How important is program name for fellowship match?

[Syndicate]

Applying to medicine this cycle. My numbers are very average at an above average school. My Dean told me I have a good shot of matching at a mid tier academic program. My eventual goal is to match into a competitive medicine subspecialty like GI or onc. It doesn't matter where I do fellowship (crappiest community program in the field is just fine for me).

As long as I work hard my PGY1/2 years, try to develop connections, and do some minor research (abstracts, presentations), my chances of getting into ANY fellowship program (again, not looking to get into big name programs, just want to be a GI or Onc doc) shouldn't be limited right?


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[rokshana]

Applying to medicine this cycle. My numbers are very average at an above average school. My Dean told me I have a good shot of matching at a mid tier academic program. My eventual goal is to match into a competitive medicine subspecialty like GI or onc. It doesn't matter where I do fellowship (crappiest community program in the field is just fine for me).

As long as I work hard my PGY1/2 years, try to develop connections, and do some minor research (abstracts, presentations), my chances of getting into ANY fellowship program (again, not looking to get into big name programs, just want to be a GI or Onc doc) shouldn't be limited right?


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no one can tell you that there is something that is going to guarantee you a spot in a competitive fellowship...though minor research is probably not going to seen as a great thing...hem/onc tends to put value on research in considering applicants.

 

[ABatOutofHeck]

Very.

 

[ilovecorgis]

I'm in a similar boat as yours (average scores, above-average school, interested in heme/onc), and I've been looking into this question pretty heavily.

It's hard for individuals on a forum like this to give a clean answer to such a broad question since you're only working from your own experience, so I think the most objective data on this question is to look at fellowship matches for mid-tier IM programs you're interested in. Many programs have multiple years worth of data to sift through on their websites. I can't speak for GI, but with respect for heme/onc, mid-tier academic programs on my personal list (programs in the southeast and the west coast) comfortably match 2-4 applicants per year at a range of heme/onc fellowships (usually academic, some community). Even in lower-tier academic IM programs, you can also take a peek at their in-house heme-onc fellows to see if the fellowship program seems willing to take some of their own IM residents. I've curated my list of IM programs to focus on those that have in-house fellowships that seem friendly to their own residents.

If you want to get super stalker-ish, you can do a quick pubmed search of current fellows at a program to get a sense of how research-focused fellowships are. In mid to top-tier academics, publications are highly valued. I'm sure low/mid-tier academics and community programs also value research in the selection process, but matches with 5+ publications seem much more rare at that level.

Obviously what's missing from this analysis is whether some IM applicants at these mid-tier places were discouraged from applying, or how many applied but didn't match to fellowship. Does IM brand name matter at all? Absolutely, no question about it. Does being at a mid-tier program lock you out of matching to ANY heme/onc fellowship assuming you work hard and have no red flags? From my observations, absolutely not.

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

I actually think it matters a great deal if your only goal is to get into a name brand program, i.e. CCF/Brigham for cards or MSKCC/MDACC for heme/onc. Having a MD PhD can also make up for coming from a less well known program. But honestly, the return drops off fairly quickly so if your only goal is to get into any reasonably good fellowship program, having an MD from a US med school and going to a mid-tier academic program is generally going to be just fine presuming you get good LORs and complete a minor research project before you apply.

 

[JLC]

Applying to medicine this cycle. My numbers are very average at an above average school. My Dean told me I have a good shot of matching at a mid tier academic program. My eventual goal is to match into a competitive medicine subspecialty like GI or onc. It doesn't matter where I do fellowship (crappiest community program in the field is just fine for me).

As long as I work hard my PGY1/2 years, try to develop connections, and do some minor research (abstracts, presentations), my chances of getting into ANY fellowship program (again, not looking to get into big name programs, just want to be a GI or Onc doc) shouldn't be limited right?


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Its the most important factor IMO.

 

[gutonc]

Everything matters...to varying degrees.

Do the thing that's right for you. Don't drive yourself crazy getting there.

 

[DrfluffyMD]

Harvard can probably match a student with 230 into a Harvard IM program