how to be competitive for fellowships

[scrub monkey]

for residencies, the formula seems pretty straightforward, do well on your boards, get good grades, get good rec's.

but what about fellowships? how is one competitive other than just going to an academic residency program and getting a couple good letters? it seems that anybody could get some good letters, and there are so many residency programs. how do fellowship programs choose their fellows? especially tough programs like cards and gi.

thanks.

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[profunda]

that's a good question. does anyone know?

 

[irish79]

One of the cardiologists that I work for said that all you needed to get into a fellowship program was to get a recommendation from a well-known physician in that field. The recommendation needs to say that the physician would be willing to give up his/her first-born child if the program would let you in.

I am assuming he is joking, but he didn't seem to give any other straightforward answer. I guess the secret continues...

 

[task]

Use the search feature, looking for topics like "matching" and "fellowship". This subject has been dealt with pretty thoroughly on this board in the past, and a lot of that discussion should help with your questions.

In a nutshell, going to the best IM program you can get into, impressing the right attendings, trying to get involved in some research, and cultivating good letters. That's a VERY brief nutshell.