Applying to Fellowship

General Considerations:

• Selecting a specialty

  • Talk to as many people as possible!

    • Meet with Ted and/or Chris

    • Meet with attendings you’ve worked with in the specific fields → eye towards LONG TERM career specifics

    • Meet with current fellows → talk about application process; what fellowship is like

    • Utilizing electives

  • Attend department meetings

• Selecting programs

  • How many?

  • Geographic considerations?

  • Large, academic vs small?

  • Consider attending national conferences OR reaching out to med school mentors

    • BCRP can help pay for this!

  • Ask mentors here where they trained; ask them to connect you to people at other institutions

Intern year:

General

• Mostly do nothing! Learn gen peds!

• If you have a good experience with an attending who might be able to write you a letter in the future keep in touch!

• Consider meeting with fellows and attendings in subspecialties of interest

December-January

• Junior year schedule request

• Consider requesting subspecialty rotations you are interested in early in Junior year. (Some residents have felt that these exposures early in the junior year have helped them to decide on their subspecialty choice.)

• Consider elective time requests - early in the year to gain more exposure to the field; later in the year to have time to prepare application or meet with faculty in your field

June

• Update your CV (start getting in the habit of updating your CV at regular intervals)

Junior year:

General

• Use your elective time

• Speak with Ted and Chris about your plans

  • How to use electives?

  • Who to meet with?

  • Program list

• Meet with fellows and attendings in your subspecialty

• Consider attending national conferences

  • Make contacts with attendings and program directors around the country and get exposure to research in the field

  • BCRP will sponsor one conference during residency; sometimes the BCH fellowship directors can find funding for you to go

• Consider attending BCH and BMC department conferences

• Consider a small research project in your field

• Thinking about this early can set you up for success for ADB

December - January

• Senior year scheduling requests

  • Consider ADB/elective scheduling for interviews

  • Unit 1 – preparing ERAS

  • Units 2-3 – interviewing

**talk to people in the class ahead of you about the specific schedule for your specialty so that you can plan appropriately**

• Consider requesting a clinic in your subspecialty

Spring (April – June)

• Update your CV (start getting in the habit of updating your CV at regular intervals)

• Ask for letters of recommendation (give letter writers plenty of time – at least 4-6 weeks before they are due in July)

• Draft a personal statement (depending on your end of junior year/beginning of senior year schedule)

• Carve out time for June/July to prepare your ERAS application

June

• Prepare and register for ERAS

  • https://www.erasfellowshipdocuments.org/Home/TokenRegistration

• Confirm letter writers

Senior Year:

• Apply for a token @ https://www.erasfellowshipdocuments.org/Home/TokenRegistration

• Work on ERAS

  • **will be much easier if your CV is updated!**

• Reach out again to letter writers

• Meet with mentors/explore options for which programs to apply to

• Early July: Submit ERAS

  • Aim to submit as early as possible, as interviews given out on rolling basis

• September: Register for NRMP

• September - November:

  • Interview season

    • Anticipate a TON of call swaps! Many fellowship programs have a very limited number of interview days. Try to book your slot ASAP when you hear from a program - and help each other out with swaps!

• November: Rank lists are due

• December: MATCH DAY!

• Information about timeline will be published on the ERAS website in the spring!

More Info!

 Meeting with people in your field: Throughout residency it is helpful to meet with faculty and/or fellows in your potential field. Ask them questions about fellowship but also life after training. What do they like and dislike about their field? How does their career fit with family? What do most attendings do in their subspecialty? (basic science, clinical research, clinical care, etc.) How is their job at BCH different from other jobs in their subspecialty elsewhere?

The application process:

 Components:

• □ Photo (passport photo) - can download from BCRP website/New Innovations

  □ Letters of recommendation

  □ CV

  □ Personal Statement

  □ Step Scores - USMLE

  □ Medical school transcript and Deans Letter/MSPE (contact your individual medical school to know how to obtain). Often your school’s Bursar's office can do this in less than 5 minutes. If you have questions just give them a call!

CV: You can find the Harvard CV Template here: https://fa.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-medicine-cv-guidelines. You can find the Boston University CV Template here: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/facdev-medicine/key-documents/appointments-and-promotions/

ERAS: This is where you fill out applications and apply to programs. Ensure that all programs you apply to are using ERAS. Strive to submit by mid-July if possible! Like for residency, many programs grant interviews on a rolling basis. Submitting early may allow for maximum flexibility in your travel plans.

https://www.erasfellowshipdocuments.org/Home/TokenRegistration

NRMP: Register for NRMP with your AAMC ID and USMLE ID. https://r3.nrmp.org/viewLoginPage. Create a username and password and receive a “token.” Certify your list and receive results here. (note – there is a registration fee). More information: www.nrmp.org/participating-fellowships/

Letters of recommendation: Give letter writers plenty of time - AT LEAST 4-6 weeks. The latest time to ask should be in June of junior year to allow letter writers time to upload letters by Mid-July. Ideally, you should have letter writers within your subspecialty, but one from someone totally outside the realm is great too (ie. PHM/wards attending, primary care preceptor, sub-specialist from another service who knows you well).

• People get 3-4 letters (1 from Ted or Chris, 1-2 from someone you have worked with clinically with at least one in the field you are applying in, 0-1 project or research mentor). If you are able, let attendings know on the last day of working together that you are thinking about applying to fellowship during senior year, loved working with them, and are wondering if they feel comfortable writing a letter to support your application. Keeping a log of a few memorable cases you shared may be helpful when further discussing the letter in the future.

• Many letter writers request a CV. Prepare it now and have someone close to you proofread it!

Interviews:

Interview days: Interview days are marathons with anywhere from 4-6 interviewers lasting as long as 30-40min each.

• If interviewing at multiple places, consider scheduling a lower priority place first to get used to the day.

• Research the program via the fellowship website.

• Most programs provide you with an itinerary listing your attending interviews. It can be helpful to look up your interviewer in advance to know something about them and ease the conversation.

• Don’t be afraid to talk about non-medical things and things that are important to you. Where does the interviewer live? How do they like the city? Where did they do fellowship? In general, the interviews are similar to residency interviews, although there are fewer candidates per day and more interviews per day.

• Fellowship interviews more than residency interviews are recruitment tools for the fellowship. Don’t be afraid to (humbly) state your case and what things you want out of a program (work and life)

Typical interview questions: you will get so sick of these!

• The TWO MOST COMMON QUESTIONS ARE:

  • 1. What do you want to do with your life and how can we help

  • 2. Some variation of: I saw this cool thing in your application, let’s chat about it

• How did you select the subspecialty?

• What do you like about the particular fellowship program you are visiting?

• Do you plan to stay in academics or move to private practice?

• Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

• Will you do research? Basic Science? Clinical? Do you have a particular research interest?

• Why do you want to leave Boston? Why do you want to stay in Boston?

• Discuss a case that illustrates ____ about subspecialty/why you want to go into the field

• Be prepared to answer: “What can we offer you as a program to encourage you to come to our program”

What to ask the program you’re interviewing at:

• How many fellows are there?

• What are your on-service requirements?

• What is your call schedule?

• How much protected research time do you have?

• How does the fellowship help you develop mentorship and research topics?

• What types of projects do fellows do?

• Will the fellowship fund an MPH or additional degree?

• What is the patient population like?

• What is the cost of living in the area – can you buy a house? What are the schools like?

• Where do fellows go afterwards? What supports are there for young faculty?

After the interview:

• Send a thank you by email - some people send individual emails to each interviewer, totally a personal decision

• Write down your thoughts after the interview

• Inform your highly ranked programs that you’re interested

  • A lot of programs have a “no post-interview communication policy;” don’t be surprised by this

  • Tell your #1 they are your #1

• Meet with Ted/Chris or other advisors for advice – they can help you navigate the match process and advocate for you and your interests