Tips for competitive fellowships and quality programs

[desmangt]

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I don't know if other people have opinions on this subject, but one thing I think is important, when it comes to evaluating programs, is the number of fellowships they have. For a program to offer a fellowship spot, they have to have enough volume to make it worth while for the department ($$ wise). Some pathology fellowships are competitive to get (derm, cyto), and working within an institution that already has these programs dramatically increases your chances of getting that spot. Also, typically, institutions that offer fellowships are programs that have very accomplished attendings within those fields. Therefore, the more fellowships, the more accomplished the attendings and the more fellows that can teach you pathology. Anyway, if students are interested, this can be figured out by using FREIDA.

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2997.html

 

[yaah]

Yeah, good advice. I think programs have to go through a fairly rigorous screening program before they can offer a fellowship spot - like do they have enough volume and resources to ensure appropriate fellowship training. Different programs also treat fellows differently, giving graded responsibility. At some places you act almost as a junior attending, where at others you are just a resident who spends more time on surg path than the other residents. Important things to look at when applying.

Sometimes, however, having too many fellowships detracts from the training of the residents, because the fellows get all the time with attendings and the residents have to go through the fellows. I visited a couple of programs during interviews where it seemed as though it was a good place to do a fellowship but NOT a good place to do primary residency.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

just say you know yaah and you'll get any position you want 🙂

of course, there is the possibility they'll respond by saying, 'WTF is yaah, you need a psych consult man!"