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A fellowship in medical training is a program for medical school graduates who have completed their residency and wish to continue learning in a specific area of medicine. Dentists, veterinarians, and physicians alike can participate in a fellowship after completing a residency program.
Physicians are referred to as “fellows” during a fellowship and may act as attending or consulting physicians in their respective specialty fields.
Keep in mind that fellowships are competitive. Not everyone gets in. While it means more study, a fellowship is a solid way to deepen your knowledge about specific patient groups or organ systems.
Once the program is complete, physicians no longer require supervision to practice medicine in their subspecialty. These programs are reserved for the top doctoral graduates, so it’s widely considered an honor to be offered a fellowship.
Medical fellows are board-certified physicians who study under experts in a specific subspecialty. Although a fellowship isn’t required to practice as a physician after residency, it’s pursued by doctors who want to advance their training further.
The purpose of a fellowship is to produce expert physicians in subspecialties. These doctors earn the title of “fellowship trained,” which indicates the highest level of dedication to their field. Many fellowship-trained doctors credit their success in their subspecialty primarily to their year(s) in a fellowship program.
Fellowship can also improve a patient’s perception of their doctor. They continue to say that, “Fellowship training provides an added level of expertise, insight, and experience, which many patients find comforting.”
A fellowship in medical training typically lasts one to three years. Becoming a fellow is only possible after graduating from medical school and completing a medical residency.
Fellowship years are considered even more labor-intensive than residency years. The years passed in residency depend on the individual program but generally consist of rounds, patient consultations, specialty training, and practicing under the supervision of a senior specialist.
According to senior surgical fellow Katie Russell, MD, her fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is “the coolest job in the Hospital.” She describes a day in the life of a medical fellow as long, starting at 4:30 a.m. and lasting until 11:06 p.m.
Russell spends the morning doing rounds, consulting with other team fellows, and performing a surgical procedure with her senior physician. After lunch, she returns to the surgical room to perform another surgery with her team.
She spends the rest of the day consulting with future surgical patients and catching up on paperwork, with one final surgery before she heads home.
This is a fairly typical day in a fellowship in medical training. Russell’s fellowship lasted two years at CHOP. She spent those years mainly practicing and performing surgical procedures under a senior surgeon. She speaks highly of her time in fellowship, which played a major role in teaching her to be the surgeon she is today.
A fellowship-trained doctor is a physician who has completed a fellowship program after successfully completing med school and residency. In other words, fellowship-trained doctors are fully licensed physicians with an extra one to three years of training in their subspecialty.
Fellowship training is a major asset to physicians in the job market. The added training represents a passionate and committed physician with a higher understanding of their practice.
Only the best and brightest are selected to participate in fellowships, so fellowship-trained doctors are usually the result of high grades and a remarkable performance record in residency.
Residency and fellowship are both graduate medical education programs, but they serve different purposes and occur at different points in your training.
Residency builds your foundational clinical competency in a chosen specialty. Fellowship takes you deeper into a specific subspecialty after you’ve already completed that foundation.
Understanding the distinction before you apply matters because the preparation, timeline, and career implications of each are different.
To ensure your eligibility for a fellowship program, check your program’s requirements thoroughly before applying.
Fellowship programs sometimes approach residents directly when a resident demonstrates excellent potential. Otherwise, you’ll need to research and apply on your own. Inspira Advantage's advisors can help you navigate the process and secure a spot in a top program.
Your personal statement should include your educational objectives and summarize why you’re a good candidate for the fellowship position. What makes you passionate about this area of medicine? Why have you chosen to apply to this specific program?
This is the place to add your voice and personality to the application. A good personal statement alone will not be enough to get into a fellowship program, but it helps recruiters get a complete picture of who you are as a physician.
You can also use this space to draw attention to your unique achievements and important information you want to include that won’t appear anywhere else on your application.
Though it’ll differ from your medical school personal statement, it can be helpful to look back on some tips that helped you put together a winning statement.
You can even take a look at our medical school personal statement database to draw inspiration for your medical fellowship personal statement.
By now, you have most likely already started your medical CV. Most students begin their CV halfway through medical school and add to it throughout their years in residency. A great CV will make a compelling case for you as a potential fellow.
Here, you’ll include all of your relevant work experience, schooling, volunteerism, awards, published articles, etc., to showcase your abilities in the medical field.
When including work experience in a CV, use action words to describe your role at your previous position. Fellows are dedicated, driven, and hardworking doctors who go the extra mile in their field. When deciding what experience to include, try to keep in mind what recruiters from your specific program will want to see.
Letters of recommendation are a crucial part of getting into a fellowship program. Fellowships are competitive and seek only the best to be involved in their programs, so having an authority figure back up your skills (specifically in your specialty, if possible) can serve as a green light to your interviewers.
A letter of recommendation can come from anyone who directly oversaw your work in residency, medical volunteerism, or medical school. Avoid LoRs from family members, friends, or students. An LoR should be a formal letter commending your professional performance, free of personal bias.
When it comes to letters of recommendation, the more recent, the better. Leave out letters from high school teachers or early years in medical school. Include LoRs from your graduating year or medical school and your years in residency.
Most fellowship programs require completed application forms alongside your CV, personal statement, and letters of recommendation. If application forms are required, they should be easy to access through the program's website or directly at the program's location.
These forms are usually for basic information, although they sometimes include short or long-answer questions. To ensure you’ll have all your information on hand when filling out an application form, have your medical CV with you.
Interviews are standard with any medical education program. By the time you’re considering fellowship opportunities, you’ve likely participated in a fair number of them. Interviews are always stressful, but they’re an important way to demonstrate your character in your program.
Interviews can last anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. During that time, your interviewer will inquire about the experience you’ve listed on your CV. This is the time to explain how you’re proactive in the workplace. How do you problem-solve? What steps have you taken to properly diagnose or treat a patient?
You’ll want to show your interviewer that you’re capable, efficient, passionate, and overall a great fit for the position. Try to lean on your experience and trust yourself.
Confidence is a major factor in an interview, as well as presentation and comfort level. You want the interviewer to trust you and feel as confident in your abilities as a patient you’d be treating or a doctor you’re working alongside would.
The median medical fellowship salary in the United States is $79,000 per year as of 2026, but some fellows can earn more than $100,000 a year. Pay increases with each year of training.
Most programs have rules protecting fellows from being underpaid. The ACGME requires sponsoring institutions to provide fellows with a written agreement outlining financial support and benefits and to ensure that compensation enables fellows to fulfill their program responsibilities.
While it’s true that fellows are typically better compensated than residents, fellows do not earn as much as physicians practicing in their specialty. Fellowship salaries can also be lower or higher depending on the specialty. Some areas of medicine are more highly paid than others.
The jump from fellowship to subspecialist attending income is the final, and often largest, salary increase in a physician's career. Take a look at how fellow salaries compare to attending physician salaries across specialties:
Deciding whether to study in a fellowship program is tough. However, it's certainly a good idea if you’re passionate about your specialty and wish to continue working in that field. However, more schooling can be daunting, so it all really depends on your professional goals.
If you’re going back and forth on whether you should apply for a fellowship program, fear not! We’ve assembled the top pros and cons of fellowships to help you make an informed decision.
Fellowship-trained doctors and specialists are highly sought after in the job market. Completing a fellowship will put you on any medical institution’s radar, so you’ll have more opportunities when the time is right.
Anyone who has waited in a hospital can attest that expert specialists are in short supply. You may be that one specialist in the room at just the right time to problem-solve with expertise that only you have.
A fellowship program is a hands-on learning opportunity like no other and is certainly worth the time commitment for physicians who hope to perfect their craft.
Medical fellows are highly respected in the medical community and by patients. Medical institutions are also much more likely to choose a former fellow when seeking new employees.
A fellowship will indeed tack on one or more years to your medical studies. If a year or so more of school is enough to deter you from participating in a fellowship, perhaps it’s not for you.
While fellows usually make a little more money than residents, their salary is not as much as that of a physician who has completed their studies. If a resident decides to practice as a physician instead of becoming a fellow first, they will receive a much higher pay raise than they would by waiting for the extra year(s).
Yes, you get paid as a medical fellow. Salaries range from $60,000 to $70,000 a year, depending on the program and location. Fellows do not make as much as fully trained physicians.
A fellowship is not necessary for completing medical training. Fellowships are voluntary and focus on narrow subspecialties to provide advanced training to doctors. These programs are challenging to enter and complete but well respected and highly valued.
Check your eligibility before applying. Fellowship applications are highly competitive, so you’ll need to be well-versed in your institution’s requirements and history.
Medical residents may also be selected and invited to participate in a fellowship program after their residency. Making a good impression on senior physicians in residency is important for your career as a physician, especially if you’re hoping to become a fellow.
Fellowship programs can be challenging to get into, so you’ll need to have lots of references on hand. Fellowships are also difficult to complete and more intense than residencies.
Whether a medical fellowship is worth it for you depends on what kind of doctor you want to be. If you’re a keen student with a strong passion for a subspecialty and you’re willing to study hard to practice in that specialty, a fellowship could be the right place for you. If you’d prefer to get to work and feel prepared to take patients on alone after residency, a fellowship may be a waste of time for you.
Fellowships, like any training program, are what you make of them. It'll always be worth it if you apply yourself and are there to learn. Just beware of the pay gap between fellows and doctors.
Fellows can be matched with programs in a similar way that students are matched with residencies.
According to the NRMP, an organization that administers matching programs for graduate medical education in the United States, “a Match allows applicants and program directors to consider each other without pressure, creates an impartial venue for matching applicants’ and program directors' preferences, and establishes a uniform date for appointments to programs.”
A medical fellowship is not a degree. It’s a voluntary training program you can only attend after getting a medical school degree and completing the necessary years of residency. Fellows are trained physicians who improve their skills in one narrow area of medicine.
Once a physician is matched with a fellowship, they begin training alongside a specialist to shadow their subspecialty. Specialists who lead fellowship programs are experts in their fields, so training alongside them is informative and highly beneficial.
A fellow is a doctor who has completed medical school, passed the board, finished their required years of residency, and is now involved in a fellowship program. Fellows aim to further their knowledge in a subspecialty to become experts in a narrow area of medicine.
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