How to Apply for a Non-Match Fellowship

You are finishing your second year of residency, and you think you want to practice more specialized Emergency Medicine.  That could be teaching, working in administration, or something else entirely.  However, you aren’t sure exactly how to get there.  After chatting with a mentor, they suggest looking into a fellowship to fast track your progress.

Fellowships are not new to medicine, but Emergency Medicine has a unique list to choose from.  There are more traditional style fellowships like Critical Care and Toxicology that function on a Match system.  However, there are others where you can explore different interests and become an expert in your field.  You will be selected for these fellowships the same way you apply for a job.  Some of these fellowships include Medical Education, Administration, and Simulation.  With these Fellowships, you are often .5 FTE clinically and will do your fellowship work unpaid.  It means you will likely work as an attending supervising residents which is something you will need to understand before you venture down this path.  Since we are used to the Match system as residents, applying for these other fellowships can be daunting and trainees often feel unprepared to enter this process. 

Here are some tips to help you navigate the upcoming season!

• Timelines
  • The timeline is program dependent, so you should have a plan of what fellowship you will apply to and what locations interest you before you finish PGY-2 year. During that summer, as you transition from a PGY-2 to 3, you should start sending out interest emails to the programs you might want to attend.  They should respond with formal application deadlines which typically have varying timelines throughout the Fall.  Most job offers will go out in the late fall to early winter.
• Prepare your CV
  • This process is like a job interview. Programs will want to see what you have done and if your interests throughout your medical career have been in line with the fellowship.  My best advice is to keep a current CV that you can send out on a moment’s notice!  The CV provides a touch point to keep a connection fresh.
• Networking!
  • There are two conferences each year that most programs will attend allowing you to connect with leadership from those programs. SAEM and ACEP both have recruitment events that are not just for medical students!  Oftentimes, fellowship leadership is there as well and can also connect you to their institution for more information.
• Interview Skills Preparation
  • You will interview for this position just like for any job. Make sure you know your ‘why’ and the role you see yourself filling within this fellowship program.  They will also want to know what makes their particular program stand out to you.  Additionally, they are using this interview to get to know more about you.  As much as they want people to grow and learn, they also want to know that you pass the 2am test if they are working on shift with you.  Have your PD, APDs or other mentors work with you through interview practice.  You do not want your first time to be the real thing.

Fellowships can be a confusing topic, but they often will accelerate your career trajectory.  They give you extra credentials behind your name that didn’t exist before, and they offer mentorship and networking opportunities that may have eluded you otherwise.  If you are looking to level-up your career, use these tips to secure the fellowship that can help get you there!