Is a research year necessary to get into a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship?

[Bassurgery]

I am nearly done with my PGY-2 year and I'm very interested in CT surgery. We have the option of a research year, but I am wondering if that's absolutely necessary to do to get a position in a CT surgery fellowship. I do have projects that I am working on within my program, so I will have publications/presentations by the time I finish residency.

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[SurgDoc95]

Is it necessary? No. Is it helpful and does it make you more competitive? Yurp

 

[SociableJimmy]

As stated above, not strictly necessary like peds or surg onc - but getting there (CT match rate last year was lower than both of those). I got in from a 5-year community program, but it took two interview cycles for me to match. I will say, the vast majority of the successful applicants from the two cycles I participated in came from university programs with dedicated research time. If you have the opportunity for dedicated time in a productive department I'd recommend taking it.