Hi! I am an IMG from the Philippines with 1 year clinical experience out of medical school and interested in a career as a physician-scientist in the UK, do you have any advice on which programs are available to me similar that are similar to Academic Foundation Year Program? thanks
You would still be eligible for the AFP I believe but it is best to check with UKFPO directly... Otherwise something like an ACF might work if you have more experience clinically, however you'd have to be able to demonstrate you have achieved 'Foundation competencies'...
Hi - unfortunately I don’t have access to this information. I assume they will use the criteria of assigning points to white space answers / publications / previous degrees/ prizes etc and come up with their own weighting to this then decide on cut offs based on the applicant pool.
Hi - thanks for watching. It depends on competitiveness of the deanary e.g. an AFP in North-West Thames/Oxford is much more competitive and so points needed would be higher than a less competitive place. It also depends on the applicants applying that year - some years applicants have more scoring points than others. There is therefore no 'exact' score to target - just try hit as many of the points as you can. For example I managed to secure 2 interviews at Cambridge/Oxford which are both very competitive and I had 2 international oral presentations, 2 international poster presentations, 3 national poster presentations and 2 local oral presentations; 2 full first author peer-reviewed journal articles and 3 'letters'; 1 international prize; 2 national prizes; 3 medical school prizes. I also know people who had much, much less and again people who had more. So just focus on doing what you can do and making your application as good as possible and not stressing too much about the points.
Also Im interested in going into paediatrics in the future but not so much research but just thought maybe doing paeds AFP research would help in speciality applications but if its not going to have that much of an impact then not sure I can go through the hassel!
It's a tough decision for sure - but if you don't do it, it doesn't shut off the door for academia in the future, so just do whatever feels right for you. Everything works out in the end :)
Thank you for the great overview, I was wondering if you knew whether Cambridge take into account your decile score or if they go by the EPM at any stage of the short/long listing? I was hoping to apply for an AFP/SFP at Cambridge however my decile is not brilliant however I have made up for this with additional degrees/publications - thank you very much 😊
I'm so sorry Emma... I'm not 100% sure how Cambridge score applicants, however extra degrees/publications certainly won't hurt. Don't worry so much re: decile.. I think I was 6th/7th decile? I can't remember exactly which but I certainly wasn't in the top decile...Good luck.
Thanks Ritvij! Glad you liked it! I had a pretty good idea at the time I applied - it was aimed at building on work I'd done during my MRes, however mid way through FY2 I'd had a change in heart and also career plan so I changed it last minute. I made sure I spoke clearly with my supervisor and explained this. They were very understanding and allowed me to switch projects. This won't always be possible but it was great that my supervisor at the time was ok with it. I'd also say it's not necessary to have a specific project in mind but good to have a general idea of what you'd like to do. Also make sure it's realistic - 4 months isn't a long time. I usually advise doing systematic reviews. They are useful and achievable in this time frame.
Thank you so much! This is extremely helpful. Are Academic clinical fellowships as easy to come about in each specialty? For example, I am interested in Paeds, is it possible to do this and if so is it limited to certain locations (e.g. large cities). Also, I am intersted in pursuing further education during the AFP if I am successful - e.g. cert of higher education and I am wondering if you can think of any deanery off the top of your head that may offer this?
Hi - Glad it was helpful. It really depends on the deanry offering ACF's. Some ACFs are 'locally funded' i.e. usually by the particular university; others are nationally funded e.g. by NIHR. The priorities depend year by year, so it is hard to say. Usually ACFs are always linked to a university and most universities are near big cities... I'm sorry it's probably not a very clear answer but it really varies.
hmmm Im just not convinced about the extra effort to apply to AFP and if to go for it, its A LOT of extra work for what might not be something i enjoy ahh decision
It's a very personal decision... all I can say is I loved mine and it really helped with my PhD application because I had 4 months of dedicated research time to write my fellowship application. Good luck
@DoctorODonovan Hi I also applied both Oxford and Cambridge 2021 AFP! Will the Academic (Not clinical) Interview be based on your white space questions only? Thanks 🙏🏽
Sorry for the late reply - I am a bit out of the loop with this now and couldn't make an informed comment which I am sorry about. Hope you managed to secure the job you wanted.
Thank you for this video. I tried to look at your Instagram but I can’t seem to find it. Please share a link to it as I would like to DM you in relation to medical school and your work and other jurisdictions.
That is great to hear! You will have plenty of time during your Masters to present at conferences. The teaching load is not so heavy usually which gives you 'free time' to pursue these other things along side your core studies. Try make a list of the potential conferences you want to go to - find out when their abstract submission deadlines are as usually they are a few months/weeks before the actual conference.
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Nice job man! Had my Cambridge afp interview - fingers crossed
Good luck - hope it went well
@@DrODonovan aww thanks. It did! Great video. Keep up the good work.
Hi! I am an IMG from the Philippines with 1 year clinical experience out of medical school and interested in a career as a physician-scientist in the UK, do you have any advice on which programs are available to me similar that are similar to Academic Foundation Year Program? thanks
You would still be eligible for the AFP I believe but it is best to check with UKFPO directly... Otherwise something like an ACF might work if you have more experience clinically, however you'd have to be able to demonstrate you have achieved 'Foundation competencies'...
Thanks for making this video, very useful information! Do you know how Cambridge longlists/shortlists students for the interview?
Hi - unfortunately I don’t have access to this information. I assume they will use the criteria of assigning points to white space answers / publications / previous degrees/ prizes etc and come up with their own weighting to this then decide on cut offs based on the applicant pool.
Thank you for your video! I was interested in how many points you would need for each section to aim for CV wise? Or a rough total score? Thanks!
Hi - thanks for watching. It depends on competitiveness of the deanary e.g. an AFP in North-West Thames/Oxford is much more competitive and so points needed would be higher than a less competitive place. It also depends on the applicants applying that year - some years applicants have more scoring points than others. There is therefore no 'exact' score to target - just try hit as many of the points as you can. For example I managed to secure 2 interviews at Cambridge/Oxford which are both very competitive and I had 2 international oral presentations, 2 international poster presentations, 3 national poster presentations and 2 local oral presentations; 2 full first author peer-reviewed journal articles and 3 'letters'; 1 international prize; 2 national prizes; 3 medical school prizes. I also know people who had much, much less and again people who had more. So just focus on doing what you can do and making your application as good as possible and not stressing too much about the points.
Thank you Doctor James - very nice video! You are the best :)
Cheers :)
@@DrODonovan No worries :)
Also Im interested in going into paediatrics in the future but not so much research but just thought maybe doing paeds AFP research would help in speciality applications but if its not going to have that much of an impact then not sure I can go through the hassel!
It's a tough decision for sure - but if you don't do it, it doesn't shut off the door for academia in the future, so just do whatever feels right for you. Everything works out in the end :)
Hi, Dr O'Donovan,
Do you have any advice about the academic clinical fellowship?
Thaaanks!
I don’t unfortunately because I didn’t do one and went straight to the PhD but they are very similar in terms of application / interviews to AFP
Thank you for the great overview, I was wondering if you knew whether Cambridge take into account your decile score or if they go by the EPM at any stage of the short/long listing? I was hoping to apply for an AFP/SFP at Cambridge however my decile is not brilliant however I have made up for this with additional degrees/publications - thank you very much 😊
I'm so sorry Emma... I'm not 100% sure how Cambridge score applicants, however extra degrees/publications certainly won't hurt. Don't worry so much re: decile.. I think I was 6th/7th decile? I can't remember exactly which but I certainly wasn't in the top decile...Good luck.
@@DrODonovan Thank you very much for getting back to me and for your advice, I really appreciate it 😊
Such a useful video as always! Did you already know what research you wanted to do before applying to the AFP?
Thanks Ritvij! Glad you liked it! I had a pretty good idea at the time I applied - it was aimed at building on work I'd done during my MRes, however mid way through FY2 I'd had a change in heart and also career plan so I changed it last minute. I made sure I spoke clearly with my supervisor and explained this. They were very understanding and allowed me to switch projects. This won't always be possible but it was great that my supervisor at the time was ok with it. I'd also say it's not necessary to have a specific project in mind but good to have a general idea of what you'd like to do. Also make sure it's realistic - 4 months isn't a long time. I usually advise doing systematic reviews. They are useful and achievable in this time frame.
@@DrODonovan Cheers :)
Thank you so much! This is extremely helpful. Are Academic clinical fellowships as easy to come about in each specialty? For example, I am interested in Paeds, is it possible to do this and if so is it limited to certain locations (e.g. large cities).
Also, I am intersted in pursuing further education during the AFP if I am successful - e.g. cert of higher education and I am wondering if you can think of any deanery off the top of your head that may offer this?
Hi - Glad it was helpful. It really depends on the deanry offering ACF's. Some ACFs are 'locally funded' i.e. usually by the particular university; others are nationally funded e.g. by NIHR. The priorities depend year by year, so it is hard to say. Usually ACFs are always linked to a university and most universities are near big cities... I'm sorry it's probably not a very clear answer but it really varies.
hmmm Im just not convinced about the extra effort to apply to AFP and if to go for it, its A LOT of extra work for what might not be something i enjoy ahh decision
It's a very personal decision... all I can say is I loved mine and it really helped with my PhD application because I had 4 months of dedicated research time to write my fellowship application. Good luck
@DoctorODonovan Hi
I also applied both Oxford and Cambridge 2021 AFP! Will the Academic (Not clinical) Interview be based on your white space questions only? Thanks 🙏🏽
Sorry for the late reply - I am a bit out of the loop with this now and couldn't make an informed comment which I am sorry about. Hope you managed to secure the job you wanted.
Thank you for this video. I tried to look at your Instagram but I can’t seem to find it. Please share a link to it as I would like to DM you in relation to medical school and your work and other jurisdictions.
@doctorodonovan on instagram
I am thinking of doing a masters but how much time do you get outside the masters to get posters published and publications?
That is great to hear! You will have plenty of time during your Masters to present at conferences. The teaching load is not so heavy usually which gives you 'free time' to pursue these other things along side your core studies. Try make a list of the potential conferences you want to go to - find out when their abstract submission deadlines are as usually they are a few months/weeks before the actual conference.
great job, screw those AFP courses!
Hope it was helpful
Do publications need to be pubmed indexed ?
Yes.
@@DrODonovan so would letters to editor count ?
As long as you have a PMID then yes