IM PGY2 Torn Between Fellowship vs Private Practice Primary Care. Please Advice
Hello Everyone, I need very important advice I am PGY2 about to start PGY3 in Central California, since fellowship applications are coming up. I’m honestly stuck in a dilemma to do fellowship or pcp and wanted insight from people who are further ahead in practice.
A little background: my long-term goal is to work for myself and ideally build a private practice. I don’t really see myself wanting to work under a hospital system forever if private practice is realistically worth the hassle and financial risk.
I’m considering a few paths:
• Going straight into outpatient primary care after residency
• Addiction medicine fellowship
• Sports medicine fellowship
• Taking a year/research route and trying for Rheumatology later, mainly because of the outpatient lifestyle and infusion center/private practice opportunities
My wife is also a physician — currently a first-year FM resident. Her interests are also mostly outpatient focused, Financially, I have some savings that could potentially be used toward opening or investing in private practice, but I don’t want to make a major decision without hearing from people who have actually gone through this process.
TIA