Recent IM Graduate with a fellowship in California!

[srajanmd]

If anyone is looking for any help or questions with residency or fellowship, I can help out. I am a recent medicine graduate from a california program who is beginning a pulmonary and critical fellowship. I have been involved in residency admissions processes as well. BTW I dont miss the island, I miss the people.

Sid

[dimples]

Hi. Please tell us about your experiences and how difficult it is to get a fellowship in California (where in CA?), and also what you had to go through. Thank you so much in advance for sharing your experiences.

[srajanmd]

As i am new to this board, im not sure how much everyone knows about the process of residency and fellowship when you finish at Ross. Let me say that the stigma of Ross is a burden you will have to hold on to for most of your early career. It is rarely an asset, but rather an obstacle. To be fair I will say that it did provide me with an opportunity to achieve my goal.

As for applying to residency, I can speak mostly from the medicine prospective. Even with exceptional board scores in the 90's and with rather decent grades and letters, though we know that our grades arent fully legimate, I recieved a limited number of interviews. Keep in mind that I applied to every program in california and some out of state. Very few university programs will interview you, especially in high demand states (CA,TX, etc.) And if you would like a fellowship, I suggest that you go to a university program. Once you start residency, the playing field evens out somewhat. And you really have an opportunity to separate yourself from your peers. I completed residency at a community program in northern caifornia. During my residency I won several awards and was able to complete some research and network at Stanford University. Though it pains me to say that b/c I bleed blue and gold. B/C of this, I secured a fellowship at UCI in pulmonary and critical care. Only 10% of US foreign grads matched in this subspeiciality in the whole country.

So what does all that mean. It means that if you have a goal, you need to market yourself, and put yourself in the best position to succeed. During my clinicals, I set up some of my own rotations, even in CA, regardless of what that *%$&# Nancy Perry said, and dammit it worked. I also took second visits to programs I was interested in. I got letters from professors of medicine at university programs as a student. And, I had to work twice as hard to prove myself in residency. Even in my fellowship interviews I was asked, why i went to ross. Do I think I can compete with US grads. So if everyone thinks that Ross and the other schools are equal, they are sorely mistaken.

I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you have specific questions. But I can proudly say I probably ended up where I would have been had I waited for a US medical school.

Sid

[link626]

you bleed blue and gold? did you go to Cal? :D
I know almost all of the UC's are blue and gold too though.....

anyway, i don't know how residencies and private practice work. but does where you end up depend on where you did your residency???
to practice in cali, you have to do your residency in cali?

[dimples]

Hi Sid. Thanks for sharing. As an old Bruin, it is of big interest to me to see what is available in the California area. I've also heard that it is extremely difficult to secure a position in CA, so congratulations! Which community program did you do in northern California? Is it in Stockton or Sacramento?

[srajanmd]

hi everyone,

thought i would answer a few questions:

1) Yes I did go to CAL! Go Bears!!!

2) I just completed my residency at Kaiser in Santa Clara, near SF. I was the first Ross graduate to ever to be accepted into the program. Now we have 4 others in the program :D

3) To complete residency in california, you need the CA letter which is another pain, this is mostly the reason it is so difficult to get residency here.

4) Where you do your residency helps you for a few reasons. If you go into private practice or stay in the same network of hospitals, most jobs are guaranteed especially if they like your style. But it is still easy to secure jobs in california is you complete your residency outside. It doesnt hurt persay, it just doesnt help. I also think that staying within state is you want to continue on witha fellowship is important, b/c local program directors know one another.

Sid