Dear friends,
I am a bit in the dark about the nature of fellowships. I have heard some first year residency positions described as fellowships. I have also heard some folks mention that you have to do a fellowship before entering a residency.
Someone please give me the real scoop on fellowships.
As always, thank you for the advice.
Bill
Fellowships are typically completed after completing a residency. For example, a nephrologist would complete a 3-year residency in internal medicine followed by a 2-year fellowship in nephrology.
The first year of residency can be called internship or your intern year.
Thanks for the reply! Being older than the average student I am particularly concerned about this issue.
Do you need to do a fellowship? Are fellows (hope this is the correct term) well paid?
Thanks!
Bill
Fellowships are not required. Fellowship pay varies drastically depending on the specialty and location.
Most of the fellowships I know about pay just a few thousand dollars more than the most senior residents in the specialty to which they are related. So to answer your question, fellows are usually poorly compensated for the amount of work they do. The fellows that I have worked with also work as hard or harder than residents. The trade-off is that after a fellowship you are usually considered a specialist and specialists are usually paid much more than generalists. I hope that helps.
p.s. I moved your other post from the medical student board to this one.
Thank you for the insight! It is a relief to know that after med school I will be able to make at least enough money to get a pass on supporting my family.
Bill