program, I would recommend doing an away at a university with a rheumatology fellowship. Rheumatology is a small world where faculty at these places will know each other, especially regionally. A LOR from a recognizable name will go a long way, especially for getting interviews.
If you are OK with matching to a community program or program in less desirable areas, then I think you should be fine with some rheumatology-related research as posters or case reports. I would also recommend you apply broadly in this scenario.
During my interview trail, interviewees were pretty evenly divided between 3 categories: 1) 3rd year IM residents, 2) chief residents, 3) working as hospitalist for 1-2 years and making a career change. It would be interesting to see what proportion of matched applicants fall into these categories.

 

[Kakoy]

As a rheum fellow actually involved in the process this year, I humbly disagree with some of the advice above. Rheum has become competitive the last few years...

1. Research is essential.
2. Away rotation is helpful. Rheum is a small community and the attending and a lot of the fellows know each other. Who you know in general in also very helpful ( friends of fellows had higher chance of getting interviews).
3. LOR is also incredibly important.
4. Interest important
5. Good scores, chief resident, and Program ( High/medium/low tier also was commented on).

From the rheum application thread of this year:

"It looks like a total of 358 applicants applied. 233 matched with the following breakdowns:

U.S. Grad - 120 (51.5%)
U.S. Foreign - 30 (12.9%)
Osteopathic - 25 (10.7%)
Foreign - 58 (24.9%)"