Dropping fellowship offer

[Ash78]

In the position of having secured a good fellowship a year out from starting but one of the major faculty has left the program and a spot at a more desirable program (location, volume, prestige)opened up.

 I only signed an intent letter not an official contract yet. Is it worthwhile to pursue the more desirable program ?

[Guest]

Yes - your fellowship choice was to train with that person, why would you still go there for a year?

[Guest]

Call and talk about it with the fellowship director before doing it officially. I would also give a heads-up to your PD and any faculty that helped you secure the position. Everyone understands the situation. The way to piss people off is to do it and ghost them.

[Guest]

Yes, it's worth it and people are generally pretty understanding that these things happen. We recognize that applicants need to do what's best for them, but as the post above suggested it's best to do it tactfully.

[Guest]

Agree with above poster. If the main reason u were interested in a fellowship was a particular faculty member, and they are no longer at that institution, then yes it is perfectly acceptable to change course and go somewhere else. Most of the field (especially within a subspecialty) will recognize and understand that reasoning, and not hold it against you.

Every so often you might encounter a program director that will be spiteful about you backing out on them, but the truth is there’s not much they can do to try to hurt you over it. Their ability to damage your career is fairly minimal. And if they really are that spiteful, odds are the rest of the field will know they are malignant like that, and not pay much attention to anything they have to say.


I will caution current residents that the above advice does NOT apply to current residents, only graduates who have already completed residency and have faculty that will speak positively on their behalf. For current residents, pissing off the wrong faculty member can absolutely have long-lasting impacts on your ability to practice neurosurgery.

[Guest]

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