Applying to a Retina Fellowship?
Drs. Priya Sharma, Edward Wood, and Rehan Hussain
Earlier this year, we invited Drs. Priya Sharma, Edward Wood, and Rehan Hussain to give us a little insight on the process of applying to retina fellowship. Thank you very much to @Michael Venincasa for providing our episode outline.
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE
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[1:20] Introduction
[2:50] At what stage did you decide to apply for a retina fellowship?
[6:05] What was your timeframe for preparing and completing your applications?
[8:30] Did anyone present at/attend ASRS, Retina Society, or other meetings?
[11:45] Different programs require different specifics for applications (letter from program chair, letter from residency director, college transcripts, etc.). How did you keep track of what each specific program required?
[13:30] Jay suggests scanning important documents (transcripts and others) onto your computer early so you have it easily available when applying for fellowships, jobs, or licensures.
[15:00] Discussion about building relationships with mentors. There are not too many retina attendings in the country and most tend to know each other, so letters of recommendation go a long way in the application process.
[19:20] How did you decide on your list of programs to apply to? What factors did you look for in each program?
[22:58] Ten things to consider when weighing a program: program reputation, location, number of fellows, surgical volume, subspecialty exposure, didactics, call schedule, number of faculty, working with residents, research. (And #11: where prior fellows ended up after graduation.)
[24:26] Residency applications often offer flexibility with dates. How is the flexibility for fellowship applications?
[25:49] Did you have any pre-interview routine, or was there a certain way that you prepared?
[28:05] What were the most common questions you encountered most in your interviews?
[33:05] Jay suggests that fellowship interviews feel more colleague-to-colleague than residency interviews because attendings want to know if they can spend a large amount of time with you, and if they can provide for you the things that you need to succeed.
[33:55] What was the average number of primary/total surgeries quoted for you by programs while on the interview trail?
[39:02] With so many interviews, how do you not forget what each program brought to the table, or how did you prevent programs from “blending together?” Did you make a “running rank list?”
[44:14] What specific things did programs do that made the process more enjoyable?
[48:24] How did you ultimately choose your rank list?