Want to do REI fellowship, matched at Academic Prog with virtually no in-house REI dept :( Advice?

[Narcomedusae]

Hi everyone,

So I'm reasonably sure I want to do an REI fellowship and went into this interview season knowing that. I interviewed at several places with fellowships and strong departments, but I ended up matching lower on my list than I thought I would. The program is an academic program, but they have virtually no in-house REI department and the rotations are done through assistant adjunct faculty. It seems they have good relationships with these faculty and REIs in the area, but I'm greatly concerned at how this might affect my chances for fellowship.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I basically just go in from Day 1 and gear all my required research towards REI and try to do as much networking as I can? Or should I even remotely entertain the thought of transferring next year?
Aside from this, I think the program is fairly decent.

Any advice appreciated!

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[residencycoord]

I don't know if this is possible at your institution but see if you can do an elective at another institution for REI. It will probably not happen until your 3rd year but it would be worth it. Also, write a paper or poster and submit it to ASRM. That is a good place to network.

 

[Narcomedusae]

They offer an elective in 4th year, which is I believe also when the devoted REI elective is, although there is some exposure through other rotations beforehand. I'm a little concerned at how late this is though.

I'm currently working on a case report that is REI related, and hope to have some additional case reports or whatnot in residency. I think I would be able to gear my required research projects REI related.

 

[Narcomedusae]

Will i just be facing an absolutely huge uphill battle with this??? I know REI has become more competitive but it's not as bad as Gyn Onc.
I'm pretty committed to seeing my dreams through, it's just disheartening. I should have good resources through the University, but I'm just very worried that without the academic staff there that it will be hard to do good research and network in the desired circles.

Is transferring for this reason completely over the top/absurd? I don't really think I want to do this, but I would consider it as a last resort option...

 

[anonperson]

Before going into panic mode, has anyone from your program matched into REI? How well regarded is your program overall? The supposed quality of a program/brand name is important. Are your REI faculty doing any research that you can be involved with? Are they well known in the REI community? There are some programs that have no in house fellowship but still match extremely well, like Ohio State.

I think transferring is a bit much for a couple of reasons:
-It is not uncommon for people to change their mind and decide on becoming generalists or pursue a different fellowship
-Transferring is not as easy as it sounds and you could permanently damage your relationship with your PD if you try and it is not successful which can sink your training
-Plus you'd have to aim to transfer to a program that has an opening and a fellowship. This happens from time to time but most of the programs on the CREOG clearinghouse are average.
-The REI match is probably as tough as Gyn Onc because there are so few spots in general and some years a program may not have a fellow.

There is a reasonable stickied thread at the top of the forum that an REI fellow responded to and provided good information.

But honestly, I think it is very important for any resident or anyone thinking of applying for an OB residency to realize that a fellowship is not guarantee except for a very few certain residents coming from high powered residencies (JHU, UTSW, UPenn etc). I wouldn't recommend an OB GYN residency if your happiness and career satisfaction is contingent on matching into a specific fellowship as the overall numbers are much lower compared to other specialties and their is the very real possibility of practicing as a generalist for the rest of one's life (this doesn't apply to you but just a general comment).

 

[Narcomedusae]

When I say no in-house department, I mean there's no full-time faculty. Only assistant adjuncts from the community. I've heard that people get good teaching from them, but I'm not sure about research and I think it's been quite some time since someone matched REI. That said, a lot of it is a factor of wanting it. I think only 1 person in the last 10+ years from my home institution has gone REI.

 

[22031 Alum]

When I say no in-house department, I mean there's no full-time faculty. Only assistant adjuncts from the community. I've heard that people get good teaching from them, but I'm not sure about research and I think it's been quite some time since someone matched REI. That said, a lot of it is a factor of wanting it. I think only 1 person in the last 10+ years from my home institution has gone REI.

Honestly, a program with a decent REI program is 1) not likely to have a spot open up and 2) going to have many more people than you looking to take any spots that open up. Your safest bet is to maximize your potential at your current program. Work with those assistant adjuncts, get involved in projects as early as possible. And finally, don't forget that you are in residency to learn OB/gyn. The whole field. Residents who treat residency as just a bothersome stepping stone to their desired fellowship, tend not to get good PD evals...

 

[Narcomedusae]

Honestly, a program with a decent REI program is 1) not likely to have a spot open up and 2) going to have many more people than you looking to take any spots that open up. Your safest bet is to maximize your potential at your current program. Work with those assistant adjuncts, get involved in projects as early as possible. And finally, don't forget that you are in residency to learn OB/gyn. The whole field. Residents who treat residency as just a bothersome stepping stone to their desired fellowship, tend not to get good PD evals...

I realize I'm in residency to learn OBGYN, and I definitely didn't apply OB just as a stepping stone to fellowship. Fellowship isn't a guarantee, and I absolutely do love the field and hope to work very hard and get as much as I can out of residency.

 

[22031 Alum]

I realize I'm in residency to learn OBGYN, and I definitely didn't apply OB just as a stepping stone to fellowship. Fellowship isn't a guarantee, and I absolutely do love the field and hope to work very hard and get as much as I can out of residency.

Good to hear!

One more thing re: networking. Remember, even non-academic REIs did fellowship and residency, and may have old co-fellows, residency classmates, and program directors all over the place. Not to mention your non-REI attendings: one of them may hear what you're interested in and say, "REI? One of my old juniors is an REI at XYZ, let me know if you want me to put in a word for you."

 

[tvelocity514]

I actually just had this conversation with an attending at my school this morning. I heard that you need to match at a program that has an REI fellowship in order to secure (have a higher chance) of getting one. She told me that this wasn't necessarily the case though. You need to look at a residency's placement into REI. Example: She told me the program at my school matched 3/6 of their residents last year in REI, and we don't have a home program. So that is really good for not having a home REI fellowship. I asked how, and she told me that they are good at helping you find research and getting you involved with REI physicians and networking.

Overall take-home point: don't think you won't get a fellowship just because you didn't match somewhere with a program. I saw that you said the school you matched at doesn't have the best placement history into REI, but use that as a motivating factor to push yourself to speak to your attendings and ask them if they can put you into contact with some REI research/contacts and just do your best to publish and network. You can do it! Good luck!

 

[JK336]

During my interview trail, I came across a 4th year resident at a community program (but academically affiliated) who had just matched into REI at a well known medical center in the south. She was very open and told me she had zero research papers (just publications from undergrad/medical school) but had phenomenal support from the adjunct REI group that their program rotates with. They helped her network and call programs. She said that on the interview trail, she did feel a bit out of place bc a lot of candidates are from big name programs (Harvard, stanford, etc) but in the end she was still accepted. She was the first in that residency program to get in. So don't be discouraged. I think attending the national conferences to network and publishing papers, REI or not, will be very helpful.