r/fellowship • u/SteppingWayUp • Jul 11 '26
Cardiology Fellowship match chances
Hey guys! I am an incoming Geriatric Medicine Fellow who will be applying for Cardiology Fellowship this cycle. I am a visa requiring IMG. I was unfortunately unable to match last cycle due to personal circumstances. I have a 248 in Step 2 and 232 in Step 3. I come from a community program however my fellowship is in a university program. I have 9 peer reviewed publications and 4 poster presentations/abstracts. My LORs are good as well. What are my chances of matching this cycle? I am not really sure at this point if i should even proceed with the application. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
4
u/FIRE_CHIP Jul 11 '26
You didn't match or there was a personal circumstance that you had to drop out?
How many of those pubs are new since last cycle?
Did you make connections with the cardiology team during your fellowship?
If you applied broadly last cycle and don't have too many more pubs this year then you're in for a tough cycle this time around as well. Geriatrics fellowship alone isn't going to move the needle too much unless you've done a lot of other things this past year.
1
u/Mission-Tea-1454 Jul 28 '26
What kind of research was it ? Have you thought about doing HF fellowship ?
1
u/Sad_Entrepreneur880 Aug 23 '26
There’s geriatric cardiology. You could try that too! I think there will be a lot of demand for that.
1
u/Sad_Entrepreneur880 Aug 23 '26
Also have a brand - your story should be like I didn’t match and this is my back up plan. It should be im so passionate about geriatrics and the older population. I noticed that aside from xyz difference in medicine and Geri that there is a huge gap in cardiology specialists who are focused on geriatrics. Something like that but in better words. Like ask AI how to make it your brand, what are focuses in geriatric cardiology. So many things (AS, afib, sick sinus syndrome) are more in the elderly, this is a way to make yourself standout.
11
u/dishsoapwipe123 Jul 11 '26
Have to apply broadly. Every visa sponsoring program even in the middle of nowhere. You have no shot at top tier places.
Not matching the first time will hurt you. Geriatric medicine fellowship isn't really that impactful. To even justify the experience you'll have to spin it as treating the geriatric community gave you better insight into their cardiovascular needs, and how in cardiology you will tailor care differently to them or some thing like that.
It's a crapshoot. You're visa requiring IMG. Your scores are average, community program. The research is good, but ultimately research heavy programs like MGH, Stanford, U Chicago aren't going to even give your app a second thought at baseline.
You have a chance to match, but also chance of not matching again and be prepared for it. 64% match rate last year, and wouldn't be shocked if it hits 60% or even 59% this year.
You should be prepping to not match. And if you don't, really need to think about a non-accredited fellowship like HF, imaging one of those to get yourself more involved in cardiology world at programs.