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.

October 22nd, 2012

The Highs and Lows of Fellowship Interviews

At CardioExchange, we are very interested in our fellows’ experiences, and we understand how trying the fellowship application process can be. Now that the interview season is winding down and match lists are being prepared, we want to find out your thoughts about how your interviews have gone. We want to hear it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly. We can make posts anonymous if you feel it is necessary; if there is a program you really liked, we can highlight that too.

To get the ball rolling, we asked CardioExchange Associate Editor John Ryan about a stand-out experience that he had during fellowship interviews.

When I was interviewing for fellowship, I concentrated on programs that Irish people had matched at before. I did this for two reasons: (1) in most cases, the programs had positive experiences with their Irish trainees and (2) this history typically meant that the program would sponsor visas (I was on a J1 visa at the time).

There was one program in particular that I was very interested in, and I was excited when I got my invite. The interview was scheduled close to St. Patrick’s Day — I felt that maybe the luck of the Irish would shine on me. As is typical, all the applicants gathered in the cardiology conference room on the morning of the interview, the program director greeted us and gave us a talk about the program, and I thought to myself, “This is it. This is where I want to be.”

I went to my first interview; it was with the section chief. I took my seat, and the section chief opened up my file, looked at it, closed it, looked at me, and said, “You are on a visa, correct?” I answered, “Yes.” The section chief then said, “What you need to do is take a plane to Mexico and then try to come across the border that way ‘cos we don’t sponsor visas.” I did not know what to say and so simply said, “Okay.” I still do not know the best way to have answered. Suffice it to say that it was a fairly negative experience as well as a poor use of time and money, and I ended up not ranking this program.

Do you have a fellowship interview experience you want to share with us?

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3 Responses to “The Highs and Lows of Fellowship Interviews”

  1. Sameer Bansilal, MD, MS says:
    October 23, 2012 at 8:04 am

    Vow! That’s beyond nasty!

    Here’s mine- had spent couple of years with an exceptional group of folks in NYC at the point I interviewed at this university Hospital located in a cold Midwest location-question ” you don’t really expect us to believe that you would leave those folks and NYC to come here, do you? If you’ve really done as well as your letters indicate then they MUST want you there… And if they don’t, why would we?”

  2. Mark Perlroth Mark, md says:
    November 5, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    What would prompt any program to invite a candidate (usually at considerable expense) for an interview if they already have no/minimal interest based upon the credentials already in their possession?

  3. Mark Perlroth Mark, md says:
    November 5, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    What would prompt any program to invite a candidate (usually at considerable expense) for an interview if they already have no/minimal interest based upon the credentials already in their possession?

    Cardiologist and Former Program Director Internal Medicine @ Stanford University School of Medicine.