How to Ace Your Fellowship Interview

September 15th, 2014

How to Ace Your Fellowship Interview

Ethan J Weiss, M.D.

The following compilation of fellowship interview tips was originally published on Twitter between August 15th and 18th by Ethan Weiss, a cardiologist with 13 years of experience interviewing fellowship applicants. Matthew Pirotte also supplied this helpful graph categorizing potential applicants.

1. Prepare like you are interviewing for a job. You are. Know who you are meeting and who you want to meet with.

2. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of the institution you are visiting and use the information to help you.

3. Your choice of a research mentor is the most important decision you will make. Be ready to discuss who and why.

4. Do not overvalue opinions of first-year fellows in the first 3 months of training. Seek senior fellows or junior faculty.

5. Address any issues, problems, and obvious questions in your application head-on.

6. You do not need to know what you will do for your career, but you need to explain how you will figure it out.

7. You can be bold and dream, but be realistic about what you are likely to accomplish in fellowship.

8. Be prepared to discuss the things you think are important in healthcare, cardiovascular medicine, and science.

9. Even though it is a “seller’s market”, you are the consumer and should think about which program is best for you.

10. If you are interested in a program, demonstrate that meaningfully.

11. Do not tell multiple programs they are your first choice.

12. Be nice to other applicants and to program administrators. Programs pay attention to these things.

CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

September 15th, 2014