Cytopathology fellowship match: Pros and cons

Abstract

A cytopathology fellowship match would create an enforced and structured recruitment timeline for the benefit of applicants and programs. Major benefits would include delaying fellowship applications to allow residents to explore different subspecialty areas, a standardized application process for administrative ease, and optimization of matches between applicants and programs based on ranked preferences rather than use of time-limited “exploding offers.” The overall gains in efficiency and achieving the primary goals of supporting trainees and recruiting in an equitable and inclusive manner outweigh any downsides to instituting a cytopathology fellowship match. We aim to review the major discussions around this ongoing debate, arriving at the same conclusion as others in the literature that a pan-pathology fellowship match is ideal and that leadership from the Association of Pathology Chairs will be essential in unifying the fractured fellowship recruitment process.