Going for residency with very few fellowships ?

[M&L]

Some of the residencies I am interviewing at have very few fellowships, and don’t have peds path that right now I think might be my top choice . One of them doesn’t even have a peds fellowship in the area, 3 of them have one in the area but it’s not theirs.

Can someone experienced in path please talk me through advantages and disadvantages of going to a program with very few fellowships ? And not have a local fellowship in your field of interest? I don’t want to make a mistake I’ll regret later . I worked too hard for this

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SunBakedTrash]

There are very few benefits with going to a program without fellowships. Generally, stronger residency programs will have numerous in-house fellowships. Pathology doesn’t really work the way that a clinical specialty does as far as “getting to do more” without fellows. You can see as much as you want to at any program, and programs will want to take in-house residents when possible, since you would be a known and hopefully reliable commodity.

Pediatric pathology is not a particularly competitive specialty, as it is highly academic in nature and the expertise you would bring would be limited to high volume academic centers and children’s hospitals. Obviously go where you would be happiest and can live comfortably for 3-4 years, but I imagine your life would be much more simple if you chose a program with the fellowships you were interested in or at least nearby so that you can rotate there (i.e. UPenn and CHOP).

 

[KeratinPearls]

Some of the residencies I am interviewing at have very few fellowships, and don’t have peds path that right now I think might be my top choice . One of them doesn’t even have a peds fellowship in the area, 3 of them have one in the area but it’s not theirs.

Can someone experienced in path please talk me through advantages and disadvantages of going to a program with very few fellowships ? And not have a local fellowship in your field of interest? I don’t want to make a mistake I’ll regret later . I worked too hard for this

Don’t go to a residency with few fellowships. Few fellowships means the program doesn’t have the volume to support a particular fellowship. If anything go to a place with AT LEAST both cyto and heme fellowships. Most places have decent surgpath volume and if you want to do private practice, places with busy cyto and heme will serve you well in your future practice.

 

[M&L]

Don’t go to a residency with few fellowships. Few fellowships means the program doesn’t have the volume to support a particular fellowship. If anything go to a place with AT LEAST both cyto and heme fellowships. Most places have decent surgpath volume and if you want to do private practice, places with busy cyto and heme will serve you well in your future practice.

The particular one I am talking about have cyto, heme, Surg path and transfusion . Is that ok ? So, 4 fellowships. But does offer electives in everything else

 

[Guest8]

The particular one I am talking about have cyto, heme, Surg path and transfusion . Is that ok ? So, 4 fellowships. But does offer electives in everything else

That depends - do you think you'd want to do just cyto, heme, surg path, or transfusion as a fellowship or career? Ideally you go to a residency that offers fellowships you would want to do after residency, as it's often much easier to get into a fellowship at your residency institution than to get in elsewhere.

 

[M&L]

That depends - do you think you'd want to do just cyto, heme, surg path, or transfusion as a fellowship or career? Ideally you go to a residency that offers fellowships you would want to do after residency, as it's often much easier to get into a fellowship at your residency institution than to get in elsewhere.

Other 2 I have don’t have Surg path ….which to me sounds suspicious …. This one does have the faculty and electives in pretty much everything else, and it’s the only residency in a very big city .

 

[M&L]

As in, there is no other path residency in that city . And it’s a major regional center with a lot of hospitals . And plethora of other residencies - surgical subspecialties, etc . So I am under impression that I can dive into whatever . And they even said “we will support anything you want, you can take aways, etc etc etc , we will create teaching or research for you if you want, etc

 

[M&L]

Oh they do have forensics too btw . Forgot to mention .

 

[SunBakedTrash]

As long as its a well-known place with decent surgical volume (~50k surgicals) , it should be fine. I don’t think a great residency needs to have a renal pathology fellowship to be adequate.

The most important thing is being happy and thriving during your training with plenty of support. If you were miserable at Hopkins, it’ll show and hurt your career more than a residency at East South Central Arkansas State University would.

 

[KeratinPearls]

As long as its a well-known place with decent surgical volume (~50k surgicals) , it should be fine. I don’t think a great residency needs to have a renal pathology fellowship to be adequate.

The most important thing is being happy and thriving during your training with plenty of support. If you were miserable at Hopkins, it’ll show and hurt your career more than a residency at East South Central Arkansas State University would.

Yeah the higher the volume the better. 50k is decent? I trained at a place wit lh lesser volume and thought that was decent. A lot of residency programs are less than decent according to your 50k criteria lol.

Yeah you have to make sure you are happy. Some of those well known institutions are full of egomaniacs, crazy coresidents and it’s up to you if you are willing to put up with that stuff.

Avoid programs with:
1. Drama
2. Crazy nasty vindictive attendings
3. Difficult crazy coresidents and fellows
4. Crazy pathology assistants

Look for programs with:
1. Supportive, fair attendings
2. Cool coresidents that you would consider as friends outside of work
3. Friendly collegial atmosphere
4. Work hard but play hard

We had a good group of people in my residency. We joked, we laughed and we all had fun. We helped each other out and most everyone got along. This can’t be said of most other places.

The above applies as well when looking for a job.

 

[Napoleon1801]

Avoid programs with:
1. Drama
2. Crazy nasty vindictive attendings
3. Difficult crazy coresidents and fellows
4. Crazy pathology assistants

Oh jeez, that brings back some memories.

 

[M&L]

Oh jeez, that brings back some memories.

lovely memories, i presume?

 

[LADoc00]

Peds path?! Seriously?

Honestly I would rather be the squirrel in your picture with my head in a pumpkin than do Peds Path.

The highest level acuity, the highest level liability, the highest level patient sphincter tone paired with the lowest pay. I always thought people got trapped in peds path as the reason they did it, like you got far too curious at a conference and wandered too close to the peds surgery staff and they just sucked the life essence from you ala Dark Crystal....

 

[M&L]

Peds path?! Seriously?

Honestly I would rather be the squirrel in your picture with my head in a pumpkin than do Peds Path.

The highest level acuity, the highest level liability, the highest level patient sphincter tone paired with the lowest pay. I always thought people got trapped in peds path as the reason they did it, like you got far too curious at a conference and wandered too close to the peds surgery staff and they just sucked the life essence from you ala Dark Crystal....

View attachment 360644

hahahhaha... oh my god I am crying hahahha.

So after consideration i am thinking that probably a better plan is to do a different specialty that is universally used in peds and adult - hempath for example, or GI, or something else - and find a job in a peds department or hospital if i want. This would make me more marketable and more fit more private sector. But really, I am trying to stay open minded and see what happens.

 

[caffeinegirl]

hahahhaha... oh my god I am crying hahahha.

So after consideration i am thinking that probably a better plan is to do a different specialty that is universally used in peds and adult - hempath for example, or GI, or something else - and find a job in a peds department or hospital if i want. This would make me more marketable and more fit more private sector. But really, I am trying to stay open minded and see what happens.

Just wanted to correct this so that other applicants and residents are aware - hiring in hospitals is done by pathology departments (or pathology groups that are contracted with the hospital) or by the healthcare system (for employee models) - not non-pathology departments (there are also pod labs, where you work for GI, urology or dermatologists in their in house lab). Your workload is dependent on the hospital cases/patient population and hospital areas of expertise. For most private practices, pathology groups cover hospital workloads as well as outpatient. You won't get any inkling of what private practice pathology is if you talk only to academic pathologists.

I would recommend that applicants look at current job postings to see what the demand is out there, and what job requirements are for your area of interest. The job board which is most used is pathologyoutlines.com/jobs , however many good jobs are found by networking/word of mouth.
You're going to spend a lot of time, effort and money going into this specialty, and you should go into it with eyes wide open. Try and train at an institution that has a high volume with a variety of subspecialty expertise in the faculty. Make every rotation count, go as much in depth as you can, and figure out what practice setting matches your personal goals. Pathology is a great field, however it is often misunderstood (or not understood at all!). Most, if not all jobs have a "bread and butter" aspect to them - make sure you're happy with the majority of what your job will be prior to taking the plunge.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Just wanted to correct this so that other applicants and residents are aware - hiring in hospitals is done by pathology departments (or pathology groups that are contracted with the hospital) or by the healthcare system (for employee models) - not non-pathology departments (there are also pod labs, where you work for GI, urology or dermatologists in their in house lab). Your workload is dependent on the hospital cases/patient population and hospital areas of expertise. For most private practices, pathology groups cover hospital workloads as well as outpatient. You won't get any inkling of what private practice pathology is if you talk only to academic pathologists.

I would recommend that applicants look at current job postings to see what the demand is out there, and what job requirements are for your area of interest. The job board which is most used is pathologyoutlines.com/jobs , however many good jobs are found by networking/word of mouth.
You're going to spend a lot of time, effort and money going into this specialty, and you should go into it with eyes wide open. Try and train at an institution that has a high volume with a variety of subspecialty expertise in the faculty. Make every rotation count, go as much in depth as you can, and figure out what practice setting matches your personal goals. Pathology is a great field, however it is often misunderstood (or not understood at all!). Most, if not all jobs have a "bread and butter" aspect to them - make sure you're happy with the majority of what your job will be prior to taking the plunge.

Some places have separate Pediatric Pathology departments or divisions. I suspect that’s what the poster was referring to.

 

[Frenchfries1234]

Just wanted to correct this so that other applicants and residents are aware - hiring in hospitals is done by pathology departments (or pathology groups that are contracted with the hospital) or by the healthcare system (for employee models) - not non-pathology departments (there are also pod labs, where you work for GI, urology or dermatologists in their in house lab). Your workload is dependent on the hospital cases/patient population and hospital areas of expertise. For most private practices, pathology groups cover hospital workloads as well as outpatient. You won't get any inkling of what private practice pathology is if you talk only to academic pathologists.

I would recommend that applicants look at current job postings to see what the demand is out there, and what job requirements are for your area of interest. The job board which is most used is pathologyoutlines.com/jobs , however many good jobs are found by networking/word of mouth.
You're going to spend a lot of time, effort and money going into this specialty, and you should go into it with eyes wide open. Try and train at an institution that has a high volume with a variety of subspecialty expertise in the faculty. Make every rotation count, go as much in depth as you can, and figure out what practice setting matches your personal goals. Pathology is a great field, however it is often misunderstood (or not understood at all!). Most, if not all jobs have a "bread and butter" aspect to them - make sure you're happy with the majority of what your job will be prior to taking the plunge.

110% agree with this. Learn everything you can in residency and fellowship. You can never know what your job afterwards will require. You only get one chance to be trained by “experts”. Make it count.