Finding a research year for after M3?

[snowys435]

Hello everyone,

Firstly thanks, as everyone on this forum is so helpful. I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had ideas for research years between M3 and M4? I have looked into a few things already and found only 2 official derm fellowships that I could apply to so I applied to those. Most of them seem to require an MD.

Does anyone else have any ideas how to get a research year? Do I cold email people? If so, how do I figure out who are good PIs to email? Do I attach a cover letter/CV? I have asked the department at my school for help and no luck. They are incredibly small and do not do any research so I am at a loss.

I have 5 months till 3rd year ends and I'd love to land a derm fellowship as my clinical grades are unfortunately a little low and I am pretty sure if I go straight into 4th year I have a less than 50% chance of matching. I was hoping people here might have some ideas. Ive browsed through old posts and most seem to be geared towards finding a fellowship after having not matched.

Thanks

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[AllDay24]

Doing a research year right now. I met my PI's fellow at a research conference. He put in a good word for me to the PI and then I emailed the PI and the secretary. Contacting the secretary can be key for busy PI's who won't respond to emails. Def attach CV in emails. Market your skills (writing, stats, previous research exp etc).

 

[MedicalSport]

Hello everyone,

Firstly thanks, as everyone on this forum is so helpful. I wanted to reach out and see if anyone had ideas for research years between M3 and M4? I have looked into a few things already and found only 2 official derm fellowships that I could apply to so I applied to those. Most of them seem to require an MD.

Does anyone else have any ideas how to get a research year? Do I cold email people? If so, how do I figure out who are good PIs to email? Do I attach a cover letter/CV? I have asked the department at my school for help and no luck. They are incredibly small and do not do any research so I am at a loss.

I have 5 months till 3rd year ends and I'd love to land a derm fellowship as my clinical grades are unfortunately a little low and I am pretty sure if I go straight into 4th year I have a less than 50% chance of matching. I was hoping people here might have some ideas. Ive browsed through old posts and most seem to be geared towards finding a fellowship after having not matched.

Thanks

Yes, cold email.
Good PIs publish a lot
Yes, attach CV
Good PIs include: Koo at USCF, Feldman at Wake Forest, Paller at NorthWestern, Kimball at Harvard, Kirsner at Miami, Werth at UPenn, etc... I left out a bunch of excellent PIs - I wrote this extremely quickly. Please add to the list if you like

 

[snowys435]

Yes, cold email.
Good PIs publish a lot
Yes, attach CV
Good PIs include: Yoo at USCF, Feldman at Wake Forest, Paller at NorthWestern, Kimball at Harvard, Kirsner at Miami, Werth at UPenn, etc... I left out a bunch of excellent PIs - I wrote this extremely quickly. Please add to the list if you like

AH YOU ARE AWESOME. thank you so much for this starter list-exactly what I was looking for. Would love some more suggestions when you have time because I literally did not know where to start!! thank youuuuuu

 

[blackblue]

MSKCC has a history of taking M3s during a gap year. I would also consider doing a research year at a "less prestigious" derm program (e.g. not NYU, NW, Miami...) with a history of taking their own fellows. You can also look at the previous derm match lists to see where people have done research fellowships

 

[snowys435]

MSKCC has a history of taking M3s during a gap year. I would also consider doing a research year at a "less prestigious" derm program (e.g. not NYU, NW, Miami...) with a history of taking their own fellows. You can also look at the previous derm match lists to see where people have done research fellowships

great thanks. Where can I find these match lists/ programs that have a history of taking their own fellows?

edit: second question. Also, can you be forthright with the PI in question and directly ask about publication or is that considered taboo? how many research publications should a current fellow have? How do you go about finding these fellows if these were arranged through informal fellowships?

 

[blackblue]

This is the list of previous matches:

I assume most PIs are forthcoming in terms of publications and productivity. I have no idea about research publications and informal fellowships; I did not end up pursuing a fellowship.

 

[dragon529]

UC Davis, USC, and Kaiser attendings like to work with med student fellows.