While you have already completed a similar match process for residency, there are several key differences you need to know about to navigate the process successfully. Applying for a fellowship is expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. According to a 2016 article, most applicants spend more than ten days away on interviews and spend an average of $5,286 during the interview season. This series aims to orient you to the resources you will need to succeed, offer advice on approaches to completing a competitive application, and mentor you on how to shine in your interviews.
Steps for Applying to Fellowship Application Timeline While this may vary from year to year, the following timeline, starting in PGY-3, is typical. June : Register for the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and begin working on the applicationNovember : Submit ERAS applications to programsDecember : Pograms start to receive submitted ERAS applicationsMay : Deadline to submit ERAS applicationsMay - September : interview invitations sent out; most will be sent out in May - JuneMay - September : interviews, most will be in July - AugustAugust : National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) rank list opensSeptember : NRMP rank list deadlineOctober : Match Day!
What are the ERAS and NRMP? Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS): You will be using ERAS to apply for Fellowship. ERAS is part of the AAMC and has a page specific to applying for Fellowship. This includes the MyERAS Fellowship User Guide. The user guide is a yearly rundown of the application process and includes instructions on how to register and apply, lists important dates in that year’s cycle, and explains associated fees.National Resident Matching Program (NRMP): You may be familiar with NRMP from submitting your residency rank list. The NRMP performs a similar function to the Fellowship rank lists. They also have a lot of helpful information regarding the last several years of fellowship matches, so you will have realistic expectations of what you are up against. This includes important dates, a list of participating programs, and several data reports.
What is the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Adjunct membership is also available to physicians who are enrolled in U.S.-certified specialty training programs in areas related to maternal-fetal medicine, including Infectious Disease, Reproductive Infectious Disease, Critical Care, Anesthesia, Neonatology, and Genetics, or any other clinician or scientist who supports the work of the Society. Annual Dues: $285
Application The requirements for a completed fellowship application will vary from year to year and institution to institution but have similar components no matter where you apply.Curriculum Vitae : To prepare for the ERAS application, it's best to create a standard CV from which you can copy and paste. Find an academically active faculty member to mentor you by creating a CV and asking permission to use their format. Keep the headings and formatting, delete the listings, and replace them with your own accomplishments. After creating a working draft, have your mentor review it and ask for feedback. Remember, the ERAS application has limited editing capabilities, so preparing ahead of time is important.Letter of Recommendation: On average, programs will ask for 3-4 letters of recommendation. Many request letters from specific authors, such as the residency director or department chair. You will have your bases covered if you get letters from your residency director, department chair, another MFM faculty member, and a fourth faculty member (MFM or otherwise) who knows you well. It is typical to waive your right to read them. In a relatively small field such as MFM, a letter from a nationally known author can go a long way. Be sure to give your letter writers advance notice to write their recommendations. Provide them with your CV, a list of the programs you are applying to, your personal statement, and any other key pieces of information that may be of importance to highlight. Most importantly, don't forget to thank them for their time.Personal Statement: Important keys: have others proofread it, check grammar/spelling, avoid clichés, and be yourself. If English is not your first language, make sure you have native speakers review your statement. Programs: Start by looking at the list of programs mentioned earlier and then go to each program’s website to learn more. Some have not been updated since ultrasound was invented, but others are exceptional. Weigh all your options, get opinions from your spouse, family, faculty, and other residents, and get feedback on where to apply. If there are recent resident graduates from your program who have applied to MFM, they are also useful resources. Always remember that a big name isn’t everything. The place that is right for you might be the one you least expect, and you will never know unless you go. So explore!
Interview Your interview begins the moment you board the plane. Typically, the night before the interview, there will be a dinner with current fellows and sometimes faculty. Always try to attend these dinners. This may be the only informal time you will have with the fellows away from the faculty. You can ask all the questions you are afraid to ask the fellowship director during your formal interview the next day. Also, you can learn a lot by just listening. Everyone on both sides is on their best behavior at interviews, but if the fellows aren’t happy, they won’t be able to suppress showing it indefinitely. Be cognizant that this informal event is part of your interview. The interview day typically starts around 8:00 AM, with the fellowship director giving an overview of the program. Most programs will give you either a paper or electronic copy of the presentation to reference later. The remainder of the day typically consists of interviews and a facility tour. The interviews typically consist of a series of 15 – 30-minute sessions with anywhere from four to eight interviewers. The facility tour generally includes the clinic, ultrasound suite, and labor and delivery. The day goes by very quickly.Interviewing on a Budget: The interview process can be very expensive. Unless you are lucky enough to have a spot set aside for you or you live in a major city with several programs within driving distance, you will be spending a lot of money. Here are a few ideas to help ease the financial burden. Flights : This is the time to break out that airline rewards card if you have it. Look for a free flight and ensure you are getting reward points for any flights you book. Do not book a flight that leaves 1 hour after your interview ends. You will spend your last few interviews stressed about getting out of there instead of focusing on the task. Try to use various travel sites to get the best deals. Consider using airlines/options where you can make changes without penalty if you need to make a last-minute change.Car: A rental car is always a good standby, but compare prices with ride-share options. Most large cities that support a fellowship are large enough to support a robust ride-share economy or public transportation. Unless you travel considerable distances to/from the airport or the interview, one of these options will often be less expensive. If you know someone else will be traveling simultaneously, consider splitting the service with them to lower the cost even further. This is typically easiest when leaving the interview to return to the airport. Some programs will provide you with the contact information for others interviewing on your date so you can contact them beforehand. Hotel : Traditional hotels are still the most common way to go for interviews. Again, consider if you have any unused reward points that you can use to book your stay. Contact that uncle you haven’t seen since your fifth birthday, friends from college, and other residents both in and out of OB/GYN in the area. If you know another interviewer will be in town and feel comfortable, consider sharing a room. Alternatively, rooming services may be more economical depending on the destination. Ask the fellowship coordinator if they have special rates set up with any of the local hotels.
Advice for Community Programs The application process can be incredibly daunting if you come from residency without an established fellowship, well-connected attendings, abundant research opportunities, or mentors familiar with the process. The key is to realize and exploit the uniqueness of your situation. Find Mentor(s): Find a mentor to keep you on track, identify opportunities that will build your application, and tell you when to decline others. This may require several mentors with various strengths rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. These are also the people who will call you to open doors that you otherwise might find closed. A Unique Situation: When writing your statement or sitting at an interview, you need to be able to exploit your unique situation and describe why they should invest three years in you over the ten other applicants that day from larger institutions. First, take a deep breath because everyone is on equal footing once you make it to the interview. It is how you interview that will make the difference now. To interview well, you need to identify the strengths of your residency program. Your program could lead the nation in forceps delivery volume; the residents do all the cesarean hysterectomies because there are no fellows, or you do double the national average of hysterectomies. If your hospital does 6,000 deliveries each year and residents are involved with all of them, tell someone!Research Opportunities: One of the most challenging obstacles is the need for more traditional research opportunities. You don’t need a substantial prospective project or ten small ones to match. Instead, it would help if you did a few things well from beginning to end. The key here is the completion of quality projects since all fellowships involve a research thesis. At your interview, remind the interviewer there were no projects you could sign onto at your program, put in a few hours as part of a big team, and print a poster. No, you went to the library to do a literature search, learned how to do an IRB application, built a database, and taught yourself statistics because there was no statistician. You need to remind people that you did something from start to finish with minimal resources and mentorship, and if you can do that at a community program, imagine what you could do with the mentoring and support that fellowship provides. Another idea is to try to complete smaller projects and volunteer for leadership opportunities that may come your way. Think about quality improvement projects and departmental clinical management guidelines. Consider giving lectures to medical students, mentoring students interested in OB/GYN residency, serving on your residency’s education committee, or being the representative for your program at your hospital’s residency affairs committee. Better yet, get involved with ACOG as a junior fellow representative. Make sure you keep track of any volunteer activities as well. Attend the Pregnancy Meeting: Consider attending the SMFM Pregnancy Meeting while you're in residency. This will allow you to see how vibrant the national MFM community is. This will also allow you to network and meet others in your position. Ask a faculty member or another resident to come with you, as it can be intimidating to go as a resident alone. Look at the program and find the session for residents called the Resident Forum. This forum offers excellent advice on how to get into and succeed in fellowship. Apply for the Foundation for SMFM Resident Scholars Program: The Resident Scholars Program provides mentoring and educational opportunities during the final two years of obstetrics and gynecology residency, including funded attendance at SMFM Meetings and a weekend biostatistics course. Apply early and broadly: While you don’t need to complete your application on the first day ERAS opens, you will want to submit it early. Some programs send interview invitations before the deadline, and there will be fewer applications to compete with if you submit early. You also want to apply broadly. This means applying to a diversity of programs, both academically and geographically. If you are coming from a community program, you may need to apply to more programs than if you were at a large academic institution. Don’t be the person who doesn’t match because you did not use outside your city or state.
Things to Consider Before the First Interview Before your first interview, please consider the following: Know why. Why do you want to be an MFM? Articulate the reasons and be able to convince people why it matters. However, please consider avoiding the common colloquialisms such as: "Nothing is more satisfying than …," "I enjoy taking care of…," "I want to cure preeclampsia…," or "an MFM is who I am."Explain why you are applying to that program. You need to be able to explain why you picked that specific program. Applying to East Coast fellowship programs is insufficient because you or your partner's family is from that region. Be adventurous. Go to programs that will forge your career. It can also be unsatisfying for the interviewer if they feel you only want to be there because of social ties. Tell a story in your statement. We are but a summation of stories and experiences. Nonetheless, there is a specific event that propels you to pursue fellowship. If multiple compelling experiences led you to specialize, triage them. Share that singular transformational event (being aware of HIPAA rules). Differentiate yourself from others. Describe who you are; do not tell who you are. Avoid vague words like "hard-working," "conscientious," "highly motivated," "passionate," or "driven." Such descriptors do not differentiate you from 100 other applicants. "We're all stories in the end; just make it a good one." Be kind to the administrative staff. When you apply and correspond with the administrative staff at the various institutions, please (PLEASE) be attentive to their instructions and be kind to them. The administrative staff have the ear of the faculty, and their opinions matter. Be knowledgeable of the faculty. Google is an excellent way to learn about the faculty you will meet, but PubMed is better! Know enough about the faculty you will interview with, not necessarily to flatter them, but to understand how congruent your interests are with theirs. Arrive early and be prepared. A simple motto: if you are on time, you are late. Know where the interview will take place. Google Maps can help or consider a dry run of the route—factor in some time to get lost, as some campuses are a concrete jungle. Coming up with written questions is a good idea. However, these inquiries should be more insightful than simply: "What are you looking for in a fellow?" "What are your program's strengths?" "What is there to do after work?" "How often are fellows on call?" "Can fellows moonlight?" and "Is there something you would change to improve the program?" Be original in your inquiry; be concise with your questions! Be confident; be comfortable. Exude confidence, and it will be contagious. Know that an invitation confirms that the Fellowship Director considers you a potential fit in the Division. There is a fine, thin line between charming confidence and annoying arrogance. Confidence is in the handshake, the way you walk into the room, the way you sit, how you engage the interviewer, the minuscule pause before your response, and it is in conversation in the simple, concise statements you give. To be confident, you have to be comfortable with who you are. If you cannot accept who you are, why should the Director? Most Directors have an instinct for when you are trying to impress them or be likable rather than just being yourself. Why invest in you? Every person invited to an interview is as capable and accomplished as you are. Therefore, the key questions are: "Why should the program invest its next three years in you?" and "What non-tangible dividends does the program get from investing countless hours with you?" Having quality answers to these questions will get you far. Be honest; be yourself. Someone I admire once said: "If any candidate admitted that they want to do a fellowship so they can go into private practice and make money, I would take them on the spot!" I hope such a sentiment does not resonate with everyone, though it exemplifies the value of honesty. The simple, single purpose of interviewing is to know the quintessential you. So, be honest about yourself and your goals; be the pleasant, confident, assured, unique person you are!
