Hello all, I posted a few months back my situation on this forum... I am a new fellow in a competitive specialty but a non competitive program... I gave my program a chance but the reality is, I am not getting enough training and there are not enough patients here for me to see... So I have decided to transfer... I am very scared I won't match again if I just quit, so I will just try to transfer and if I can, then it's destiny; if I don't, then I will have to stay in this program and stick it out...
My question is, should I contact other programs without letting my PD know?? Have you known anyone who has done this??
Thanks so much!
Transferring fellowship programs is practically impossible the way that most programs are structured. The first year is the most important in almost every IM subspecialty, with the bulk of the clinical work occurring then. No one is going to flat out take you as a second year, this is a much different scenario from a PGY2 resident joining a residency program.
My advice would be heavily specialty dependent.
If you're in Cardiology or GI, I'd just focus on doing the best I can, finishing out my fellowship, and considering doing a superfellowship to get more scope/cath/whatever experience over another year or two. You already weren't competitive enough to get a "good" spot, every single program meets minimum ACGME requirements for # of patients/procedures/whatever, and you should be more thankful that you matched than anything else.
Heme/onc or P/CC? I don't know. There's not really superfellowships like cards/GI (except some very specific thinks like interventional pulm) and these fields are almost equally competitive to the above. The same point about every program meeting minimum requirements stands. I'd still probably say just finish it out, though you can try to reapply. Note that you're going to lose at least 2 years doing that, since the match for next year was... today.
If you're in Endo, Rheum? You're a quarter of the way through your fellowship (barring research years), there's minimal procedures (thyroid ultrasounds/biopsies in the former, MSK ultrasounds/injections in the latter) that you can always pick up at any one of 1,000,001 conferences during the course of the year, and where you do your fellowship *really* won't matter for getting most non-academic jobs. I think it would be dumb to quit now. These fields aren't as competitive as the above ones, but still fill every year.
If you're in Nephrology, ID? There's more spots than applicants. Feel free to drop out and find a new fellowship, programs can't afford to be too choosey. I'm sure there will be scramble spots that will be public sometime in the next week. You might not find one any better than where you're at though, and the loss of 2 years stands.
If you're in Sleep, Geriatrics, Palliative Care? They're 1 year fellowships. Just finish the second half.
Edit:
Looking back through your prior couple posts, you describe a 3 year fellowship that does admissions. I assume it's pulmonary/critical care. In that case... It's probably the toughest spot to be in of any subspecialty. You'd still likely be best served just finishing it out, but I feel for you.
