plastics in the future

[martyshka82]

Working on my rank list for residency right now and strongly considering plastics afterwards, so I'd like some advice. Will it be possible to get an ASOPRS fellowship from places like Northwestern, George Washington, Univ. of Chicago? If the chairman of a program that might not be super competitive is in plastics, does that help significantly? How do Univ of Illinois Eye and Ear and Univ of Cincinnati compare to NWU, GWU, U chicago in terms of fellowships at the end? And finally, if a program has their own ASOPRS fellowship would I almost be obligated to stay there for it at the end of my residency? Any other advice on this matter? I'm just having a really hard time deciding how much program quality to give up for a good location.
Thanks

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[martyshka82]

any advice would be appreciated

 

[Andrew_Doan]

The key to landing a plastics fellowship is receiving outstanding recommendation letters from oculoplastic surgeons who completed an ASOPRS fellowship. Thus, go to programs with prominent surgeons who are members of this elite club. If the program already has an ASOPRS fellowship, you will not be obligated to stay there. Keep communications open with your faculty and they'll understand.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

The key to landing a plastics fellowship is receiving outstanding recommendation letters from oculoplastic surgeons who completed an ASOPRS fellowship. Thus, go to programs with prominent surgeons who are members of this elite club. If the program already has an ASOPRS fellowship, you will not be obligated to stay there. Keep communications open with your faculty and they'll understand.

Plastics fellowships will almost certainly have changed by the time you are ready to apply in two years. There has been considerable fluidity in where preceptors go, and some have left their university medical centers to strike out on their own while still training fellows, others switch universities.

I suggest you apply to a program where there are full-time faculty in plastics or where there are several actively participating community-based oculoplastic surgeons who are willing to write recommendations. ASOPRS is nice, but not essential. They don't have the lock on the subspecialty they wish to have, but most academic oculoplastic surgeons are members. It is basically a club and you get automatic rights to join if your preceptor agrees to make the fellowship "approved"--which means requiring two years fellowship training (never mind that most ASOPRS members have done one-year fellowships; the two-year requirement is simply a population-control measure, not a quality measure.) The truth is in the real world nobody knows who or what they are, and nobody outside their membership really cares. Being a member gets you a discount on their annual meeting, though. When it comes to affiliations, you will have more respect from most members of your medical community by being board-certified and by being a fellow in the American College of Surgeons.

 

[iserg]

Can one apply to ASOPRS and non-ASOPRS fellowships simultaneously? The ASOPRS website has a list of fellowships, but where does one find info on non-ASOPRS fellowships? Do you think there are real limitations to completing a non-ASOPRS fellowship compared to an ASOPRS fellowship in terms of job opportunities (perhaps outside of academics).

Thanks!

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Can one apply to ASOPRS and non-ASOPRS fellowships simultaneously? The ASOPRS website has a list of fellowships, but where does one find info on non-ASOPRS fellowships? Do you think there are real limitations to completing a non-ASOPRS fellowship compared to an ASOPRS fellowship in terms of job opportunities (perhaps outside of academics).

Thanks!

The ASOPRS match is earlier than the non-ASOPRS match, which is the same match used by all the other fellowships. Obviously if you match in the ASOPRS match, you would stick with your matched fellowship. If you don't match, or if you decide to apply after the ASOPRS match is done, then the regular fellowship match is available. I knew a colleague who did both his third year of residency, did his non-ASOPRS fellowship first then followed by his ASOPRS fellowship, which was at that time one year.