Fellowship Application Guide
Introduction to the Fellowship Guide
We are excited that you are starting to take the steps towards a sub-specialty career! As a program, we are dedicated to your success. You are our greatest ambassadors and recruiters that will bring the next generation of outstanding house staff to the University of Colorado.
This guide was created to combine the expertise of the program directorate and the experiences of your colleagues into a concise document that will help to make you as competitive as you can be. The fellowship application and interviewing experience can be confusing and stressful. The fellowship guide provides a longitudinal step-by-step description of the application process, obtaining and preparing for interviews, and the post-interview period leading up to your match day.
Please know that Dr. Limes, and your Associate Program Directors (specifically your sub- specialty APDs- Joe Burke, Andi Hudler, and Josh Smith) are here to support you and advocate for you throughout this process. Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, concerns, and needs.
Please note, we are annotating timelines as if the resident is applying at the end of their PGY2 year, to start the fellowship at the completion of the PGY3 year. If this is not accurate to your situation, please adjust accordingly. Additionally, we have attempted to include the most up-to-date sites in this document, but please be aware that this may not always occur due to changes in the process, and the applicant is responsible for his or her application and the timeliness of it.
We have tried to make this handbook as comprehensive as possible, however many residents have cited other sources to augment the information they have received from this. Many residents on prior surveys have cited speaking with prior residents who have matched into their specialty, speaking with current or former CU fellows, reviewing with mentors and faculty, as well as fellowship interest group nights as other aids to help in their fellowship application process. Utilize the resources at your disposal. Don’t know where to find those resources? Ask! We are here to help connect you to all of the tools that you need for success.
Many thanks are owed to prior authors of this guide, including Suzanne Brandenburg, Brian Graham, Lisa Davis, Mark Kearns, and other APDs; Nicole Canterbury and Jennifer Weber in the House staff office; and your colleagues whose insights and quotes are contained in the document.
As you progress through the fellowship experience, I would welcome your feedback so that we can continue to update and improve this document for future University of Colorado residents applying for fellowship.
Joe, Andi, and Josh
Additional Resources and Comments
As stated in the guide, most fellowship interviews occur in September, October and November. If you are a Categorical R3 and are planning to apply to fellowship this upcoming cycle, your 25-26 schedule will be designed to allow for flexibility during these months. Although 100% of interviews may not be captured during this time, the object is to increase availability and flexible schedules for the time that the bulk of interviews will take place.
Interviews that fall on a weekend or day that you were otherwise not scheduled to work, you do not owe the program any time or make-up activities.
You may miss up to 10 days for fellowship-related interviews without any penalty. This is in addition to your annual vacation days. Interviews that fall on a weekend or day that you were otherwise not scheduled to work do not count against the 10 days.
Please watch for e-mails regarding policies and procedures regarding the scheduling of interviews based on your rotation (e.g. clinic, elective, inpatient). Clinic cancellations and service switches can have multiple unseen impacts on team and attending staffing, patient care/access and continuity that must be accounted for.
The special rules for other rotations are as follows:
ER – this is a graduation requirement, so you need to complete a full complement of ER shifts over the month to get credit for the rotation. However, you will have the ability to arrange your shifts as permitted with the ER schedule, their leadership, and your co-residents in order to accommodate your absences. You cannot “make up” missed ER shifts in any other capacity.
Inpatient – we understand due to the 4+4 schedule structure that you may be on an inpatient rotation when you are invited to interview. If this is the case for you, please contact the CMR at the affected hospital site as soon as you schedule an interview so that they can plan accordingly.
If you are going to miss more than these 10 days during interview season, contact the program director to discuss the potential approval of additional days.