🚀 go-pugleaf

tim, there was some discussion about this back some time ago - i'm a senior
going into peds (yr 7/7 md/phd in neurosciemce) and jsut finished interviewing
for residencies.  Any accredited program in med or peds for sure can fast-trak,
and more and more are doing it.  The requirement is that the program has you
take an in-service (mock-board) exam right after you start your intern year,
and if you score high enough they allow you to continue in a fast trak, and
send in an application to have you take your boards the next year (end of 2nd
yr) so you can start fellowship the 3rd yr.  The fast trak is essentially what
neuro people do (either in med or peds) - except during you first fellow yr,
(3rd residency yr) you still do your continuity/ambulatory care clinics one
half day a week).  I found that nearly every major academic institution offered
fast trak for md/phd applicants and in fact they ask, even if you don't. The
fellowship can usually be arranged for anywhere you want (same or different
institution as residency, though of course they prefer it to be the same).
Most people advise not fast-tracking unless you are absolutely sure of the
fellowship program you want - BEWARE, it's hard to evaluate fellowship programs
and residencies at the same time - often the things good for one are not what
you may want for the other (i.e. - balance of power, primary vs tertiary care),
but not always.  Also, some programs want to interview and "match" fast-trakers
early - this is not exactly legit, but they guarantee spots.  So if you want to
do this ask around your local depts early about good residency and fellowship
programs, apply early, and call to talk to the program directors directly
BEFORE sending in the applications, so you can plan ahead as to whether you
want to interview early or wait and do it when everyone else does it and go
a regular match.  Theoretically, you can set up the fast trak after you start
internship, but its more difficult because they like to plan ahead for the
scheduled rotations/electives and number of spots to be filled.  Does that
help?   Jeff