New intern, best steps to take to secure GI fellowship?

[Dr.FQ]

Hi everyone, I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

I matched into IM this year at a university-affiliated program in NY and I will be starting my intern year in late June. I'm a fresh-grad US IMG (don't need Visa) and my scores are 253/260/1st attempt. I'm really interested in GI, and knowing how competitive it is, I want to make sure I take all the best steps to increase my chances of matching when the time to apply comes. My program has 2 in-house GI fellowship positions. Unfortunately, I do not have any published research and I'm aware of the importance of that for fellowship applications so that is something I'll definitely be working on during residency. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to do during residency to increase my chances of matching into GI, and how to go about securing as much research as possible, and possibly any other things that I'm missing to beef up my application during the next 2 years.

Thanks in advance.

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[GastriqueGraffin]

You just need 2 things:

1. Be a good resident. Develop a reputation of being willing to help, smart, humble, etc. That goes for all your rotations but especially wards and GI.

2. Do some sort of research. Ask your GI faculty about ideas or projects that are going on.

Don’t worry about the GI part including research until you first established yourself as a good intern. Nothing is more annoying to a senior resident or attending than an intern who cares more about some excel sheet for research than reading on their patients.

 

[hemosuccus]

You just need 2 things:

1. Be a good resident. Develop a reputation of being willing to help, smart, humble, etc. That goes for all your rotations but especially wards and GI.

2. Do some sort of research. Ask your GI faculty about ideas or projects that are going on.

Don’t worry about the GI part including research until you first established yourself as a good intern. Nothing is more annoying to a senior resident or attending than an intern who cares more about some excel sheet for research than reading on their patients.

This thread should be closed because this is the perfect answer.

 

[Dr.FQ]

That's sound advice. My concern was that if I delay the initiation of research until good rapport develops and my GI rotation happens to be late (scheduling wise) that I wouldn't have enough time to publish enough research before I apply for a GI fellowship when the time to do that comes. Do you have any ideas on that?
My impression was that I should seek out GI faculty early even if I haven't done my rotation there yet. What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks for the help, by the way

 

[chessknt]

Start reaching out after the first half of intern year and stop thinking about it until then. Gunning to the top was cute in med school but in residency unless you are superhuman something else is going to suffer until you figure out wtf you are doing on wards/clinic.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

You just need 2 things:

1. Be a good resident. Develop a reputation of being willing to help, smart, humble, etc. That goes for all your rotations but especially wards and GI.

2. Do some sort of research. Ask your GI faculty about ideas or projects that are going on.

Don’t worry about the GI part including research until you first established yourself as a good intern. Nothing is more annoying to a senior resident or attending than an intern who cares more about some excel sheet for research than reading on their patients.

I was that intern who was doing excel sheet work while on ward rotations. but I still got all my stuff done.

 

[rd31]

my biggest regret when I applied to GI fellowship was not doing more research during residency, including during my intern year

 

[Dr.FQ]

my biggest regret when I applied to GI fellowship was not doing more research during residency, including during my intern year

I think my biggest issue is that I don't wanna end up saying this as well, especially since I'm going into residency without any publications. That's why my intent was to start as early as possible so I can accumulate enough research under my belt to compete with other applicants. I'm willing to put in the work to get that done but my understanding is that sometimes you're also encouraged to have ideas for projects yourself and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to have enough insight to make that happen with little clinical experience to draw from. I guess I need to work on learning how to approach seniors/attendings and asking for research properly.

 

[cholangitis]

Hi everyone, I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

I matched into IM this year at a university-affiliated program in NY and I will be starting my intern year in late June. I'm a fresh-grad US IMG (don't need Visa) and my scores are 253/260/1st attempt. I'm really interested in GI, and knowing how competitive it is, I want to make sure I take all the best steps to increase my chances of matching when the time to apply comes. My program has 2 in-house GI fellowship positions. Unfortunately, I do not have any published research and I'm aware of the importance of that for fellowship applications so that is something I'll definitely be working on during residency. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to do during residency to increase my chances of matching into GI, and how to go about securing as much research as possible, and possibly any other things that I'm missing to beef up my application during the next 2 years.

Thanks in advance.

Congrats on matching! It’s great to have goals for the next step and to be making a plan when you know what you want. That ambition will take you far in your training.

I personally found it important to hit the ground running with research in residency. I did not have the scores that you did (significantly lower for both step 1 and step 2) and I had no research at all. From day one I asked about research and I’m glad tht I did. It can be hard to get projects off the ground or to find cases to write up. By the end of your second year your application is essentially done. GI is very competitive and publications are considered to be an indicator of your interest in the field and your interest in academic medicine.

I was published 3 times a year each year of my residency and was able to present at DDW in spring of my Pgy-1 year just by asking the right person at the right time and being added on to a project that was essentially completed. I also presented some GI themed case reports at some IM conferences and at AASLD. I went from 0 publications to being “very active in research” in 2 years.

I was a great resident and that helped me with my letters, but I was not selected as one of the internals that year. I ended up matching at another really great program because my letters were from GI doctors who knew me well and were well known themselves. I would honestly recommend not anchoring too much on staying at your home institution. There can be a lot of politics associated with who is selected and it’s best not to do all your training in one place

Focus on building relationships with your potential letter writers (clinic and research). Do not take on too many projects or projects that you cannot finish. Sometimes helps to find a mentor who is a fellow or senior resident that can help you figure out which faculty members actually publish and don’t work on one project for multiple years without any outcomes. Of course also focus on internal medicine because your IM skills will make you a better gastroenterologist.
Don’t drive yourself crazy. You seem like a great candidate and all things come in time

 

[2126]

Hi ..I am an IMG, no visa needed, interested in GI but my scores are very low in 230/200s/ attempt in 3. I have some GI research but not very heavy. Do I stand any chances. If I try to build up contacts by rotating at places with GI fellowship, will that help. Don’t have home program gi fellowship. Will appreciate any feedback.

 

[hemosuccus]

Hi ..I am an IMG, no visa needed, interested in GI but my scores are very low in 230/200s/ attempt in 3. I have some GI research but not very heavy. Do I stand any chances. If I try to build up contacts by rotating at places with GI fellowship, will that help. Don’t have home program gi fellowship. Will appreciate any feedback.

You recognize that the odds very heavily stacked against you, scores, Step 3 failure (I'd imagine you'd screen out may places on that alone), community program. Be the best resident you can be an build research relationships and publish heavily with your nearby academic GI bigwigs. You will very likely still need to do extra year(s), Chief at a big program, motilty/ hep/ research fellowship, all will help.