Hi all,
I'm in the process of finalizing my rank list and am having a hard time deciding between "top tier community" and "low tier academic" programs. My ultimate goal is to do Hematology/Oncology fellowship.
I am stuck between two programs currently, one community and one academic. The community program has a good reputation within my state and is almost 100% USMD. They only generally match one person to Heme/Onc a year, and it is to the in-house spot. The academic program does not have as good a reputation in my state and is only 50% USMD. However, they match four people to Heme/Onc a year to their in-house spots.
The community program stated on interview day that they did not have much research available, while the academic program stressed that I would be able to do any kind of research I wanted at their institution. I guess logically it makes sense to go to the academic program if I am set on fellowship, but I see many of my peers ranking top community programs over lower tier academic programs. My main question is - is there ever any reason to go to a community program over an academic program if fellowship is the ultimate goal?
I'm in the process of finalizing my rank list and am having a hard time deciding between "top tier community" and "low tier academic" programs. My ultimate goal is to do Hematology/Oncology fellowship.
I am stuck between two programs currently, one community and one academic. The community program has a good reputation within my state and is almost 100% USMD. They only generally match one person to Heme/Onc a year, and it is to the in-house spot. The academic program does not have as good a reputation in my state and is only 50% USMD. However, they match four people to Heme/Onc a year to their in-house spots.
The community program stated on interview day that they did not have much research available, while the academic program stressed that I would be able to do any kind of research I wanted at their institution. I guess logically it makes sense to go to the academic program if I am set on fellowship, but I see many of my peers ranking top community programs over lower tier academic programs. My main question is - is there ever any reason to go to a community program over an academic program if fellowship is the ultimate goal?